 rebounded from last week's loss at No. 6 Florida State and took a half-game lead over the Seminoles, who swept the season series and hold the tiebreaker with two games to play. Louisville has one game remaining, at third-place Virginia on Saturday.Jalen Cone scored 15 points off the bench and Nahiem Alleyne had 12 for Virginia Tech (15-14, 6-12), which lost its fourth in a row and ninth in 10 games.Nwora bounced back from an 11-point effort against FSU to make 8 of 16 from the field with a couple of 3-pointers. The junior followed one 3 with a three-point play during the 15-2 second-half run that put Louisville ahead to stay.Steven Enoch had eight points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinals, who owned Tech 40-26 on the boards. Louisville shot 50% in the second half and 46% overall while holding the Hokies to 38% from the field.BIG PICTUREVirginia Tech: After an energetic first half in which it built several small leads, the Hokies slowed after taking their last lead at 34-32 in the second. They missed seven of their next 10 shots and struggled to contain Nwora.Louisville: The Cardinals' home finale wasn't pretty, though the finish was better than the start. Nwora created chances and had help from Ryan McMahon (10 points), who dropped a couple of 3s. Louisville finished 17-1 at home as it honored its seniors and Nwora, who could enter the NBA draft.UP NEXTVirginia Tech hosts Clemson on Wednesday, seeking to sweep the Tigers. The Hokies won 67-60 earlier this season.Louisville seeks a sweep Saturday when it visits Virginia, which has won six straight since it fell to the Cardinals.---More college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/-Top25)
Feb 28, 2020No. 11 Louisville not only is coming off Monday's loss at Florida State, the Cardinals are trying to deal with the thought of playing without injured junior center Malik Williams for an extended period of time.Williams, averaging 8.8 points and 6.3 rebounds, left the game early in the first half after suffering what appeared to be a serious ankle injury. When he returned to the bench, he was in tears wearing a boot on his left foot.Williams, who has not practiced this week, said he's taking things "day by day." He said he has not yet been ruled out of Sunday's game against Virginia Tech at Louisville."I am just taking it day by day right now and not trying to rush it," Williams said during Louisville coach Chris Mack's radio show this week. "It could be tomorrow when I am ready. I'll know when it's time." Before the 82-67 loss to Florida State, Williams had 11 or more points in five of Louisville's previous six games. He had 14 points and 13 rebounds in a 90-66 win over Syracuse on Feb. 19.Mack said Williams' absence against the Seminoles was significant because he is Louisville's "best defender." "On the defensive end, we are always going to miss Malik no matter who we play," Mack said. "He defends the rim. Very vocal. He sees the game." Louisville (23-6, 14-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) will play Virginia Tech (15-13, 6-11) in its final home game of the season. The Cardinals are 16-1 at home this year.Two starters -- forward Dwayne Sutton (9.3 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game) and center Steven Enoch (9.4 ppg.) -- will be honored on Senior Night.The Hokies have dropped eight of their last nine games, including a 56-53 home loss to Virginia on Wednesday. The Hokies made 9 of 27 shots from 3-point range and rallied in the second half from a 15-point deficit to tie the game in the closing seconds.Virginia Tech coach Mike Young shuffled his starting lineup, playing redshirt freshman forward Landers Nolley II off the bench for only the second time this season. True freshman John Ojiako made his first career start against Virginia and had two points and three rebounds in nine minutes.Nolley led the Hokies with 13 points and had five rebounds in 32 minutes before fouling out.Sophomore guard Isaiah Wilkins also started for only the fifth time this season. He did not score and had two rebounds in 10 minutes."I thought John had been playing well, and I'm trying to get him 21, 22, 23 minutes because I just feel that good about his direction as a player," Young said. "I thought Isaiah Wilkins helped the team. He stuck it up in there and played a good basketball game against Duke (11 points, five assists and three steals last weekend)."Nothing more than that. I've always been more concerned with who finishes than I am who starts. Typically who finishes are those who are helping us win, and I thought the lineup we went with late in the second half did just that." --Field Level Media
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