By Russ Brown
Special to NKyTribune
LOUISVILLE — The White Out turned into a Wipe Out, and Rick Pitino didn’t mince words.
“We got our brains beat in,” the University of Louisville basketball coach said shortly after Virginia had done just that Saturday afternoon, handing the No. 16/14 Cardinals (17-4, 6-2 ACC) their most lopsided defeat in the KFC Yum! Center in the six-year history of the arena.
The final score was 63-47, but even that doesn’t begin to indicate Virginia’s dominance that came despite a white-clad crowd of 21,714 that was eager to lend their support. It was UofL’s first homecourt defeat of the season and snapped a 16-game winning streak in the Yum dating back to last year’s 74-65 loss to NC State on Feb. 14.
It was also UofL’s worst homecourt loss in seven seasons, dating back to an 87-65 defeat against Charlotte in Freedom Hall in 2009-10.
The Cards were never really in the game, with No. 11/12 Virginia’s (17-4, 6-3) crisp, patient offense slicing their defense to shreds and its suffocating man-to-man defense stopping UofL’s offense cold.
Symbolic of Louisville’s problems were Damion Lee and Trey Lewis. That pair had combined for 51 points on 10-of-14 marksmanship from 3-point range in a 91-83 win over Virginia Tech on Wednesday.
Against Virginia, they scored a mere 10 points, none of which mattered, coming long after the issue was no longer in doubt. Lewis missed his first six shots, Lee his first four. The first points by either player came on Lewis’ free throw with 11:48 remaining. At the time, Virginia led 41-21. Lee didn’t get his first points until scoring underneath at the 9:52 mark. They finished a combined 3-of-13, including 1-of-5 from behind the arc.
“They’re a real physical team, they really stuck to their game plan, edging hard on ball screens, staying together as a defensive unit,” Lee said. “We weren’t hitting shots and we also weren’t getting stops. Coach told us this was gonna be a defensive team and Coach told us the best defensive team would win this game, and that’s what it came down to. They played way better defense than us.”
As a team, UofL shot a season-worst 32.7 percent (16-49), including 4-of-19 in the first half, and committed a season-high 18 turnovers. Virginia, on the other hand, shot 57.8 percent (26-45) and got 30 of its points in the paint.
In the first half, UofL went 10 minutes without a field goal and managed only one basket in the final 7 1/2 minutes of the period. They scored back-to-back field goals just twice all day.
“We were taking the wrong shots,” Pitino said. “We needed more ball movement and less dribbling. We fell right into their trap. They were just much better than us. Every position was better than us. We got discouraged by a much better basketball team.”
Eventually, the Cards began to look frustrated.
“Yeah, I’m frustrated right now,” Lewis said. “It’s embarrassing to lose like that on our homecourt. I never would have expected this to happen, but they came out and brought the fight to us. That’s unacceptable. That can’t happen, especially at home. But you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Virginia. They’re a veteran team that has been playing together a long time. They came out here on a mission and they executed.”
Virginia took control at the outset, jumping to a 17-5 lead that had expanded to 29-14 by halftime. Then the Cavs dashed any comeback hopes the Cards might have entertained, outscoring the hosts 12-4 in the first five minutes of the second half to open a 41-18 gap.
Virginia’s lead hovered around 20 points the rest of the way until coach Tony Bennett sent in the mop-up crew in the last minute, allowing UofL to narrow the final margin.
“It was one of our best performances. I don’t know it was our best,” said Virginia guard Malcolm Brogdon. “I felt we were really good on defense. we put together a string of stops. We were able to impact their mental approach a little bit.”
Brogdon also noted that keeping that keeping the decibel level of Louisville’s fans low was an important factor.
“That was huge,” Brogdon said. “This crowd is on par in terms of intensity with (Duke’s) Cameron Indoor. They are an amazing crowd, amazing intensity. We were able to keep them quiet, keep them out of the game. That was definitely good for us. It’s a great place, get enviroment.”
Brogdon and forward Anthony Gill each scored 13 points to lead Virginia.
The Cavs had beaten four current top 25 teams — Xavier, West Virginia, Villanova and Notre Dame — but had struggled on the road in ACC games. They had lost three in a row — at Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Florida State — before edging Wake Forest with a miracle comeback on Tuesday. But they looked like true road warriors against UofL.
“This was our most complete game at both ends of the floor,” Bennett said. “We got off to a good start and just kept playing. We wanted to fight defensively and make Lee and Lewis earn everything they got, bother their shot and not let Louisville work inside-out. This game was a blueprint of what we’ve got to be defensively.”
If there was a bright spot for UofL, it was the play of freshman forwards Deng Adel and Ray Spalding. They were the Cards’ only double-figure scorers with 12 points each, and they combined for 10-of-19 shooting and 12 rebounds.
But it was hard for Pitino to feel good about anything after such a thorough beating, and the Cards have no time to lick their wounds, with No.2/1 and league-leader North Carolina paying a visit Monday night.
“It doesn’t get any easier,” Pitino said.
But it’s difficult to see how it could get any harder.