Louisville basketball sweeps Virginia: Cards add eighth win to hot streak under Pat Kelsey

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Louisville basketball’s Aboubacar Traore skipped across Denny Crum Court — mean mugging, flexing; a swagger befitting his Dirt Bowl-inspired uniform.

The 6-foot-5 senior forward had just picked Isaac McKneely’s pocket, trotted nearly the length of the floor and threw down a one-handed slam dunk that pushed the Cardinals’ lead over Virginia to 24-12 at the 10:11 mark of the first half Saturday afternoon.

The fans who packed the KFC Yum! Center — an announced crowd of 18,233; the largest of the season to date — rejoiced. Minute by minute of an 81-67 win over the Cavaliers, they only fell deeper in love with Pat Kelsey’s inaugural team; which improved to 14-5 (7-1 ACC) with its first sweep of UVA (8-10, 1-6) since joining the conference in 2014.

That’s eight straight victories for U of L —- two in a row during which it has led for more than 35 minutes. But Kelsey & Co. are endearing themselves to this hoops-crazed city by putting blinders on and embracing the work. For example: The first-year head coach showed up an hour late to his media availability Friday after jumping into a film session that ran long immediately after practice ended.

Whatever they were obsessing over behind closed doors clearly paid off.

Instead of waiting until the 16:46 mark of the second half to separate themselves, as was the case during a Jan. 4 win at John Paul Jones Arena, the Cards jumped in front by as many as 15 during the first half thanks to a combined 24 points on 8-for-13 shooting from Terrence Edwards Jr. and Reyne Smith. The closest the Cavs got after the break was 41-30 with 19:18 remaining in regulation.

Louisville has only one game next week, a 9 p.m. tipoff Tuesday at SMU.

This story will be updated.

Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville-Virginia: UofL basketball adds to streak under Pat Kelsey

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/louisville-basketball-sweeps-virginia-cards-190851806.html

Author : The Courier Journal

Publish date : 2025-01-18 19:08:00

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