After getting another road win against a ranked team on Monday night, No. 3 UVa is back on the grind tomorrow afternoon when the Wahoos head west to face No. 18 Louisville (noon, Raycom).
There are four teams that the Cavaliers (23-2, 11-2 ACC) will play twice this season and of those games, only these last two against the Cards remain between now and March 9th when Virginia will close out the regular season by hosting Louisville.
Given the success UVa has had over its new conference rival, one has to wonder what the coaching change and the addition of Chris Mack will mean for this series. To date, the Cards have been markedly better than last year and they have exceeded most expectations. But they have also taken some real blows the past few weeks including the epic second-half meltdown against Duke.
No. 18 Louisville Cardinals (18-9, 9-5 ACC)
Head coach: Chris Mack, 10th year (233-106 overall, 18-9 in one year at UL)
Series: UVa leads the all-time series 13-4.
Last Meeting: The Cavaliers beat the Cardinals 75-58 in the ACC Tournament last year.
Three Things We Know
1. Virginia has dominated Louisville since the Cards joined the ACC.
Louisville replaced Maryland as one of Virginia’s two primary partners in 2015 when the Cards joined the ACC. UVa split the season series that first year, with the Cavaliers winning in Charlottesville and then losing the regular-season finale in Louisville on a buzzer beater. But since then, it’s been all Virginia in the series. UVa is 8-1 against the Cards since they joined the ACC with seven-straight wins. The average margin of victory in those wins is 11.4 points, including five double-digit victories. UVa swept the Cardinals in three meetings last year, including the most memorable game the two teams have played, when the Hoos rallied from four points down with less than a second to play in a shocking regulation win at the KFC Yum! Center.
2. Louisville has surprised this year but has now lost four of the last six.
The Cardinals have been the league’s pleasant surprise this season after being picked to finish 11th in the preseason poll. After some turmoil in recent years, the Cardinals made an inspired hire by bringing Mack to UL and he seems to have the program headed back in the right direction. After racking up wins against a favorable schedule in January, this month has not been kind to the Cardinals. They've lost three of four games and four of their last six. Having faced NCAA Tournament squads in UNC, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Duke, and Syracuse during that stretch, outside of a win in Blacksburg those teams have gotten the better of Mack’s squad.
3. The Cards have a talented lineup, led by a dynamic wing in Jordan Nwora.
Despite the lack of preseason expectations, Louisville has a talented team with plenty of capable players. Nwora has been the breakout start for the Cardinals, helping replace a lot of the production lost from last season’s team. The sophomore wing is leading the Cards in scoring at 17.3 points per contest, with five 20-point efforts in conference games. He is also the team’s leading rebounder with 7.6 boards per game. The matchup between Nwora and De’Andre Hunter should be a fun one to watch and keeping the 6-foot-8 playmaker from having a big game will be key for the Hoos. In the backcourt, Louisville has been boosted by transfer PG Chris Cunningham, who joined the Cards after three years at Samford. Cunningham is averaging nearly five assists per game and acts as the primary facilitator in Louisville’s offense. Forward Dwayne Sutton and guard Ryan McMahon are players that are capable of having big scoring nights, too. Sutton is averaging 10.7 points per game and McMahon, though undersized, is a dangerous 3-point shooter.
