No. 20 Louisville continues to struggle without Mikel Brown Jr. in loss to No. 16 Virginia

The 20th-ranked Louisville Cardinals have not been the same without freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. this season, and Tuesday night was no different.

After falling behind 14-0 to start the game, Louisville (12-5, 2-3 ACC) played from behind the entire game and never led in a 79-70 loss to No. 16 Virginia (15-2, 4-1 ACC), which picked up its fourth straight win.

Louisville's struggles are clear without Mikel Brown Jr.

The Cardinals have now lost four of their last seven games after beginning the season 9-1. Brown has not played in each of those seven games after suffering a lower back injury in a Dec. 13 win over Memphis.

His impact has certainly been noticeable during that stretch. In the 10 games that he has played, the Cardinals put up at least 80 points in all but one game. Without him, Louisville has been held under that mark five times.

Those offensive struggles were an issue once again on Tuesday night. The Cardinals got to within four prior to a 7-0 run from the Cavaliers, which stretched the lead back to double-digits early in the second half.

Senior guard Malik Thomas could not be stopped, scoring a team-high 19 points (6-of-9 FG) for Virginia. For Louisville, it was senior guard Isaac McKneely with the hot hand, putting up 23 points (7-of-16 FG, 5-of-14 3PT), including this triple to cut the deficit to nine with under nine minutes to play.