No. 20/18 Louisville Comes Up Short Against No. 16/16 Virginia

Tuesday, January 13

LOUISVILLE, KY

7 p.m.

University of Louisville

12-5,2-3ACC

#16 Virginia

15-2,4-1ACC

Virginia

Louisville

No. 20/18 Louisville Comes Up Short Against No. 16/16 Virginia

January 13, 2026 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes Pat Kelsey Press Conference Player Press Conference

Despite outscoring the Cavaliers in the paint, the Cards fall 79-70 to UVA

By: Erin Hughes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 20-ranked University of Louisville men's basketball team fell to No. 16 Virginia, 79-70, inside the KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday night.

With the loss, the Cards move to 12-5 on the season and 2-3 in Atlantic Coast Conference play while the Cavaliers improve to 15-2 with a 4-1 bid in conference play.

"I give Virginia a lot of credit. I thought we've got a long way to go," said head coach Pat Kelsey. "We are a team that needs to - I mean we have one game over the next 11 days, the most important game ever is the one on Saturday - and we've got to figure out a way to go get a win. There's a bunch of stuff that needs to be fixed, there's a bunch of stuff right not within our system and our team that's broken. You can't allow a team that comes in here, that's a very, very good three-point shooting team, to make 14 3s. Their best player, the guy that is circled on our scouting report, or their best perimeter guy, [Malik Thomas] fries us, [he] makes six 3s. Far, far too many defensive lapses and breakdowns in the second half. Whether it was just relaxing off the ball, allowing them to get easy open looks in transition - just undisciplined, off-ball gaps where [we] lose sight of who we're guarding, where we're at on the floor and they spray for open shots. That's a sign of a team that is very undisciplined, and undisciplined players are coached by undisciplined coaches. I take full responsibility for that. We've got to get better, we've got to get better. There is a ton of stuff that we need to improve on. We've got guys that are playing too many minutes right now. Some of the guys that aren't playing as many minutes need to step up and need to play better. At the end of the day, in my opinion, Virginia was the more desperate team tonight and that's a problem. Something I take great pride in is being the coach of a team that is always playing desperate, gritty and nasty, and I just think at crucial points in the game, they were more desperate. All you can do is go back to work. We've got a couple days to get ready for Pitt on Saturday, and we've got to figure it out."

As a team, UofL shot 35.8%, going 24 of 67 from the field including 10 for 38 from beyond the arc. Louisville totaled 36 rebounds, including 17 offensive boards, and went 12 of 18 from the line.

Against his former team, Isaac McKneely posted 23 points, his first 20-point game with the Cards and a new UofL career high, in his team-leading 38 minutes on the court. McKneely went 7 for 16 from the field, 5 for 14 from deep and a perfect 4 for 4 from the charity stripe while also adding two steals.

Ryan Conwell was the next leading scorer with 14 points and also tabbed seven rebounds, two steals and one block. J'Vonne Hadley totaled 11 points with five rebounds and one steal, and Aly Khalifa was 2-for-6 from three-point range and logged three assists, two rebounds and one block in the game.

Virginia's Malik Thomas led the Cavalier offense with 19 points, 18 of which came from beyond the arc. Dallin Hall led all players with 12 total rebounds and four assists in his team-leading 32 minutes of play.

UVA opened the first half on a 14-0 scoring run that elapsed 3:25 before UofL took its first timeout. Out of the break, the Cards went on an 8-0 run that included threes from Conwell and McKneely and another layup from Conwell.

The Louisville defense held the Cavaliers to 13 missed field goals over 6:15, and McKneely added another three to bring the score to 18-11 with just under 10 minutes to play. Virginia extended its lead to 24-11, but scores from Khalifa, McKneely, Adrian Wooley and Kasean Pryor brought UofL back within reach at 29-24. A three and a made free throw by Conwell added on just before the break as UVA led 33-28 at halftime.

The Cavaliers dropped in a three to start the second half, but Sananda Fru responded with a layup to keep the score within six at 36-30. UVA added on with a 7-0 run and an 8-0 run that saw its lead extended to 54-41, with Louisville's scores coming from Conwell, Hadley, McKneely and Khalifa.

Following the under-12 media timeout, Virginia continued to dominate but the Cards started climbing back. Wooley grabbed two points from the charity stripe before a steal from Hadley allowed McKneely to sink his fifth three-pointer and put the score at 65-57 with less than five minutes of play remaining.

The teams traded blows in the final minutes with Fru adding points on a dunk and a layup and McKneely maintaining pressure from the free throw line to get the difference down to six at 76-70. Virginia added on three more free throws in the final minute to seal its victory 79-70.

UVA finished the day shooting 39.6%, going 21 for 53 from the field, 14 for 34 from three-point range and 23 for 29 at the charity stripe. The Cavaliers posted 14 second chance points and 14 points off rebounds compared to Louisville's 10 and 17, respectively.

Louisville will head back on the road to take on Pittsburgh inside the Petersen Events Center on Saturday, Jan. 17. Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. ET, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.