Virginia Tech fell 68-52 at Louisville for their ninth loss in the last ten games. Jordan Nwora 20 points and 12 rebounds led the Cardinals to a relatively stress-free victory.
Virginia Tech shot just 19-50 from the field, while Louisville was 26-57. Louisville also used a plus-14 rebounding advantage to control the game.
The Hokies came out of the gate cold once again, missing each of their first six shots. Louisville also struggled early on offense, but they led 5-2 at the first media timeout.
After the timeout, Virginia Tech finally started making some shots. Three-pointers from Jalen Cone and PJ Horne gave them an early 10-7 lead.
During the next few minutes, Virginia Tech’s defense was able to do a good job slowing down Louisville. That led to a couple of open triples and a 20-16 lead at the under 8 timeout.
Naheim Alleyne in particular made a big impact in the first half for the Hokies. He hit three triples in the first 14 minutes, and he led the Hokies with 9 points in the first half.
Unfortunately for the Hokies, their defense started to struggle a bit towards the end of the half.
Louisville star Jordan Nwora had 9 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists for Louisville. At halftime, the two teams were tied at 27 apiece.
To start the second half, Landers Nolley continued to plague the Hokies offensively. After Virginia Tech took a 32-29 lead, another untimely turnover from Nolley stifled their early momentum.
Nwora did not help matters for Nolley. He drew two charges, one of which came against Nolley in the middle of a 12-0 run for the Cardinals. That gave Louisville a 44-34 lead and forced a Mike Young timeout.
Even that could not slow down Nwora. He came right out of the timeout and converted a traditional three-point play to push the Cardinals’ lead to 11.
After that point, the outcome was never really in question. Jalen Cone was able to cut the deficit to 10 after a couple of three pointers, but it never got closer than that.
In addition to their offensive struggles, Virginia Tech continually shot themselves in the foot. They turned the ball over an uncharacteristic 16 times, which makes it almost impossible to pull off an upset.
Jalen Cone was one of the lone bright spots for the Hokies. He went 5-10 from beyond the arc and led Virginia Tech with 15 points.
With the loss, the Hokies fall to 15-14 overall and 6-12 in conference play. They won just one game since the beginning of February.
Virginia Tech will be back in Cassell Coliseum on Wednesday against Clemson. They will look to close out their home slate with a victory and break their current losing streak.