CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- After Louisville lost by eight at home earlier this season to Virginia, head coach Rick Pitino described the Cavaliers as the Cardinals' "kryptonite' in the postgame press conference.

And for good reason.

Since joining the ACC back in 2014, Louisville had beaten Virginia just once in five meetings and continued the negative trend on Monday night.

After trailing by two at halftime, No. 12 Virginia used a second-half surge to knock off No. 4 Louisville 71-55 Monday night at John Paul Jones Arena.

"I hope you guys like our defensive execution in the second half, I liked it a lot," Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said. "That's what we have to be. We flew around, we jammed the lane. It was a challenge in the first half and they're talented. I don't know if they got worn out or not but I know the crowd was into it."

With only seven scholarship players available, Louisville was forced to play short-handed against a Virginia team that already had its number. To add to an already depleted backcourt, Louisville's frontcourt took a blow when it was announced before the game that guard Deng Adel and forward Mangok Mathiang did not travel with the team after missing curfew.

"Don't even mention their names to me," Pitino said after the game about Adel and Mathiang.

Louisville's frontcourt struggles were evident as Virginia outrebounded Louisville 38-19 and surrendered 32 points in the paint to the Cavaliers.

The Cardinals struggled to 37 percent shooting from the floor while the Cavaliers shot 53 percent and were led by guard London Perrantes' 18 points.

"He's (Perrantes) got a good feel so I trust him," Bennett said of his senior point guard. "There were opportunities to attack and get to the basket and we did a good job of that tonight, especially London."

In a loss over the weekend to Syracuse, Virginia shot just five free throws but curbed that going 18-of-20 from the charity stripe against Louisville. Perrantes was 6-of-7.

Virginia (18-5, 8-3 ACC) outscored Louisville by 18 in the second half and was paced underneath by Isaiah Wilkins' first career double-double. Wilkins finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks.

Freshman V.J. King led Louisville (19-5, 7-4) by scoring a career-high 24 points while Donovan Mitchell added 16.

"We played great in the first half," Pitino said. "We did some things that we wanted to do but in the second half we just couldn't make shots. We played poorly on the defensive end and got beat off of the bounce. Our guys tried their best and when we are at full strength, we are a pretty good basketball team."

Louisville was held to just 25 percent shooting in the second half.

After falling behind 10-3, Louisville battled its way back and used a 14-6 run to take its first lead of the game at 17-16 with 9:48 left in the first half. The Cardinals continued to lead for the remainder of the half and by as many as seven before taking a 34-32 advantage into the halftime break.

Louisville shot 47 percent for the half and received 12 points from King and eight from Mitchell.

Virginia shot at a 48 percent clip over the first 20 minutes and was led by Perrantes, who put in 11 points.

NOTES: Virginia is 5-1 against Louisville since the Cardinals joined the ACC. ... Louisville won its three previous ACC games by an average of 34 points. ... Louisville's 34 first-half points were the most it has scored in a first half against the Cavaliers since joining the ACC. ... Virginia will travel to take on rival Virginia Tech on Sunday while Louisville will host Miami on Saturday.