Virginia Tech @ Louisville preview
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Last Meeting ( Mar 1, 2020 ) Virginia Tech 52, Louisville 68
Virginia Tech, having moved up five spots to No. 19 in the nation, gets its first game in a week on Wednesday when it faces Louisville on the road in a battle of two of the top teams in the ACC.
Virginia Tech (8-1, 2-0 ACC) has a four-game winning streak and has benefited from playing seven games at home in Blacksburg, Va., with two on a neutral court. The game at Louisville will be the Hokies' first game away from Blacksburg since Nov. 29.
History is clearly on the side of the home team. Louisville has won 16 straight games against Virginia Tech, most recently 68-52 at home on March 1, 2020. The last Virginia Tech win was in February 1991 in Blacksburg, 72-56. Louisville has won 13 of the last 14 meetings played in Kentucky.
In an 80-78 win over Miami (Fla.) on Dec. 29, the Hokies got 26 points from Keve Aluma and 15 with nine rebounds from Justyn Mutts. They hit 9 of 23 3-pointers with three from Mutts.
The Hokies had a season high 12 steals against the Hurricanes.
Aluma, a forward who transferred from Wofford two seasons ago, is leading Virginia Tech in points (16.0) and rebounds (6.7) per game.
Mutts came back out onto the court after the Miami game to practice free throws.
"I would not recommend a player come back on the floor after a game," Hokies head coach Mike Young told the Roanoke Times. "That kid just played his tail off, but he's serious about it. He's a good player that wants to be a great player, and he's doing a nice job for us."
Virginia Tech was supposed to play Virginia in a Top 25 matchup last Saturday in Charlottesville, Va., but the game was postponed due to positive test for COVID-19 on the Cavaliers' staff.
Louisville (7-1, 2-0) has won three straight and is 5-0 at home. The Cardinals' most recent win was last Saturday at Boston College, 76-64, with David Johnson scoring a career-high 20 points.
Carlik Jones added 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists in the win.
Both of the Cardinals' first two conference wins have been away, which has happened for just the third time in the last 20 years (2009, 2014).
"We didn't want to be a team that just sort of played on the perimeter and shot 3s. If those 3s were generated from paint touches, those are the ones we wanted to take," Louisville head coach Chris Mack said. "Again, and I think that plays into the fact when people are converging and flying to close out, and your 3s are going up, it leads to more offensive rebound opportunities, and we took advantage of that. That's what we wanted to do offensively."
--Field Level Media