Louisville-Virginia: What we learned

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – -- The University of Louisville basketball team came here knowing full well just how good Virginia is at defense.

U of L coach Rick Pitino had shown his players the film even before they started preparing for Saturday's primetime matchup at Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena, a loud, jam-packed basketball theater nestled into the rolling countryside.

So, no, U of L was not surprised to play in such a physical chess match for a spot at the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. But Virginia's packed-in defense forced double-digit Louisville turnovers and held off a second-half charge in winning 52-47 in the first of two meetings between the teams.

Sign me up for the return date on March 7 in Louisville.

READ MORE |Game Rewind: Cold Cards fall at Virginia

Every single possession was a slugfest. Every stop was a huge one; every bucket even bigger.

"They're well-drilled and well-schooled at what they do," Pitino said of Virginia. "To beat them ... They make the right plays down the stretch and make big shots."

One thing stuck out through Saturday's game: Pitino's experimentation with an extended bench came at an odd time.

Two days ago, Pitino questioned all the questions about his bench. Ninth-ranked U of L (19-4, 7-3 in the ACC) didn't need to play nine or 10 guys, he said.

"I know you guys love the platoon systems," he joked.

He directly mocked the idea of playing his bench instead of players like Chris Jones, Terry Rozier and Montrezl Harrell. He did the same thing after Tuesday's win at Miami.

And in a game with few possessions, against a team that, like Louisville, doesn't use its bench all that much, Saturday seemed like an odd time to play all these guys.

It's impossible to not consider which players were on the floor during Louisville's 12-minute, seven-second drought to close the first half and start the second.

In that span, Louisville was 0 for 10 with four turnovers.

For its part, Virginia (21-1, 9-1 in the ACC) only scored 11 points during that same stretch. And Louisville deserves tons of credit for playing such staunch defense, too.

But that hammers home the issue here: If Louisville had had its key players on the floor for more of that drought, perhaps there wouldn't have been one.

We'll never know.

But like I said before, sign me up for the rematch. It'll be a good one.

Going rogue? Let's play basketball madlibs: Louisville's offense in the first half was ____? Meager? Inadequate? Are these words strong enough? Probably not. Louisville was 4 of 21 in the first half with six turnovers and just two offensive rebounds. Those numbers sharply contrast with the second-half stats: 13 of 25, five turnovers, five offensive rebounds. So what happened?

"If you're anxious to score, they broke the plays down and tried to get in the lane," Pitino said. "They didn't understand how good Virginia is defensively. The first and second option will not be there. The pick-and-roll high does not work too well against these guys unless you're going downhill."

Road rims. It's been sort of a jokey topic, but the whole "road rims treat Louisville better" thing took a bit of a hit on Saturday. Sure, a lot of that should be credited to Virginia's absolutely stifling defense. But a lot of decent looks clanged out, too, for Louisville. The Cards got zero favors in the first half from the road rims that had treated them so well in the previous eight road or neutral game, and their 51.3 road shooting percentage will take a hit.

Blackshear's big moments. We have to give credit where credit is due. Pitino said on Thrusday that the 6-foot-5 Wayne Blackshear is getting criticized too much for his lack of scoring, but he's playing well. He made a ton of big shots in the second half, and Louisville's couldn't have crept back to a three-point deficit without him.