Virginia vs. Louisville Live Updates | NCAA Men's Basketball

Matt Newton | Jan 4, 2025

Virginia Athletics

Virginia (8-6, 1-2 ACC) suffered a 70-50 loss to Louisville (10-5, 3-1 ACC) on Saturday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia. See a full play-by-play and live analysis for the game in the thread below and stay tuned to Virginia Cavaliers On SI for more postgame coverage.

Read five takeaways from the game here: Five Takeaways From Virginia's 70-50 Loss to Louisville

Louisville 70, Virginia 50 | FINAL

Hepburn gets a phantom foul call on Murray when his foot slips and he makes both free throws. Ames turns the ball over and Murray fouls Edwards, who makes both free throws. Cards lead by 18. Khani Rooths throws down a dunk. It's a 13-3 run by Louisville to completely put this one away. Virginia loses its first game of 2025 in discouraging fashion.

Louisville 70, Virginia 50 | Final

Virginia loses track of Reyne Smith yet again and he makes the Hoos pay with his fifth three-pointer of the game. Louisville leads by 10. Buchanan is called for an illegal screen and then Hadley muscles his way to the basket for a layup. McKneely backs down Smith and hits a fadeaway jumper from the baseline. Hadley answers on the other end, drilling a three from the left wing. Sharma fouls Hadley and he makes both ends of the one-and-one. Virginia has a couple more empty possessions and then Hepburn finds Scott under the basket for an easy dunk to give the Cardinals their largest lead of the game at 64-47.

Louisville 64, Virginia 47 | 2:48 2H

Taine Murray gets a couple of offensive rebounds and passes to Ishan Sharma, who takes it inside the three-point line and hits a short jumper. Hepburn dances around Saunders on the baseline for a reverse layup. Reyne Smith relocates to the corner while Hepburn drives inside and makes the pass and Smith buries the three-pointer, his fourth of the game. Saunders backs down Traore and hits an off-balance hook shot. Sharma plays great individual defense to force a miss from Hepburn and then Saunders knocks down a baseline jumper. Louisville calls timeout leading by seven with seven minutes to play.

Louisville 52, Virginia 45 | 7:08 2H

UVA pushes for the rare transition opportunity and Rohde is fouled by Smith and makes both free throws. Louisville is crushing Virginia on the glass today. The Cardinals are outrebounding the Cavaliers 32-17 and have 12 offensive rebounds.

Louisville 47, Virginia 39 | 11:25 2H

Hepburn finds Scott for a dunk out of the timeout, but Virginia answers on the other end as McKneely finds Rohde on the left wing for a three-pointer. Virginia has been called for six fouls in the first six minutes of the second half. Louisville breaks down the UVA defense and Hepburn dishes to Traore for a slam dunk. Traore loses Cofie on a backdoor cut and Hepburn gives him the easy pass for the layup. Louisville's lead is back to eight points and Sanchez calls timeout.

Louisville 45, Virginia 37 | 12:50 2H

Reyne Smith gets a good look from three and swishes it, his third three-pointer of the game. A foul is also called on Saunders, who checks out of the game. Virginia now goes with a huge lineup featuring TJ Power, Blake Buchanan, and Anthony Robinson along with McKneely and Rohde. That lineup probably won't last long, though, as Power fouls Hepburn in the back court to take us to the under-16 timeout.

Louisville 39, Virginia 34 | 15:52 2H

Louisville starts the second half with a defensive stop and then a couple of offensive rebounds leads to an easy putback for Terrence Edwards Jr. Chucky Hepburn gets by Rohde for a layup. McKneely answers with a deep three on the other end to get UVA on the board in the second half. Elijah Saunders gets the feed from Murray and throws down an emphatic dunk through a tough contest at the rim. Waterman air-balls a corner three and then Cofie muscles his way inside for a basket. It's a quick 7-0 run for the Cavaliers and Pat Kelsey calls timeout with the Louisville lead down to two.

Louisville 36, Virginia 34 | 16:42 2H

Isaac McKneely pulls up from well beyond the arc and splashes the three-pointer. Murray fouls Hepburn on a drive and Hepburn sinks both free throws. Rohde drives and gets some separation for an open elbow jumper and he knocks it down. Traore gets a wide-open look from the right wing and drains it. Virginia gets the last possession of the first half and Andrew Rohde uses a sweet dribble move to get around his defender for a layup just before the buzzer. UVA goes into the halftime break trailing by five.

