Mikel Brown Jr. helps No. 23 Louisville down Virginia Tech

Mikel Brown Jr. returned to the lineup after a six-week absence for No. 23 Louisville and the Cardinals cruised past visiting Virginia Tech 85-71 on Saturday in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

In eight games without Brown, Louisville was just 4-4. But Brown's 20 points helped Louisville resemble the team that was 9-1 before his injury and absence.

Brown aggravated a lower back injury in a win over Memphis on Dec. 13 and had been out of action since, but the freshman point guard helped Louisville pull away from Virginia Tech early and withstand a second half 3-point barrage to claim the win.

Louisville (14-5, 4-3 ACC) rode a 14-2 run late in the first half to an insurmountable edge. Brown finished that run with a transition dunk that made it 32-19 with 1:58 remaining in the first half.

The Cardinals took a 15-point halftime lead and stretched the advantage as far as 49-29 on an Isaac McKneely layup with 14:24 to play.

Virginia Tech connected on 11 3-point shots in the second half and pulled within 64-56 on an Amani Hansberry 3-pointer with 7:22 to play but could not get any closer.

Louisville was paced by Brown, who made 7 of 11 shots, including 3-for-6 3-point shooting, for his 20 points and also dished six assists in his return to action. Ryan Conwell added 15 points and six rebounds. J'vonne Hadley scored 14 points and grabbed six boards, while Sananda Fru tallied 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Virginia Tech (15-6, 4-4) got a brilliant effort from Jailen Bedford, who scored 24 points and shot 6-for-8 from 3-point range. Ben Hammond added 18 points, including 4-for-5 3-point shooting. Hansberry tallied 12 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.

Neoklis Avdalas scored just two points on 1-for-8 shooting and Tobi Lawal also was held to two points with 1-for-7 shooting.

Virginia Tech shot just 8-for-33 (24.2 percent) in the first half, including 3-for-20 (15 percent) on two-point tries, and committed nine turnovers. That was followed by an 11-for-17 (64.7 percent) 3-point run in the second half to make the game competitive.