Louisville started out strong, but ultimately needed a late run to prevail over Virginia 80-73 on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center. Louisville improves to 21-3 and 12-1 in the ACC. Virginia falls to 15-7 and 7-5.
Jordan Nwora led Louisville with 22 points and 7 rebounds. Malik Williams scored 13 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Steven Enoch added 13 points and 2 boards. Louisville shot 50.1 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from three.
Two players for Virginia had career scoring days on Saturday. Tomas Woldetensae scored 27 points on 10-13 from the field and 7-10 from three-point range. Kihei Clark finished with 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Louisville started 5-6 from three-point range and held a 15-6 lead at the first Media timeout. The Cards shot 60 percent from the field in the first half and went 8-15 from three. Louisville led 44-30 at halftime.
Out of the break, Woldetensae and Clark both got hot and UVA gradually cut into the lead. The Cavs eventually went in front 70-68 at the 3:25 mark. Louisville went on a 6-0 run and held the lead from there.
Before the game, we talked about the mental aspect of this game. Louisville was favored, but Virginia has always found a way to win in the past. UVA had two incredible individual performances and Louisville still pulled out the win. This was a big test and the Cards withstood the Virginia run, something they had never really done in the past.
Louisville is still atop the ACC and has looked as good as anyone in the country for a month now. This is not a win that will stand out on the resume, but it could be looked at as a huge win in the long term for this group of players. Onto the next one.
Up Next:
Louisville heads to Atlanta for a Wednesday night matchup with Georgia Tech at 8:00 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
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