Charlottesville, Va. — Louisville delivered a historic road performance Saturday, knocking off Virginia 70-50 behind balanced scoring and a dominant effort off the bench.
Reyne Smith and Aboubacar Traore each finished with 15 points as first-year Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey earned his first victory against the Cavaliers — and Louisville’s first-ever win at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cardinals (10-5, 3-1 ACC) had been 0-for-9 previously in the building and had not beaten Virginia on the road since February 1990.
Virginia (8-6, 1-2) entered having won 18 of the last 19 meetings and still holds a commanding 24-6 advantage in the all-time series, but Saturday belonged to Louisville. It was also the Cavaliers’ first season under interim coach Ron Sanchez following Tony Bennett’s surprise retirement in October.
Smith connected on five 3-pointers, while Traore provided a spark off the bench, hitting 6 of 10 shots and pulling down eight rebounds. Louisville controlled the glass by a wide margin, 42-25, and received additional scoring from J’Vonne Hadley (11 points) and Chucky Hepburn (10).
Andrew Rohde led Virginia with 16 points. Isaac McKneely added 13, and Elijah Saunders chipped in 12.
The first half was tightly contested early, with McKneely and Rohde scoring eight points apiece. Rohde’s layup midway through the period knotted the game at 20-20, but Louisville seized momentum late. Traore threw down a dunk and buried a 3-pointer as the Cardinals closed the half on a 12-7 run to take a 32-27 lead. Louisville’s bench was the difference, outscoring Virginia’s reserves 17-0 before intermission and 34-2 overall.
Louisville opened the second half with four straight points before Virginia answered with a 7-0 spurt to cut the deficit to two. That was as close as the Cavaliers would get. Smith and Rohde traded 3-pointers, Traore scored on consecutive possessions, and the Cardinals rolled through the final minutes with a decisive 10-2 burst.
Louisville returns home to face Clemson on Tuesday, while Virginia heads west to take on California on Wednesday.
