Virginia coach Tony Bennett emphasized to his players during the preparation stage that it was paramount that Louisville not get easy shots.

Bennett urged his players to take that stand one possession at a time.

"Make them earn," Bennett said. "Do what we do. Fight and bother their shots."

Bennett's players got the message and turned the one-possession mantra into a game-long exercise of stifling defensive play as No. 11 Virginia cruised to a convincing 63-47 victory over No. 16 Louisville on Saturday in Atlantic Coast Conference play at Louisville, Ky.

The Cavaliers (17-4, 6-3 ACC) frustrated the Cardinals throughout the contest. Virginia held Louisville to a season-worst 32.7 percent from the field and forced 18 turnovers.

"We turned the ball over too much and you can't do that against a Virginia team," Cardinals coach Rick Pitino said. "They played like an experienced basketball team and we played like a bunch of inexperienced guys who didn't know what they were in for."

Virginia also was proficient on offense and shot 57.8 percent from the field and led by as many as 23 points while posting its fourth consecutive victory.

Senior guard Malcolm Brogdon and senior forward Anthony Gill scored 13 points apiece. Junior guard London Perrantes and senior center Mike Tobey each contributed nine points.

Freshman forwards Deng Adel and Raymond Spalding scored 12 points each for the Cardinals (17-4, 6-2), who had a four-game winning streak halted. The loss was the first in 14 home games this season for Louisville.

The Cardinals' starting five combined for just 20 points. Senior sharpshooter Damion Lee had just six points and backcourt mate Trey Lewis had four, and the two were a combined 3-of-13 shooting.

"It's embarrassing to get beat like that on your home floor," Lewis said.

Louisville sophomore power forward Chinanu Onuaku also was ineffective while dealing with the stomach flu. Onuaku had one point, no rebounds and committed five turnovers in 19 minutes.

It was a beating Pitino said he saw coming.

"They were much better than us," Pitino said. "At every position, they were better than us."

Louisville trailed by 15 at the break, scored the first basket of the second half to cut its deficit to 13 and Virginia immediately ripped off a 12-2 run. Perrantes finished the burst with a 3-pointer and two free throws to make it 41-18 with 14:15 remaining.

Sophomore guard Marial Shayok connected on a 3-pointer to make it 47-24 with 10:14 remaining as it became clear the Cardinals would not stage a comeback.

"It was our most complete game and the guys didn't get stretched," Bennett said. "Of course, Louisville didn't shoot it well and they missed some shots. Sometimes we had a hand in that. We were complete on both ends of the floor."

Virginia held Louisville to 21.1 percent shooting from the field in the first half while taking a 29-14 lead.

Sophomore guard Quentin Snider scored five early points as the Cardinals trailed by two before the Cavaliers scored 10 consecutive points over the next seven minutes. A basket by sophomore guard Darius Thompson capped the burst and gave Virginia a 17-5 advantage with 8:40 left.

Gill's basket increased the Cavaliers' lead to 23-10 with 5:19 to play and Louisville responded with Spalding's basket -- its fourth and final field goal of the half. Brogdon's basket with 1:15 left provided Virginia with its 15-point lead, 29-14, at halftime.

NOTES: Cavaliers G Malcolm Brogdon (1,498 points) moved into 18th place in school history, passing Donald Hand (1,486 from 1997-2001). ... The Louisville tandem of guards Damion Lee (29) and Trey Lewis (22) combined for 51 points in Wednesday's victory over Virginia Tech. ... Virginia improved to 7-4 all-time against Louisville. ... The 16-point margin of defeat was the Cardinals' worst in six seasons at the KFC Yum! Center. The previous largest margin of defeat was 78-63 against Kentucky on Dec. 31, 2010. ... The 16-point victory represented Virginia's largest margin of victory in a road game since an 83-60 win at Georgia Tech on Feb. 22, 1995. ... Cardinals freshman F Deng Adel had 25 points for the season before scoring 12 on 5-of-9 shooting.