No. 2 Virginia clinched a share of the ACC regular-season title with a 73-68 win over Louisville on Saturday at Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers wrapped up their fourth regular-season conference title in the last six seasons ahead of next week's ACC Tournament in Charlotte, where they are the defending champions. No. 3 North Carolina beat No. 4 Duke later Saturday to claim the other share of the regular-season championship.
Virginia (28-2, 16-2 ACC) trailed by seven points in the second half before getting timely buckets late in the game to preserve the five-point win. Junior guard Ty Jerome led all scorers with 24 points and added six assists and four rebounds.
Louisville (19-12, 10-8) gave the Cavaliers all they wanted as the Cardinals put four players in double figures led by Jordan Nwora, who scored 19 points. A 17-7 Virginia run late in the game put the Cavaliers up by four, and they never looked back.
The Cavaliers shot just 40 percent for the game but hit timely shots late and connected on 12 of their 28 three-point attempts. Kyle Guy joined Jerome in double figures with 13 points.
Louisville turned the ball over 10 times and shot 41.1 percent but missed late three-pointers as it tried to dig out of the deficit. The Cardinals finished the game 9-25 from deep.
Virginia led for the majority of the first half and by as many as nine despite shooting just 35 percent.
The Cavaliers knocked down seven of their 17 3-pointers and got 13 points from Jerome.
Louisville shot 41 percent and led just one time as Nwora put in 10 points.
Virginia was outrebounded by the Cardinals 40-31 but turned the ball over just four times.
The Cavaliers will be the No. 1 seed in next week's ACC Tournament while Louisville will be No. 7.
--Field Level Media
Louisville | Virginia | |
Jordan Nwora 19 | Scoring | Ty Jerome 24 |
Khwan Fore 3 | Assists | Ty Jerome 6 |
Steven Enoch 11 | Rebounds | Kyle Guy 6 |
Steven Enoch 4 | Free Throws Made | Braxton Key 6 |
Jordan Nwora 1 | Steals | Ty Jerome 2 |
Steven Enoch 1 | Blocks | Jay Huff 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Louisville | 68 | 41.1 | 9-25 | 13-17 | 7 | 34 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
Virginia | 73 | 40.4 | 12-28 | 15-21 | 13 | 25 | 6 | 7 | 4 |