Louisville 32, Virginia 27 | Halftime

Khani Rooths is fouled by Buchanan, his second foul, and makes both free throws. Virginia turns the ball over on back-to-back possessions and then Smith finds Traore with a nice pass for a dunk. Louisville gets another stop and then Edwards finds Smith for an open three. It's a 7-0 run for Louisville; Ron Sanchez calls timeout.

Louisville 27, Virginia 20 | 2:28 1H

Louisville uses some great ball movement to generate an alley-oop dunk from Edwards to Scott. McKneely gets a backdoor pass from Buchanan and dishes inside to Saunders for a floater. Louisville converts another lob, but the pass was too close to the rim and Khani Rooths is called for basket interference. Saunders hits a fadeaway jumper in the paint late in the shot clock. Andrew Rohde drives inside and spins into a sweet finish at the rim; that's the second time Rohde has gotten himself to the basket for a layup. That caps a 6-0 run for Virginia to tie the game at 20-20.

Louisville 20, Virginia 20 | 3:59 1H

Dai Dai Ames, who came in off the bench after playing just nine minutes last time out against NC State, fouls Terrence Edwards Jr., who makes 1/2 free throws, but Ishan Sharma can't secure the rebound and Louisville gets another chance. Aboubacar Traore is blocked by Cofie, but gets the rebound and lays it in. Traore backs down TJ Power for an easy layup as Power goes to the floor. J'Vonne Hadley gets inside and hits a floater and it's a 7-0 run for Louisville. Isaac McKneely ends a near three-minute scoring drought with a corner three, Virginia's first made three-pointer of the game. UVA is currently 1/9 from downtown and trails Louisville by four.

Louisville 18, Virginia 14 | 7:42 1H

Reyne Smith checks into the game for Louisville and immediately shows why he's the team's best three-point shooter and third-leading scorer despite coming off the bench, as he drills a corner three. Chucky Hepburn uses a crafty spin move to get around Rohde and scores with a reverse layup. Elijah Saunders faces up on his defender and knocks down a baseline jumper. Virginia is 0/6 from beyond the arc to start the game, but two of those three-point attempts went halfway down and rimmed out. Neither team had scored in the last few minutes, but then Rohde maneuvers his way for a layup plus a foul on Edwards.

Louisville 11, Virginia 11 | 11:30 1H

Louisville wins the tipoff and immediately scores as Noah Waterman cuts backdoor for a layup. Isaac McKneely gets going downhill, stops on a dime, and hits a fadeaway jumper. Louisville inbounds the ball quickly after the made basket and beats Virginia up the floor with J'Vonne Hadley scoring off the glass. Taine Murray is fouled inside and makes both free throws. Terrence Edwards Jr. gets free on a cut and patiently scores with a reverse layup. Jacob Cofie grabs an offensive rebound and cashes in on the second chance with a tough basket inside plus a foul on James Scott. We're all tied at 6-6 at the first media timeout.

Louisville 6, Virginia 6 | 15:56 1H

Here are the posted starting lineups for both teams:
Louisville: Chucky Hepburn, Terrence Edwards Jr., J'Vonne Hadley, Noah Waterman, James Scott
Virginia: Andrew Rohde, Isaac McKneely, Taine Murray, Elijah Saunders, Jacob Cofie
UVA starts Rohde and Murray over Dai Dai Ames, who played just nine minutes against NC State, but appears to be available to play today.

As we await our 4pm ET tipoff on the ACC Network for Virginia vs. Louisville, read a full preview of the game here: Virginia Basketball vs. Louisville Game Preview, Score Prediction

Virginia vs. Louisville Pregame Notes

• Virginia leads Louisville 24-5 in the all-time series that dates back to 1924.
• The Cavaliers are 19-2 against the Cardinals since they joined the ACC in 2014.
• UVA is 11-1 all-time against Louisville in Charlottesville and 9-0 at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cardinals haven't beaten the Cavaliers in Charlottesville since 1990.
• Virginia has won 18 of the last 19 meetings against Louisville and comes into this matchup having won the last nine games against the Cardinals.
• Virginia will wrap up a five-game homestand on Saturday. UVA is 3-1 in the first four games of the homestand and is 7-1 at John Paul Jones Arena this season.

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