Louisville finds offense in second half versus Virginia despite limited attempts

Louisville's free throws help beat Virginia

In No. 5 Louisville's 80-73 win over Virginia, the Cardinals were held to seven made field goals in the second half. Virginia is known for their tough defense, but Louisville's ability to be able to find a way to win a game like this should give fans confidence. 

Louisville came out of the gates on fire, making six of their first seven attempts from behind the arc. The Cardinals came back down to earth by the end of the first half, going into the locker room 8-of-15 from three. 

Virginia made their run in the second half, cutting their 14-point deficit to four by the seven-minute mark. The Cardinals had two separate five-minute periods in which they didn't make a field goal, all the while Virginia Tomas Woldetensae sunk bucket after bucket. 

Despite being limited to 7-of-19 shooting in the second half, Louisville made 21 of their 24 free throw attempts and only committed four turnovers. 

Louisville head coach Chris Mack credited Virginia with being a smart defensive team. 

"You have to try to find out, as a coach, how to create really good shots. They're such a smart team. They don't have to call a timeout to adjust to an action or play or particular player," Mack said. 

The second-year head coach continued to praise Virginia's discipline. 

"They're not going to gamble. If you're trying to tilt the floor and get the ball to other side so your guy has space to operate, they're smart and they sit in the lane ... when you're trying to call a ball screen to free up your guard, they attack it. When, 'Ok, now we're going to slip it,' they don't attack it," Mack said. "They're just really, really smart and discipline and they're tough and they do it every possession for the entire game."

With Virginia causing issues for Louisville's offense, making free throws seemed to be the only way the Cardinals could secure the victory. Center Malik Williams connected on seven of his eight attempts while guard Ryan McMahon and forward Jordan Nwora each made all four. 

With under 90 seconds to play and holding three-point lead, freshman David Johnson made three of his four attempts to keep the Cardinals ahead.

Eighty appears to be the magic number for Mack and his team as the Cardinals are 9-0 this season when scoring at least 80 points.