Hokie ClubLOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No.19 Virginia Tech men's basketball team fell in a second-half heartbreaker to No. 25 Louisville 73-71 inside the KFC Yum! Center on Wednesday evening.
Louisville (8-1, 3-0 ACC) maintained its streak of 17 straight wins against the Hokies (8-2, 2-1 ACC). Mike Young fell to 0-2 versus the Cards and 1-3 against head coach Chris Mack.
Jalen Cone led the Hokies with an impressive performance of 23 points, a career-high beating his previous of 18 against Longwood. In his record breaking night, Cone contributed six of the Hokies 10 3s. Nahiem Alleyne had 15 points for the Hokies, along with Keve Aluma who contributed 11. Justyn Mutts was close to another double-double with 10 points and 8 rebounds. The Hokies shot 80% (16 of 20) from behind the line and 42.6% overall.
Defensively, Alleyne led the Hokies in steals contributing to the teams seven overall. The Hokies capitalized on Louisville's 12 turnovers, scoring 13 points in response. The Cardinals out shot Tech with 47.3% on field goals. Louisville's Carlik Jones and David Johnson both picked up 17 points a piece with Jae'Lyn Withers just behind them scoring 16.
THE GAME
The Hokies came out strong with an 11-0 lead. The run began with a jumper from Keve Aluma and ended with two 3's from Justyn Mutts. The Cards responded with a nine point run to cut the Hokies lead to two. The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the half, ending with the Cardinals in the lead 36-31.
Louisville came out on fire to start the second half contributing a 7-0 run to go up 43-31. The Cards struck again with a four-point run to go up 14, their biggest lead of the game. The Hokies began chipping away at the score with several small runs throughout the half. Cone maintained reliable scoring 12 points in the climb. With six seconds left Aluma made two free throws to cut the Cardinals lead to one. After a Hokie foul, Louisville's Johnson made a free throw to maintain the lead. Despite a last second 3, the Hokies fell short 73-71 for their first ACC loss of the season.
GAME NOTES
- The Hokies obtained 30 points off the bench, leading over the Cardinal's 17 points off the bench.
- Tech outscored Louisville in points off turnovers 13-12
- Louisville was able to out play the Hokies in points in the paint
(20-30), fastbreak points (2-8), and second chance points (5-15)
- The Hokies were able to secure more 3-point field goals (9-6), but
the Cardinals were able to make up for in field goals (23-26)
UP NEXT
The Hokies will play to host Notre Dame (3-6, 0-3) at 6 p.m. ET on Saturday at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum with coverage available through ACC Network.
Gallery: (1-6-2021) 2021 MEN'S BASKETBALL at LOUISVILLE