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No. 1 men’s basketball beats Louisville 75-58 in ACC Tournament quarterfinal

Cavaliers move on to semis with dominant win over the Cardinals

<p>Sophomore guard Kyle Guy scored 19 points in Thursday afternoon's quarterfinal game against Louisville.</p>

Sophomore guard Kyle Guy scored 19 points in Thursday afternoon's quarterfinal game against Louisville.

No. 1 Virginia downed Louisville in the quarterfinal round of the ACC Tournament Thursday with a convincing 75-58 win in Brooklyn, NY.

“They’re a heck of a team,” redshirt senior guard Devon Hall said of Louisville. “We know that walking into it it was going to be a battle … They’ve got some really talented players.”

The 17-point win for Virginia in the ACC Tournament was the third time that Virginia beat Louisville this season. Just a week ago, Virginia edged out Louisville with a 67-66 come-from-behind win. Though the Cavaliers trailed for much of that game and a victory seemed improbable, Virginia pulled off an incredible come-back that ended with a game-winning, buzzer-beater three from redshirt freshman guard De’Andre Hunter.

Sophomore guard Kyle Guy led the Cavaliers with 19 points in the quarterfinal matchup, while Hall had a big afternoon himself, putting up 14 points. Virginia also got double-digit scoring from Hunter, sophomore guard Ty Jerome and redshirt sophomore forward Mamadi Diakite with 12, 11 and 10 points respectively for each of them.

In the first half, Guy had eleven points and was a perfect three-for-three from behind the three-point arc. Hall also got on the scoreboard early in the game with his eight points in the first 20 minutes of play. As a team, Virginia impressively shot 50 percent from three and 48.5 percent overall in the half. On defense, the Cavaliers held Louisville to 35.7 percent shooting, making for a 38-27 Virginia lead at halftime.

“We know that we’re going to get everybody’s best shot,” Hall said. “So going into it, we have to try come out and punch first.”

Although the Cavaliers held onto their lead in the second-half, Louisville cut the lead to four points with just under nine minutes to play. However, Virginia regained the game’s momentum and went on to finish out the game with a 75-58 win. The Cardinals ended the day shooting 36.7 percent, while Virginia finished with 52.5 percent shooting.

“They made a nice run to cut it to four or six and we answered and we got enough stops and guys made some nice plays,” Coach Tony Bennett said. “We tightened up a little more so they had to earn their baskets.”

The Cavaliers will now play Clemson in the semifinal game scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off on Friday night.

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