NCAA College Basketball Box Scores

National Basketball Association

BOXSCORE | RECAP

Virginia 61, Louisville 53

When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Where: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky
Officials: # William Covington Jr., # Keith Kimble, # Brian O'Connell
Attendance: 21676

By The Sports Xchange

By Brandon Lloyd, The Sports Xchange

Since Louisville joined the ACC in 2014, their games against Virginia haven't gone as planned. Despite a home win over the Cavaliers two seasons ago, the Cardinals entered Wednesday night's conference opener with just that lone win over the Cavaliers in four previous shots.

No. 12 Virginia extended its winning streak in ACC openers to 10 and continued its dominance of No. 6 Louisville with a 61-53 win on Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.

"This team is our kryptonite," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said of Virginia. "We had two awful days of practice coming back from vacation and we got very poor leadership from our captains. But let's face it, this team (Virginia) is very good."

Virginia (11-1, 1-0) shot 49 percent from the field and held one of the country's most prolific offenses early this season to their lowest point total through 12 games.

"We did some good things," Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. "I thought we played 30 to 35 minutes of good basketball. I didn't like the way we finished with some careless turnovers, but we played solid early to build that lead and got some looks and made enough plays."

Four players scored at least seven points for the Cavaliers as they continued their balanced scoring attack. Devon Hall scored a game-high 10 points and London Perrantes was just 2 of 10 from the field but had nine points.

Freshman guard Kyle Guy continued his stellar play with nine points off the bench and fellow freshman Mamadi Diakite scored eight points on 3-of-3 shooting from the floor.

"For sure," Bennett said of his freshmen's solid play. "They did a great job in our game at Cal and you need to look at our team and it's just a balanced team. Devon had 10 and you see nine, six, it is just a balanced game and it will require all to be ready."

Louisville (11-2, 0-1) was held to 43 percent shooting from the field and connected on 2 of 14 3-pointers. The Cardinals failed to have a player score in double figures as they once again struggled with the Virginia defense.

"That is our problem against them, we don't make shots," Pitino said. "And then we played poor defense tonight. They don't run a lot of plays, but when you get down 10 or 12 points to Virginia, lights out."

The Cavaliers led by as many as 21 points in the second half before the Cardinals cut the led to eight late in the game. Louisville's inability to knock down jump shots cost them in the end.

"It's very disappointing," Pitino said. "We were hoping to win three out of four games, but like I said, Virginia is our kryptonite and they outplayed us tonight."

Quentin Snyder led Louisville with eight points but attempted just five shots from the floor.

The Cavaliers outrebounded the Cardinals 31-26 and got 18 points off 14 Louisville turnovers.

Virginia shot better than 50 percent from the field in the first half and held Louisville to their lowest scoring first half this season.

The Cavaliers led 36-21 after 20 minutes.

In their last five meetings with Virginia, Louisville has broken the 21-point mark just twice in the first half.

NOTES: Virginia has won four of the last five meetings with Louisville. ... The Cardinals have three players averaging double figures. ... Tony Bennett is now 8-0 in ACC openers as Virginia coach. ... Virginia is 9-4 in its series with Louisville.

Top Game Performances

Virginia		Louisville
Devon Hall 10	Scoring	Deng Adel 8
London Perrantes 7	Assists	Anas Mahmoud 2
Jack Salt 7	Rebounds	Raymond Spalding 6
London Perrantes 4	Free Throws Made	Anas Mahmoud 3
Mamadi Diakite 2	Steals	Deng Adel 1
N/A	Blocks	Anas Mahmoud 2

Team Stats Summary

Team	Points	FG%	3PM-3PA	FTM-FTA	Assists	Rebounds	Blocks	Steals	Turnovers
Virginia	61	49.0	2-8	11-14	12	31	0	7	14
Louisville	53	43.2	2-14	13-22	7	26	2	5	14