On Monday night, the Louisville Cardinals will go on the road to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies in an ACC battle. Louisville comes in at 16-6 and is the 15th ranked team in the country. Virginia Tech comes in ranked 12th with an 18-3 record.
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Virginia Teach Rocking the Defense
Louisville is coming off a 79-69 loss to North Carolina on Saturday. Louisville trailed from the tip and never really had a chance in this one as UNC was out for revenge. Dwayne Sutton led the Cardinals in both points and rebounds. Sutton scored 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting and grabbed 8 rebounds. Christen Cunningham tallied 15 points on 7 of 14 shooting to go along with 4 rebounds and 9 assists, which was a team high. Jordan Nwora rounded out the double-digit scoring for Louisville with 11 points on 3 of 9 shooting to go along with 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Nwora has been in double figures in all but 2 games this season.
Virginia Tech is coming off an odd 47-24 victory over NC State on Saturday. The defense was spectacular in this one, holding NC State to just 24 points on 9 of 54 shooting (17%). The offense, on the other hand, was not great. The Hokies had 2 players score in double figures. Kerry Blackshear Jr. led the way with 13 points on 5 of 11 shooting and also grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds. Blackshear tied for the team lead in assists with 3. Nickeil Alexander-Walker was the other Hokie in double figures with 11 points on 4 of 10 shooting to go with 5 boards and 3 assists. The Hokies shot just 36% from the field in this one and turned the ball over 12 times.
Nwora Leading Louisville
Louisville is led by Jordan Nwora, who is averaging 17.9 points a game and is shooting a team-high 40.2% from 3-point range. Nwora also leads the Cardinals on the glass with 7.7 rebounds per contest. He is followed by Dwayne Sutton, who is averaging 10.6 a game to go with 6.9 boards a game. Point guard Christen Cunningham is the only other Cardinal averaging double figures with 10.4 and leads the team in assists with 4.6 per game. Louisville is averaging 79.1 points per game on 45.6% shooting and is allowing 68.1 a game.
Virginia Tech has 4 players that average double digits. Nickeil Alexander-Walker leads the charge with 17.5 a game. Justin Robinson scores 14.4 a game but is out indefinitely with a foot injury, which is a huge loss for this Hokie team as Robinson is also the leading assister with 5.4 a game. Ahmed Hill is adding 13.4 points per game and Kerry Blackshear Jr. chips in 12.7 a game. Blackshear Jr. is also the leading rebounder with 6.8 boards a game. This Hokie team has some incredible 3-point shooters. Alexander Walker is 41.5%, Robinson is 41.1%, and Hill is 42% from deep. They also have Ty Outlaw who is shooting 47.9% from beyond the arc. Virginia Tech is scoring 77.3 a game on 49.7% shooting and are holding opponents to just 60.2 a game.
Hokies vs. Cardinals Prediction
Virginia Tech comes in at -3.5. I think the defense will be the factor in this one. The Hokies have been locking teams down on defense, as we saw on Saturday, and Louisville doesn’t play the best defense. I think Virginia Tech will be able to score with ease and they will be able to shut down the Louisville offense and win this one by 7+ points. Take Virginia Tech -3.5.
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