CARDINAL COUPLE

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Sunday, January 17, 2016

This One Goes to Eleven - Monday Cardinal Couple

Basketball Extends Their Streak


Where to start with this one?

  
With apologies to Maria von Trappe, maybe the end is the very best place to start for this game.

First off, it's a win, it goes in the win column and extends the Women's Basketball win streak to 11 which is one louder, innit?

The final score of 92-90 surely surprised people who may have given up on this game about halfway through when the NC State Wolfpack were leading the Cards 50-36.  No Cards made it to double digit scoring the first half, though Myisha Hines-Allen and Mariya Moore had seven, while Arica Carter and Asia Durr had eight.  The various stats were roughly even in the first half, but the important numbers were in the 2nd quarter where NCState hit 75% of their field goals and over 70% of their 3 point shots.  The Wolfpack also had a bit of an advantage from the free throw line as well, although the 67% for the Cards isn't awful from the charity stripe.

The Cards, after digging themselves into a significant halftime hole, started to chip away that lead, winning the 3rd quarter by seven points, and making up the other nine points for the two point win in the fourth quarter.  Whatever Coach Walz told the team at halftime worked, at least on the defensive end, holding NC State to only two made field goals and no 3 pointers whatsoever in the 3rd quarter.  The Cards weren't sowing the seeds of love, but were sowing the seeds of the end-game foul troubles, sending the Wolfpack to the line a whopping 13 times in the 3rd quarter on a very concerning 11 committed fouls.  The stats that really shifted in the Cards favor in the 3rd quarter were point in the paint (10-2), and points off turnovers (8-1 on five Pack turnovers)

Scary though the foul trouble situation may have been, it's a formula that worked.  More of the same in the 4th quarter where NC State got 20 free throw attempts on 12 fouls.  Overall, the Cards committed 35 fouls to NC State's 23.  The striped crew may have been a bit whistle happy, but in general I think it was a reasonably called game.  Both teams, in scouting the other, decided that good lock-down defense was the way to go, and that tends to result in more fouls.  The points off turnovers helped UofL with 12 on six NC State turnovers.

The real story in this one was in the final countdown, where NC State started out up five points coming off a pair of made free throws.  Dakota Weatherford, who only got a few minutes of playing time, but they were important minutes put up 3-point attempt, Hines-Allen got the rebound and fired a desperation-looking 3-point attempt that missed where the rebound went back to Weatherford, now practically under the basket and dropped the shot in.  The foul on the shot sent her sliding across the court thanks to the contact from the much larger Wolfpack player.  She wasn't able to convert on the and-one.

Weatherford was whistled for a near-phantom foul on the rebound attempt, and NC State was able to put the lead back out to five with 25 seconds left.

 Coach Walz used his final timeout, which, thanks to the new rules, advanced the ball to the hash mark and Asia Durr was able to bury a three on the inbounds play.  A sloppy inbounds attempt from NC State resulted in Mariya Moore having the ball and she was fouled going to the basket.  The reliable Moore, who had a career best 31 points in the game, made both free throws to tie the game for the first time since the first quarter.  NC State used their final time out to advance the ball to the hashmark.  After burning a few seconds of clocking looking for the last shot, Attack Yorkie Dakota Weatherford forced the tie-up.  With the possession arrow in Louisville's favor, the Cards got the ball with 4.1 seconds on the clock.  A lapse by NC State, they didn't put anyone on the ball on the inbounds, so Mariya Moore was able to let it bounce nearly to half court before touching it and thus starting the clock.  The NC State defense, coming to force Moore to take the ball and start the clock then fouled Moore at the half court line, putting her back on the line with a tie ballgame and 2.9 second on the clock.  The sophomore was ice ice baby, draining both giving UofL a two point lead.  NC State, with the last second desperation heave falling short went down to defeat.

FRED


So, "What did the Cards do right?"  Said Fred.

Free Throws, the most objective part of our FRED grading system are in capital "F" territory with a solid 76%, with the bulk of that stat being thanks to Mariya Moore's 8 of 10.

As for Rebounding, I think we're going to have to stretch to award a lower case "r" this one as the Wolfpack outrebounded the Cards 34-30.  Still awarding the lower case because 30 is a pretty good rebounding number, but I can't in good conscience award the upper-case when the other team gets more.

We'll give a capital "E" for Easy like Sunday morning, even though it was an afternoon game with UofL winning the points in the paint battle 32-24.

And lastly Defense only gets the lower-case "d" in my judgement.  We knew NC State was a 3 point shooting team, and yet in the first half, the Cards defense definitely did not get that message and go after the shooters outside the arc.  The second half was better, and Louisville won the turnover stat with only 11 TOs to the Wolfpack's 17, which is a key metric in my mind for this measure.  The 2nd half gets the "d" awarded, but without the first half effort to match, we can't make it upper case (the TO numbers were 7-6 in NC State's favor in the first half)

