In 2023, Virginia will come home and try to bounce back against Louisville on Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. The team hopes to forget its crushing defeat at Notre Dame.

Get a complete preview of Virginia vs. Louisville by reading on for information on the game, notes, an opponent scouting report, things to look out for, and a prediction for Wednesday’s encounter.

Details of the match: Louisville Cardinals (5-7, 0-1 ACC) vs. Virginia Cavaliers (10-3, 1-1 ACC)

When: January 3, Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. ET

Where: Charlottesville, Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena

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How to listen: Virginia Sports Radio Network (SiriusXM 84, SXM App 84)—click here for affiliates

Virginia leads the series all-time, 22–5.

Last meeting: On March 4, 2023, at Charlottesville, Virginia, defeated Louisville 75–60.

Notes on the Game
With the Cardinals in the ACC, Virginia has an overall record of 22-5, including a 17-2 record against them.
Virginia has triumphed over Louisville in 16 of the previous 17 encounters and seven of the last eight games.
In Charlottesville, UVA is 10-1 against Louisville, and at John Paul Jones Arena, they are 8-0 against the Cardinals.
The Cavaliers won 75-60 over the Cardinals in the regular season finale last March, splitting the 2022–2023 ACC regular season championship. This was their most recent meeting.
Report on Opponent Scouting: Louisville
2022–2023: ACC 4-28, 2–18
2023–2024: 0–1, ACC: 5-7

Louisville basketball’s Kenny Payne era has been disastrous from the beginning and is probably not going to last long. The Cardinals have improved this year in that they already have more wins at 5-7, compared to their 4–28 record in the previous year. But because of a swirl of turbulence in the locker room and off the court, this season has been worse overall for Louisville’s program.

Louisville declared on December 13th that JUCO transfer guard Koron Davis has communicated his intention to move to the school. After that, Davis said on Twitter that he had never stated he wanted to transfer. Following that, Louisville issued a second statement stating that Davis had been officially kicked out of the program. That evening, Arkansas State—a program that hadn’t defeated a major conference opponent in almost a decade—beat the Cardinals 12 points at home. For Kenny Payne, it was just the most chaotic day in an often turbulent career.

There have been numerous speculations in the weeks that have passed suggesting that Kenny Payne’s time as Louisville’s head coach was running out. However, no decisions regarding Payne’s future have been made, according to athletic director Josh Heird, and he will continue to lead the program as Louisville goes “into the new year.”

Regarding the squad itself, there is undoubtedly some talent on the roster; however, it is more likely that inadequate coaching and a lack of cohesiveness and chemistry are to blame for the team’s lack of success. Skyy Clark, an Illinois transfer, leads the team in scoring with 15.8 points per contest. Despite shooting a lot of threes, the 6’3″ sophomore guard only makes 28.3% of them. Tre White, a transfer from USC who was named to the PAC-12 All-Freshman team the previous season, is the second highest scorer. In a typical game, the 6’7″ guard scores 12.7 points and pulls down 6.1 rebounds.

Mike James, who returned to Louisville after starting every game as a freshman the previous season, completes the backcourt. The 6’5″ guard is shooting 33.3% from three-point range and averaging 12.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Another key player returning to the front court is Brandon Huntley-Hatfield. He is a 6’10” player that averages 9.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, almost reaching a double-double.

JJ Traynor, a 6’8″ senior forward, started three of the first eight games and is averaging 10.1 points per contest. But it’s unclear right now what his status is for Wednesday’s game against Virginia. Due to an injury, Traynor has missed the previous four games. Payne stated that he is “getting close” to making a comeback, but he shockingly failed to provide an official status for his availability for the match at UVA.

Ty-Laur Johnson, a 6’0″ rookie guard who has started Louisville’s last three games and is averaging 8.3 points per game, is another player to watch.

The Cardinals haven’t played since losing to Kentucky 95-76 on December 21st. At the moment, Louisville is rated 315th in the RPI, 259th in the NET rankings, and 183rd on KenPom. In light of that, Virginia needs to win this game. This should sound familiar because I stated this much prior to the Cavaliers’ embarrassing 76-54 loss in South Bend. There’s a good chance that Virginia plays like it did against Notre Dame and loses this game.