Louisville led from wire to wire and bounced back with a 72-64 win at Virginia Tech on Monday night. The Cards improved to 17-6 on the season and 8-2 in the ACC; Virginia Tech falls to 18-4 and 7-3.
Louisville led by 10 in the first half before going into the break up 31-26. Virginia Tech had it to three points at the under-12 timeout, but Ryan McMahon responded with 12 straight points for the Cards. Louisville got the lead to as much as 15 and withstood a couple bursts from the Hokies to get a huge bounce back win on the road.
Dwayne Sutton led the Cards with a stat line of 17 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists on 75 percent shooting. Jordan Nwora added 15 points and 8 rebounds, Ryan McMahon finished with 17 points as well. The duo of Kerry Blackshear Jr. and Nickeil Alexander-Walker led the way for Virginia Tech with 21 and 17 points.
As Louisville enters their gauntlet of a remaining ACC schedule, this win was much needed after the loss at home on Saturday. Virginia Tech is a team that has been in or around the top-10 all season long. The Cardinals were pushed at multiple different points in this game but never gave up the lead over the entire 40 minutes. Virginia Tech was a little shorthanded and could not keep up with Louisville.
Tonight, we saw a confident performance by a Louisville basketball team that needed a win on the road after disappointing on a national stage just two days ago. Chris Mack has done a truly remarkable job to have his team in this position at this point in the season.
On Saturday, the NCAA Tournament Selection committee will hold its third annual bracket reveal show at 12:30 ET on CBS. The top 16 seeds through Friday’s games will be revealed. After adding another impressive quadrant-1 win to their resume, don’t be surprised if you hear the Louisville Cardinals get their name revealed this weekend.
Up Next: Louisville travels south for a matchup with Florida State in Tallahassee at 4:00 ET on ESPN2.
