The Virginia Cavaliers may have likely lost the race to the ACC regular season title, but they remain as one of the strongest teams not only in the conference but in the nation as well. In fact, they are +650 to bring the national championship trophy to Charlottesville. The Louisville Cardinals, meanwhile, are not ones to be overlooked at, as this team has beaten some quality and elite programs over the course of this season. The Cardinals are +8,000 to win the national title.
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Betting Preview for the Virginia Cavaliers vs. Louisville Cardinals College Basketball Game on February 23, 2019
Where: KFC Yum Center, Louisville
When: Saturday, February 23, 2019, 12:00 PM ET
Line: Virginia Cavaliers (odds) vs. Louisville Cardinals (odds) – view all NCAA Basketball lines
TV Broadcast: ESPN
Betting on the Virginia Cavaliers (23-2 Overall / 11-2 Conference)
After succumbing to the Duke Blue Devils for the second time this season, the Cavaliers have seemingly recovered their form with back-to-back-back wins over the North Carolina Tar Heels (69-61), the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (60-54), and the Virginia Tech Hokies ( 64-58) on Monday night.
The win over the Tar Heels was impressive and showed Virginia’s resiliency, but the Cavs’ victory against the Notre Dame came with a louder alarm sound. In that game, Virginia had an uncharacteristic bad shooting outing, making just 36.5 percent of their shots from the field. That’s a lot worse than their 47.4 field goal percentage on the season. Still, the Cavs could afford cold spells like that on offense more often than not because their defense is not going to let the other team gain too much ground on them. The Fighting Irish went just 34.5 percent shooting from the floor and 8-for-30 from deep. Against Virginia Tech, Kyle Guy scored 23 points, while Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter added 16 and 10 points respectively for the Cavaliers, who have now swept the regular-season series with their state rivals and won for the sixth time in their last eight visits to Cassell Coliseum.
Virginia is No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense with 54.1 points per game with top five in both in opponents’ 3-point shooting percentage and opponents’ field goal shooting percentage.
Virginia is both 9-1 straight up (SU) and against the spread (ATS) when playing on the road so far this season.
Betting on the Louisville Cardinals (18-8 Overall / 9-4 Conference)
What a week the last one was for the Cardinals. After nearly pulling off a huge upset win over Duke at home, the Cardinals recovered their spirits and brought down the Clemson Tigers in a 56-55 home win on Saturday. The Cardinals punished Clemson with their defense. They limited Clemson to its season low in points and shooting percentage (35.2). They almost completely took away any second chances for Clemson, which only had three offensive rebounds despite it averaging 8.8 per game this season. Up against an efficient offensive team in the form of Virginia, Chris Mack’s boys will have to dictate the tempo of the game, perhaps primarily by winning the rebounding battle. Louisville is slightly better in that department than Virginia, as the Cardinals are averaging 39.5 rebounds per game to 37.6 by the Cavs. Louisville’s offense is a bit underrated, but it could sting, including behind the arc, where they are fourth in the ACC with a 37.3 3-point shooting percentage.
The Cardinals are 7-7-2 ATS in home games this season.
Writer’s Prediction
Virginia wins, 64-60.
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