Even with Russ Smith in town to see his No. 2 jersey permanently retired, the Louisville men's basketball program still couldn't capture a victory, falling to Notre Dame 82-70 Saturday.
Next up for the Cardinals (11-8, 5-4 ACC), they are heading back on the road to face Virginia (11-8, 5-4 ACC) on a quick turnaround. Tipoff is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 24 at 7:00 p.m. EST.
Here are a few of the more significant storylines to follow ahead of the Cardinals' matchup against the Cavaliers:
Similar Struggles
In terms of the Atlantic Coast Conference, both Louisville and Virginia were relatively highly thought of during the preseason. Of course, Duke was the clear favorite to win the league, but Virginia was close behind the Blue Devils and picked to finish fourth, while Louisville was picked sixth.
But much like the Cardinals, the Cavaliers have had struggles of their own. They opened the season with a loss to Navy at home, then were destroyed by Houston two games later.
The Hoos were able to fire off a four-win streak after their decimation by the Cougars, but they have been wildly inconsistent since. They have won six of their last 12 games stretching back to late November, almost exclusively alternating wins and loses in an alms
Same Style, Different Results
Even with their struggles, Virginia still very much has the same identity that we have all come to know and love - or hate depending on your viewpoint.
The Cavaliers still execute Tony Bennett's slow as molasses offense and stifling pack line defense very well. According to KenPom, Virginia has the slowest adjusted tempo in out of all of Division I's 358 teams, and it's by a sizable margin. They might not put up a ton of points, just 62.5 per game game to be exact, but their scoring defense of 59.7 is 13th in D1.
But that doesn't tell the whole story of UVA's defense. While they force a lot of teams to go deep into the shot clock, they are still allowing their opponents to shoot 42.0 percent from the field anf 35.5 percent on three-point attempts. In fact, their defensive effective field goal percentage of 49.0 percent is the worst since the 2010-11 season - Bennett's second year in Charlottesville.
The Transfer Effect
Virginia lost a fair amount of experience over the past offseason. Thanks to graduation, the NBA Draft and the transfer portal, they lost Sam Hauser, Jay Huff, Casey Morsell, Trey Murphy and Tomas Woldetensae.
It was expected that tenured Hoos like Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman would be the most noteworthy players in terms of scoring production, but that has not been the case. In fact, they've been the main assist-guys, as they've combined for 166 assists on the year.
Like many other teams across D1, the most productive scorers for Virginia have been transfers. East Carolina transfer Jayden Gardner leads the scoring effort with 14.0 point per game, and Indiana transfer Armaan Franklin is right behind him with 12.3 points. Gardner is also the team's best rebounder at 6.8 per game, while Franklin is second in total steals behind Beekman with 21.
Discipline on the Block
The packline defense by Virginia does a good job of keeping the other team out of the lane and out on the perimeter. 39.1 percent of opposing field goal attempts and 36.5 of opponent's points come from threes, both well above D1 averages.
But if the ballcarrier does penetrate the packline, the Cavaliers still do a really good job inside the arc.
Virginia is holding opponents to 46.2 percent on two point attempts, which comes in at 51st in D1. A large part of this is due to their discipline down in the paint. Not only do they average 5.2 blocks per game - which is 13th in D1 - but they also do it without fouling a bunch, as their 13.8 fouls per game ranks 12th int he nation.
(Photo of Jay Huff, Malik Williams: Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal, Louisville Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
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