Virginia Clinches ACC Title & Top Seed With Win at Louisville (and Some Help From Irish)

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Even if Notre Dame hadn’t shocked the world and upset the mighty Seminoles earlier in the day, I’m fairly confident the Virginia basketball team would’ve shown up with their A-game on Saturday vs. Louisville. Nevertheless, the Irish did shock the world with a convincing win over Florida State, setting the stage for a Virginia win over Louisville that clinched them the ACC regular-season title and top seed in the 2021 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Playing in the gym where they beat Purdue in the 2019 Elite Eight, the Virginia Cavaliers beat Louisville by a 68-58 final score. It got dicey a few times, sure, but it was arguably their best performance of the season. When Louisville, a solid team in their own right, started punching back, the Hoos took their blows and fought back. In recent weeks, we’ve seen them shrink when a big bucket or stop was needed, but not on Saturday. The Wahoos played with swagger and confidence, even when their big stars (Jay Huff and Sam Hauser) weren’t on the court and when their deep balls weren’t falling.

Hauser, to his credit, was the main reason they had a decent-sized lead to begin with. The senior was hitting everything from everywhere, finishing with a season-high 24 points. Trey Murphy III also got it going on offense, a great sign for anyone who follows the team. Murphy III looked great at times this season but he went and disappeared there for a week or two. The Rice transfer had 17 points and was ultra-aggressive, turning almost every elbow touch he got into something positive. His 17-point outburst was his highest point total since scoring 18 on February 10th against Georgia Tech.

Down the stretch, Tony Bennett didn’t have Hauser or Huff on the floor for large chunks of time, opting for Justin McKoy and Tomas Woldetensae instead. The pair held their own with scrappy play on both ends. Woldetensae, specifically, drew a foul on a three-pointer and sunk three huge free throws at the 8:47 mark that extended Virginia’s lead from four to seven. It was a major moment in the game momentum-wise and one that Bennett acknowledged after the game. McKoy, who’s worked his way firmly back into the rotation, had four unanswered points between the 7:17 and 6:20 marks that put Louisville down by double-digits. The closest they’d get from there on out was eight points. One of McKoy’s buckets, it should be noted, was off a dime from Woldetensae.

Virginia shot just 20 percent from deep (3-of-15) but they took care of the ball and came in with a rock-solid defensive gameplan. The Hoos shut soon-to-be first-team all-conference star Carlik Jones down completely; Jones scored just six points on 2-of-15 shooting. Overall, the Hoos held Louisville to 36.8 percent shooting.

“The three-game losing streak taught us a lot about ourselves,” Hauser said after the game.

The win was certainly a boost for their resume. This was a convincing win over a KenPom Top 50 team on the road. Speaking of, Virginia moved up five spots in the KenPom rankings with the win from No. 16 to No. 11.

Virginia finished the season with a 17-6 overall record and 13-4 mark in ACC action.

They’ll have a double-bye in the 2021 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, which kicks off on Tuesday, March 9th with three opening round games. No. 1 Virginia will play the winner of No. 8 Syracuse-No. 9 NC State on Thursday, March 11th at 12pm.