Louisville basketball: 3 positive takeaways from loss to Virginia

Louisville can beat Virginia and a lot of other really good teams with a healthy lineup

Some walked away with a negative outlook on team 106 after loss to Virginia on Saturday, on the road at JPJ arena in Charlottesville. Not me. Instead, I felt encouraged considering that Louisville played the entire game without a healthy Malik Williams (yes, he played but don’t argue he was healthy) and shot the ball fairly okay throughout the majority of the contest and still was in a place to win at the end of the game.

I don’t like the way the game ended considering Louisville’s “veteran” guards made crucially, and I mean crucial mistakes after the team fought back, but considering the Cards were down by double-digits for a good chunk of the second half against a team that doesn’t let opponents come back nearly ever I think there’s a lot of reason to believe Louisville is improving.

Louisville’s ability to fight back and climb out of holes in big games was a huge topic of discussion throughout the city and on our podcast as the Cards got ready for Virginia. You wondered if Louisville was trending towards playing their best basketball of the season, especially after the performance against Virginia Tech, all while being curious if they’d stand up to fight at the first sign of adversity.

If you were like me, you wanted that answered against Virginia one of the nation’s toughest defensive teams and arguably the hottest squad in the country riding a seven-game win streak. If Louisville could show up and give Virginia everything they had on the road in a tough environment, it would show me there is ongoing improvement and the ability to beat tough teams.

Louisville started slowly before getting hot on way to slowing down late in the first half on the offensive end. As the Cards struggled from deep, they continued to be strong down low preventing Jay Huff and Mamadi Diakite from getting good looks while pounding the ball into Steven Enoch and taking open three’s as they opened.

Virginia ultimately punched back as Kiheh Clark and Diakite got going as the rest of the team turned up their defensive intensity to another level and it clearly bothered Louisville, especially down low and at the top of the perimeter.

Louisville’s lack of offensive identity and inability to create good shots was what put them behind during the second half and in most cases where we’ve seen that this season it’s led to them collapsing in on themselves. Not on Saturday. Instead, Louisville stayed in the game defensively, forcing a lot of turnovers and bad shots that Virginia isn’t quite comfortable taking and took what open shots they could get without settling. Jordan Nwora, Ryan McMahon, along with Steven Enoch helped close the gap on the offensive side and reminded us just how dangerous they can be even against great defensive teams while getting enough from others to feel like you’re in a good spot to win (even on a bad shooting night).

Virginia made things extremely challenging for Louisville and that’s ultimately why they won. But if you walked away from that game thinking less of the Cards than you did previously, I’d like to have some words. Ryan McMahon said it best after the game, saying:

"“I think we played really well to get back in it. We showed heart, we showed fight. That doesn’t mean we didn’t make mistakes, though. That doesn’t mean that they didn’t make mistakes either. They just pulled it out in the end.”"

Give me a healthy Malik Williams, a “mamba-mentality”-like Jordan Nwora, and the rest of Louisville’s guys locked in and playing well, and I’ll take my team up against nearly anyone – including Virginia.

Louisville takes the floor again on Thursday against the winner of Virginia Tech/North Carolina vs. Syracuse, and if they are able to take care of business that could mean another run-in with Virginia.