Virginia Takes Care of Business, Beats Louisville 75-60 in Season Finale

From beginning to end, UVA's Senior Day game went exactly the way Cavaliers were hoping it would. Kihei Clark began his final game at John Paul Jones Arena by hitting a three-pointer and senior walk-on Chase Coleman capped the game with a pull-up three in the final moments. 

In between those two plays, the Cavaliers delivered a strong team performance on both ends of the court in the regular season finale, building an early lead and cruising to a 75-60 victory over Louisville on Saturday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena. The win clinched a share of the ACC regular season title, UVA's sixth in the last ten seasons, and locked Virginia into the No. 2 seed in next week's ACC Tournament in Greensboro. 

Virginia put on a clinic in the first half, shooting 50% from the floor and 5/12 from beyond the arc while holding Louisville to 33%, including 1/6 from three-point range. The Cardinals were held without a field goal for more than eight minutes, allowing UVA to build a lead as large as 14 points. Mike James carried Louisville's offense with nine points in the first half, while Virginia executed a well-balanced offensive attack with with eight different players scoring, including five with at least five points. Virginia scored 12 points off of eight Louisville turnovers, while the Cavaliers had 13 assists on 13 made baskets. Isaac McKneely hit a three-pointer late in the final minute and then came up with a steal to send Virginia to the halftime break with its largest lead at 36-20. 

In the first meeting between these two teams, UVA had to fight an uphill battle after falling behind by nine points in the first half. And even after regaining the lead, Virginia endured multiple scoring droughts and had to come up with a late defensive stand to seal a three-point win. 

The rematch was a much different, and much less dramatic story. Although Louisville got into an offensive rhythm in the second half, with Mike James scoring 15 points and El Ellis adding 10 in the second half, there were no scoring lulls for the UVA offense, which had an answer for each Louisville basket. Jayden Gardner and Armaan Franklin, who were among the seniors honored in a ceremony before the game, powered the Virginia offense in the second half. Gardner made each of his first five shots in the second half and scored 10 points, while Franklin recorded eight points and four assists in the second half. 

UVA's high level of offensive execution kept the Cardinals at arms length. The Virginia lead was never less than 13 points and the Cavaliers led by as many as 19, rolling comfortably to the 15-point victory. 

That gave UVA the opportunity to give its seniors a curtain call in the final minute, as Kihei Clark, Armaan Franklin, Francisco Caffaro, Jayden Gardner, and Ben Vander Plas received hearty applause as they left the floor. Senior walk-on Chase Coleman entered the game in the last minute and buried a pull-up three-pointer, eliciting an eruption from the crowd at John Paul Jones Arena. 

After making five threes in the first half, Virginia hit just one triple in the second half and finished 6/18 from beyond the arc, but a lot of that had to do with UVA's shot selection. The Cavaliers were able to generate tons of quality looks from inside the arc and happily took the higher-percentage shots. Virginia shot 58.0% from the floor, was 10/13 on layups, and had six dunks as a team. The Cavaliers shared the ball unselfishly, recording 25 assists on 29 made field goals and committing just seven turnovers. 

Reece Beekman and Kihei Clark orchestrated the UVA offense with precision and poise, with Beekman putting up five points and 11 assists with zero turnovers and Clark tallying six points, six assists, and four rebounds. Jayden Gardner and Armaan Franklin had 16 points each and Ryan Dunn added nine points off the bench on 4/5 shooting. Isaac McKneely and Ben Vander Plas each had seven points and Francisco Caffaro contributed six points and a steal. 

Beekman and Clark also combined to play solid defense on El Ellis, who had only 14 points on 3/12 shooting after scoring 21 in the first meeting against Virginia. Louisville turned the ball over 12 times in the game and Virginia scored 16 points off of those turnovers. 

Virginia concludes the regular season with a 23-6 overall record and a 15-5 mark in ACC play. UVA was 15-1 at John Paul Jones Arena this season, including 10-0 in ACC home games. 

Virginia will have the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament and will play in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 7pm at Greensboro Coliseum.