Virginia (8-10, 1-6 ACC) suffered a 81-67 loss to Louisville (13-5, 6-1 ACC) at the KFC YUM! Center on Saturday afternoon. Here are our five takeaways from UVA’s fifth-consecutive loss with Virginia losing four of those games by double digits.

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The Cardinals ignited an 11-2 run midway through the first half to build up a lead they never looked back from as the Cavaliers stood no chance, similar to the first matchup this season. With a win on Saturday for the Cardinals, this is the second time Louisville has swept the season series against Virginia, with the first being during the 1989/90 season. The strong start for the Cardinals was powered by their powerful three-point shooter Reyne Smith, who started ¾ from beyond the arc, and Terrence Edwards Jr., who scored 12 points in the first half. In the second half, the Cavaliers never got the lead below 11 as the Cardinals extended their lead to as much as 21, which could have been significantly higher if the starters had remained in the game. 

Trying to find positives in a blowout contest is extremely difficult, but Elijah Saunders’ performance is certainly worth noting. The transfer from San Diego State was the only Virginia player to show up in the first half, scoring 11 points before finishing with 19 on the day. Saunders also buried three of his six attempts from three-point land, showcasing a range of ability to drive to the basket and shoot from range. With so much uncertainty looming in Charlottesville regarding who will hit the portal and who will coach next fall, Virginia fans should hope that Saunders stays for another year.  

Despite trailing by eleven at halftime, Virginia only committed three turnovers in the first half. Then, in the second half, things came crashing down for the Hoos as the team committed 12 turnovers, bringing the team to 15 on the day. We’ve said it all year on this outlet, and I’ll say it again: for a team like Virginia that plays at the slowest pace in the entire nation, turnovers are the most costly for the team in Charlottesville, which was shown on Saturday. 

The Reviville is real down in Louisville with the Cardinals sitting at 13-5, 6-1 ACC. With a decisive win over Clemson earlier in ACC play, the Cardinals find themselves as the second-best team in the ACC behind Duke, who appears to find themselves in a conference of its own in 2025. With transfers Reyne Smith and Chucky Hepburn providing instant offense, the Cardinals will be a team to watch in March. 

The Cavaliers have lost five straight games, with four of those games being double-digit losses. There’s not much hope for this team or a path that allows the Cavaliers to turn it around in 2025. With the loss on Saturday, Virginia currently sits second to last in the ACC only in front of Miami. If the Cavaliers finish in the bottom three of the ACC, they will miss the ACC tournament and not even have a shot at a miraculous auto-bid to the ACC tournament. 

The Cavaliers return to action on Tuesday, January 21st against Boston College at John Paul Jones Arena.

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West Virginia understands the challenge ahead of them with No. 2 Iowa State coming to town.

The Cyclones have been one of the bigger challenges in recent years due to what they do on the defensive end of the floor and that’s no different this year being perched at No. 5 nationally in the adjusted defensive efficiency ratings on KenPom.

That was after sitting at No. 1 in that department last year.

But the biggest difference in this version of Iowa State has been the improvements on the offensive end. The Cyclones are at No. 8 nationally in that category after sitting at No. 52 in the adjusted offensive efficiency ratings on KenPom last season.

“I was hoping maybe you all could come up with a weakness for me,” West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries joked. “But yeah, they’re good. I think they were really good last year too but the component they’ve improved the most is on the offensive side. Their bigs can really pass, they play well off one another, and I think it’s really complemented their guards from a year ago.”

Overall, Iowa State is averaging 85 points per game after that total being 75 last season. And they do it in a variety of ways with four players averaging in double figures although Milan Momcilovic is currently injured and three more scoring at least 6.0 points per contest.

“If they’re not the best, they’re one of the best. They’re one of the most balanced teams out there in terms of ways they can score and beat you. That’s what really elevated them to another level this year,” DeVries said.

Because of the way that Iowa State can attack it forces opposing defenses to make a lot of difficult decisions on the defensive side of the floor. It’s impossible to take away everything, so you must pick and choose.

“You’ve got to compete at every position to make things as difficult as possible,” DeVries said.

For West Virginia, the Mountaineers must take care of the basketball and prevent giving Iowa State easy opportunities in transition. West Virginia only had 12 turnovers against Houston, but the Cougars were able to turn that into a very efficient 25-points which was certainly a difference in the outcome.

“They’re out in the open floor and if you don’t have a set defense they’ll make you pay,” DeVries said.

West Virginia is going to have to do a lot of things right to knock off a Cyclones team that is playing as well together as any other team in the nation.

“I just think they all come in and all play well together I don’t think they care who scores, who doesn’t score. They play to win. They’re not about stats; they’re about winning they play that way,” DeVries said.

Virginia’s attorney general dropped a case against a former school superintendent who was accused of firing a teacher because she spoke out about a student inappropriately touching her.

The former teacher, Erin Brooks, wanted to put the matter behind her and recently resolved a lawsuit against the former superintendent and Loudoun County Public Schools, the attorney general’s office said in a court filing Thursday.

“Words cannot express how grateful I am to the office of and the Attorney General himself, for the unwavering support and dedication to this case,” Brooks said in a statement released by Attorney General Jason Miyares.

The former superintendent, Scott Ziegler, maintained his stance that the case was politically motivated. Ziegler also said in a statement that “new evidence would have demonstrated that I acted in the best interest of Loudoun County’s most vulnerable students.”

The attorney general’s office was pursuing a conviction against Ziegler for the second time. He was convicted in 2023 on a misdemeanor count of violating Virginia’s conflict of interest laws for retaliating against Brooks.

A judge ruled last year that faulty jury instructions rendered the conviction illegitimate, even though there was “ample evidence” to support a jury’s conclusion of retaliation. A new trial was supposed to start next month.

Brooks had worked as a special education teacher in Loudoun County, which is outside of Washington. She spoke to a special grand jury that was investigating the school system for its handling of sexual assaults.

Brooks told the grand jury and school system critics about her difficulties dealing with a special needs student in elementary school who had been touching her inappropriately.

Prosecutors said Ziegler’s efforts to ensure Brooks’ teaching contract was not renewed amounted to retaliation for her speaking out on a matter of public interest.

Ziegler argued at trial that the teacher’s dismissal was unrelated to her speaking out. His lawyers also argued that the prosecution was politically motivated.

Miyares, a Republican, and Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin had criticized Loudoun school system administrators during their successful 2021 campaigns for office.

They claimed that school leadership ignored parent concerns about the handling of transgender students, as well as the school system’s handling of a student who sexually assaulted classmates at two different high schools that year.

The case received outsized attention because the boy who was convicted in both attacks wore a skirt in one of them, assaulting a girl in the women’s bathroom. It played into a national debate over how schools should treat transgender students and whether they should be allowed to use restrooms different to their biological sex.

Miyares had convened the special grand jury at Youngkin’s request in January 2022. A scathing report that December accused the school system of mishandling the high school assaults, the superintendent of lying to the public, and authorities of ignoring multiple warning signs.

In his statement Thursday, Ziegler said prosecutors in his case disregarded facts and wasted taxpayer money.

“At its core, this effort was designed to sway voters in Northern Virginia, prioritizing political gain over truth and justice,” he said.

In his news release, Miyares said he would “protect the rights of teachers and parents without hesitation.”

“Sometimes it takes the courage of one person to stand firm to create change,” Miyares said. “Today, the entire national narrative has changed thanks to Erin’s resilience. Erin’s demand to be respected was upheld by a jury of her own peers.”