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Five Takeaways From Virginia’s 70-50 Loss to Louisville

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Five Takeaways From Virginia’s 70-50 Loss to Louisville


Virginia went cold from three-point range and struggled on both ends of the floor down the stretch as the Cavaliers (8-6, 1-2 ACC) suffered a 70-50 loss to Louisville (10-5, 3-1 ACC) in their first game of 2025 on Saturday evening at John Paul Jones Arena. Here are our five key takeaways from UVA’s loss, which was the first time the Cavaliers had ever lost to Louisville at John Paul Jones Arena.

There was stretches of Saturday’s game where the Cavaliers were going punch-for-punch with the Cardinals. A three-pointer from Andrew Rohde made it a four-point game with 15 minutes left in the first half, but that was the closest UVA ever got, as Louisville outscored Virginia 29-13 over the last 15 minutes of regulation. While the Virginia defense had been playing fairly well up to that point, the Cavaliers had too many breakdowns and gave up way too many open looks for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, the other end of the floor was the much bigger issue for Virginia.

Virginia came into the game ranked 27th in the country in three-point shooting, converting at 38.5% as a team. Against Louisville on Saturday, the Cavaliers went a dismal 5/26 from beyond the arc. Isaac McKneely and Andrew Rohde went a combined 5/12 from three, which isn’t bad, but the rest of the team shot 0/14. There were a couple of three-point attempts that rimmed out and UVA missed a few open shots, but the Cavaliers struggled mightily to generate open looks against Louisville and it showed in the final perimeter shooting numbers.

Part of Louisville’s ability to pull away in this game was the sharpshooting of Reyne Smith. UVA knew Smith was Louisville’s best three-point shooter and yet Smith continued to make the Cavaliers pay for losing track of him off of screens. Smith drained five three-pointers and most of them were open looks. Virginia needs to take a hard look at the tape from this one and replicate what Louisville was doing with Reyne Smith for Isaac McKneely. As a side note, Smith and the Louisville bench scored 34 points as compared to just two points for the Virginia bench.

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The Cardinals won the rebounding battle 42-25 and had 14 offensive rebounds to UVA’s six. The Cavaliers were fortunate that Louisville only scored 10 second-chance points. There was an obvious gap in athleticism between these two teams, but more concerningly, there was an evident gap in the levels of energy, aggressiveness, and desire with which the Cardinals pursued rebounds that the Hoos simply couldn’t, or wouldn’t match.

We’ve talked at length about UVA’s point guard situation and the lack of depth this team has in terms of ball-handlers and offensive facilitators. Dai Dai Ames is UVA’s best ball-handler, but in the last two games, he has played just nine and ten minutes, respectively. He was 0/2 from the floor and scored zero points against Louisville. Andrew Rohde played a good game and he deserves some recognition for his efforts, recording 16 points, three assists, and three steals. But when Andrew Rohde is the team’s primary, and in some ways, only offensive playmaker, that underscores some of the fundamental offensive flaws this team is facing right now.

Up next, Virginia heads west for a pair of games in California, starting with a late-night contest at Cal on Wednesday at 11pm ET (ESPNU).

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West Virginia Extends Offer to Alabama Transfer Linebacker Sterling Dixon

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West Virginia Extends Offer to Alabama Transfer Linebacker Sterling Dixon


West Virginia is getting in on the action for what will be one of the most coveted recruits in the transfer portal, sending out an offer to former Alabama freshman linebacker Sterling Dixon.

Dixon has also been contacted by Houston, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and a few others. He appeared in just three games this season, making one tackle, which came in their win over Western Kentucky. WVU is hoping to get a date for a visit nailed down soon.

He chose the Crimson Tide over offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UCF, USC, and about a dozen others.

In his senior year at Spanish Fort High School, Dixon racked up 128 tackles, 32 tackles for loss, 32 hurries, 15 sacks, two fumble recoveries, one forced fumble, one interception, and one pass breakup.

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Dixon will have four years of eligibility remaining.

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VDOT crews treat roads in Northern Virginia, ask residents to stay off the roads

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VDOT crews treat roads in Northern Virginia, ask residents to stay off the roads


Virginia Department of Transportation crews pre-treated about 2000 miles worth of roads in Northern Virginia and has crews on standby ready to plow the snow that’s heading towards the area Monday.

“We should have around 3000 pieces of equipment out there ready to go, ready to attack the snow as it begins to really pile up overnight, and that is the forecast for some heavy snow,” said Alex Liggitt with VDOT.

Virginia State Police announced it’s already seen an increase in crashes in the southwestern part of the state, where conditions worsened earlier on Sunday.

Authorities are urging everyone to stay off the roads unless it’s absolutely essential to be out there. If you must travel, state police are asking drivers to make sure your car is in good working order with plenty of fuel, functioning windshield wipers and be sure to check the tread on your tires.

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From VDOT, the more cars that are out there, the harder it is for them to do their job.

“This isn’t going to be, ‘Okay, we’re out there tonight, tomorrow morning and we’re done. We’re going home,’” Liggitt said. “Yeah, we’re likely going to be continuing to treat spots over the next several days.”

VDOT told News4 it’s responsible for 17,000 residential streets in Northern Virginia alone, so it’s asking residents to remain patient because it could be a couple of days before the streets in your neighborhood are treated.



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West Virginia Mountaineers: Transfer 101: Ashton Woods

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West Virginia Mountaineers: Transfer 101: Ashton Woods


West Virginia has jumped into the transfer portal to address a need at the linebacker position with a commitment from North Carolina linebacker Ashton Woods.

Woods, 6-foot-3, 225-pounds, appeared in six games during his true freshman season for the Tarheels but did not record any statistics. A former four-star prospect that was rated as the 17th best linebacker prospect in the nation according to Rivals.com.

Prior to picking North Carolina, Woods held a long list of scholarship offers including USC, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Miami (Fla.), Auburn, Nebraska, Kentucky and a long list of other schools.

The Georgia native entered the transfer portal Dec. 27 and will have three years of eligibility remaining in his career.

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WVSports.com breaks down the transfer of Woods and what it means to the West Virginia Mountaineers football program both now and in the future.

The data:

Woods only saw two defensive snaps in his true freshman season but brings a strong profile considering he tallied 151 tackles, eight sacks, 20 tackles for loss, two interceptions and two forced fumbles as a senior in high school.

The early enrollee has excellent size at the position and was able to see the field in his first year with the program which isn’t an easy thing to do.

Fitting the program:

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West Virginia has only six true inside linebackers on the roster and one of those is a true freshman that means that as long as Woods is able to adjust quickly there are going to be chances for him to compete for time on the field.

Woods has the size and pedigree that you want to see out of young players that you pull from the transfer portal and that should translate to Morgantown.

It’s an addition from the state of Georgia where he played at an extremely high level in high school and now will have a chance to make the most of his opportunities. The fact that he will have at least three years remaining is critical.

Recruiting the position:

West Virginia still needs more experience at the linebacker position and the program has been active when it comes to searching for those options in the portal. Expect that to continue even with the addition of a high upside option like Woods.

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