Virginia Cavaliers vs Louisville Cardinals Box Score on Mar 06, 2021

Sam Hauser scored a season-high 24 points and No. 21 Virginia clinched the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title with a 68-58 victory at Louisville on Saturday afternoon.

The Cavaliers (17-6, 13-4 ACC) never trailed and surged past Florida State to seize the No. 1 seed in next week's ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C. Virginia shot 51.9 percent from the field, made all 11 of its free throws and committed only five turnovers.

Hauser made 9 of 14 shots and grabbed eight rebounds. Trey Murphy III added 17 points and Jay Huff had 10 for the Cavaliers.

It is the fifth ACC regular-season championship in eight years for Virginia, including four outright titles (shared with North Carolina in 2018-19).

The Cardinals (13-6, 8-5) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped and missed their chance to clinch a top-four seed and a double-bye into the ACC quarterfinals. Louisville lost at home for just the second time in 11 games season.

David Johnson paced Louisville with 14 points and Jae'Lyn Withers had 12. Samuell Williamson finished with nine points and 10 boards.

The Cardinals shot 36.8 percent against the Virginia defense. ACC Player of the Year candidate Carlik Jones was shut out in the first half and missed his first nine shots, finishing with six points on 2-of-15 shooting.

Virginia built a double-digit lead early in the second half at 36-26.

A 9-2 run capped by a Dre Davis 3-pointer pulled the Cardinals within 41-38 with 13:47 remaining.

Hauser answered with a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer to stretch the lead back to 46-38.

The Cavaliers matched their largest lead at 64-51 on two free throws by Murphy with 4:44 to play.

The closest Louisville got the rest of the way was 66-58, despite Virginia playing long stretches with Hauser on the bench.

The Cavaliers have won 11 of the last 12 meetings in the series with the Cardinals.

Virginia led 28-21 at the intermission despite 0-for-6 shooting from 3-point range in the first half. Hauser scored 10 points and Huff added eight.

With Jones misfiring on all eight of his field-goal attempts, Louisville shot just 27.6 percent from the field in the opening half.

--Field Level Media