
Virginia got down big, again, rallied, again, and came up short, again, falling at home to Louisville, 68-65, on Sunday at JPJ.
Most frustrating: the Cavaliers (11-10, 3-6 ACC) were able to get a 15-point deficit down to three with 4:21 to go, were able to hold the Cardinals (14-6, 7-2 ACC) scoreless for the final 3:27, but only got one shot at the rim in that stretch, a missed three at the buzzer by Kymora Johnson, because of two turnovers and five Louisville offensive rebounds.
“Another disappointing loss,” UVA coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said afterward. “Frustrated with our start, with our togetherness today, and the rebounding. We obviously gave up 20 offensive rebounds, which is unheard of, and that’s big. We didn’t execute at the end of the game. That’s big, but I think it’s the whole 40 minutes at this point, the last two games, we were just not on one accord.
“I mean, credit to Louisville,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “They played hard, they played physical, and they got what they came here to get. We need to get that will to win from all five players on the court.”
Louisville led by 15, 44-29, at the half, on the strength of 11 offensive rebounds and 10 UVA turnovers giving the Cardinals 13 more shots at the basket.
It was 62-47 going into the fourth, which is when the ‘Hoos cleaned things up, holding the Cardinals to 2-of-15 shooting and forcing five turnovers.
A 16-4 Virginia run got the deficit to 66-63 on a pair of Johnson free throws with 4:21 to go, and after a pair of Ja’Leah Williams free throws at the 3:27 mark, Johnson hit a jumper with 3:03 on the clock to get it back to being a one-score game.
Louisville’s next possession would stretch out for more than a minute of game clock, fueled by four offensive boards.
Virginia finally got the ball back with 1:51 to go, but Johnson lost the ball at 1:40, and Louisville would eat more clock with another offensive rebound before UVA got it back with 58 seconds left on an Edessa Noyan blocked shot.
Another Johnson turnover with 47 seconds to go gave the ball back to Louisville, ahead of Noyan rebounding a missed jumper from Olivia Cochran, giving the Cavaliers the ball with a chance to tie.
Agugua-Hamilton called timeout with four seconds left to set up the final shot, the miss from three by Johnson at the buzzer.
Paris Clark led Virginia with 19 points (9-of-14 FG, 0-of-2 3FG, 1-of-2 FT) and seven rebounds.
Latasha Lattimore had 15 points (6-of-7 FG, 3-of-4 FG).
Johnson had 12 points (5-of-13 FG, 0-of-3 3FG, 2-of-2 FT) and eight assists, with six turnovers.