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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WDRB) – Louisville lost its final of the regular season in Virginia on Saturday. This is not new. Louisville did not win in Charlottesville in 29 years. The Cardinals are 0-in-5 in the John Paul Jones Arena since they've joined the ACC.
Virginia, ranked second, defeated Louisville 73-68, but needed her A-game. The cardinals, who seemed to have fainted two weeks ago, fought back.
The last time the Cavaliers beat Louisville, in the KFC Yum! Center on February 23, they dominated Louisville 38-4 in the paint.
"I had never seen anything like it in a basketball game," said Louisville coach Chris Mack.
The Cardinals went on to win an uninteresting 66-59 loss at Boston College, after which Mack called them a "fragile group" and questioned their strength.
Since then, Louisville has not always been executed to perfection. But this performance in Virginia shows that they have found a reserve of tenacity. It's a practical thing to have to get into the playoffs.
There are not many teams that start turning around the toilet bowl like Louisville might have been in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and then turn around and put things back together. Give credit to the cardinals to do it.
Saturday, they dominated Virginia 20-16 in the painting. They passed the Cavaliers 40-31. The Cavaliers, who had won each of their last three games by at least 24 points (including a 26-point win in Syracuse), have never dominated Louisville by more than nine.
I sat at the end of the Louisville bench, taking virtually pictures. They were energetic. They were engaged. They were positive. That's what a winning bench looks like. They did not win. They do not have what Virginia has, from the point of view of talents. But what they showed Saturday was solid.
It was a motivated team from Virginia. They were playing for the title of the regular season of VAC. They were playing for the No. 1 seed of the ACC tournament. They were playing for an NCAA tournament seed # 1. They played Senior Day. With just over seven minutes to play, Louisville was led by four.
"Virginia is very impressive," Mack said. "They are incredibly well trained. I thought our guys were arguing. We set ourselves up to win the match. I thought that their composure over our composure in the last three or four minutes probably decided the match. I have to do a better job by ensuring that our team remains composed on the offensive. I do not think for a moment that our defense emergency has ever diminished. There was a time when they had scored six or seven properties in a row, but I mean, they are really good. . . . They could win everything.
But Louisville, with an effort like this, can also win some games, starting Wednesday as the number 7 seed of the ACC tournament against Georgia Tech or Notre Dame. After that, can they beat North Carolina in Charlotte? Probably we will not give him much luck.
The bottom line is that when given a chance to eliminate, this team regrouped and came back strong.
"We just continued talking to each other, believing in each other and listening to the coaches," said Malik Williams.
Virginia coach Tony Bennett congratulated Louisville for his efforts.
"Congratulations to them for the hardness and quality of their game," he said. "It was a physical game. Possessions were difficult. They made controversial shots, they attacked and they made it difficult. "
The main thing that the Cardinals did wrong is to turn the ball over. They only had 10, an acceptable number against most teams. Against Virginia, it was a back-breaker, leading to 17 points of the Cavaliers. Otherwise, Louisville was locked in the paint and held Virginia at 40.4% of the shots. Unfortunately for the Cards, Virginia scored 43% of her attempts and made three assists on Jay Huff's substitute bench. None of them even managed to make a pass to the net.
Louisville got 19 points from Jordan Nwora. He has 12 Williams and 10 Dwayne Sutton and Christen Cunningham. Steven Enoch had eight points and 11 rebounds, a top in the game.
"No one wants to come in second," Mack said. "We are not in the locker room doing hand rests and trolley wheels. But Virginia has a chance to win everything. They do. It's a veteran crew. They have high level talents. Tony is the best coach in the country. They know who they are. They know what their identity is. For two or three weeks we had problems with self-confidence and we did not play very well. But I have noticed a different spirit in our team over the last few weeks. It makes me feel really good. There are many teams at this time of year, hard to believe, who want their season to be over. I have no such feeling in our locker rooms. Our guys, they fought today. They are disappointed and they should be because we lost. But we put ourselves in position against one of the best teams in the country. . . . We arrive there. "
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