What We Liked

Mariya Moore, with 31 points and 7 assists, combined with an 11 point and 5 assist effort at Virginia, may have just played her way in a second ACC Player of the Week honor in this young year.
  • Attack Yorkie Dakota Weatherford didn't play a significant number of minutes, but she did have a significant impact in her minutes, with a crucial put-back and a critical defensive tie-up to get the ball back for the Cards.  This in addition to a very good defensive effort.
  • Arica Carter continues to have solid contributions. While she fouled out, she was only one of a number of players that fouled out of this game, and she did get 13 points before she went to the bench for the final time.  She ran the offense effectively, and continues to just play solid ball.  I do believe she is in the cat-bird's seat to get my most improved player accolades at the end of the season
  • Asia Durr put up 19, which would normally put her in game-high scoring territory but misses out on it only because Moore had such a stand-out game.  Again, some critical great play down the final stretch showed remarkably poise for a freshman.
JMcA
xxxxx

41 comments:

  1. We never quit! I did but they goodness our girls are alot tougher than me. Whew... Here's Walz take on the game which I totally agree with
    "It's a win. Now, am I pleased? No," said Cardinals coach Jeff Walz. "We got extremely lucky. In my opinion, we got out-played. NC State deserved to win that game, but unfortunately for them and fortunately for us, we had a few bounces at the end that went our way."
    Sure looked like the refs were killing us but I couldnt tell if the calls were bad from the bad angle on the online feed.
    Excited to see Arica Carter make it happen - 13 points!

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  2. Another great win. They can't all be beautiful. I wasn't able to watch it but continue to be impressed with the balance of this club. Lots of contributors and it's great to have multiple offensive threats on the floor.

    Agree on Carter's progress. She's doing what a good point guard does...run the offense and take care of the ball. Seeing her score is great too.

    Winning a close one, in conference, on the road under what looked to be some dicey refereeing is huge.

    If Durr going 5 for 5 from three is giving us a glimpse of what is to come for ULWBB the future looks pretty good. Moore may be on the road to becoming another Card WBB Legend. Hope BJ continues to regain her shooting confidence. We'll need her offense before it's all over.

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  3. Oh, and BTW, I'm awarding meaningless bonus points for finding all of the music references in the article.

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    1. I got four. Sound of Music, Spinal Tap, Said Fred and Lionel Ritchie

      Curtis Franklin

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    2. That's a good start...a little over half of them. 7 total (I just counted them up).

      - Maria von Trappe, famously played by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music
      - This is Spinal Tap, with the amplifier that goes to eleven, because it's one louder, innit?
      - Right Said Fred, most known for "I'm Too Sexy"
      - Lionel Richie and the Commodore's for "Easy Like Sunday Morning"

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    3. I'll add two..."The Final Countdown" by Europe and "Ice, Ice Baby". Also you could stretch "Down in a Hole" to Alice In Chains...but that probably wasn't one of them.

      Paulie

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    4. "Down in a Hole" wasn't an intended reference, but yes to Europe's "The Final Countdown" and Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice, Baby."

      One more to be found, and it definitely comes out of me being a child of the 80's.

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    5. Tears for Fears. Sowing the seeds of love.

      Blue Lou

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    6. Got it! Great song.

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  4. Kinda disagree with the thought that NC State deserved to win. They didn't get cheated on, and we beat them, not playing our best, so we deserved it, for sticking around close enough at the end to be able to make enough plays to pull it out. Ugly, yes, especially that first half defense, or better yet, lack of defense. But at the end, a win is a win, and I would rather win than lose.

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  5. We watched on the NC State feed. I was a nervous wreck at the end. I don't like games like this but I do like wins on the road. I was impressed with NC State except for the silly foul on Moore with less than 3 seconds to go. I kept saying, "I can't believe she did that. It helped us win the game.

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    1. We started watching the NC State feed but stopped and went to Matt/AJ on radio because the clock and score that were superimposed on the video were a minute or more ahead of the action. We found that bothersome. Did you see the same thing?

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    2. The sync was not so good. I would watch the feed, go listen to the radio and then come back and watch the feed and saw what I just heard on the radio. It was like time travel, in a weird way...

      Congrats to the Cards for not giving up. Hisses to the referees who tried to make this on all about them. Walz can't say anything about this one...but Brian Enterline and his crew were way too whistle-happy. And a job well-done to NC State and their fans who made it quite the game.

      Was Lousville lucky to win this one? Emphatically, NO...because they did the things at the end of the game to get the win. They hit shots, made free throws, clutch defensive plays and no bone-head mistakes. Like Matt Andrews, I'll remember this one for a long time because of the myriad of emotions it put me through. Excitement, pride, disillusionment, anger, askance, rage, hope, elation and...finally...relief.

      And that was just in the final two minutes...

      Paulie

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    3. I didn't actually notice that, and i thnk I would have.

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  6. Wow...where to begin??

    I've gone back and watched the last couple minutes on the NC State website several times. Great comeback and great effort. NC State made three terrible plays in the last 20 seconds...the awful inbounds pass after Durr's three-pointer, the questionable decision to allow the ball to roll to almost mid-court before Moore touched it, and of course the foul 40 feet from the basket. Weatherford made a great defensive play to get the tie-up with four seconds left.

    Obviously, this team with 30 minutes of a healthy Asia Durr is a lot different from the team that got 15 minutes of a recuperating, limited player.

    Arica Carter has been a totally unexpected surprise. She didn't get to show much last season, playing behind Bria Smith and Jude Schimmel, but what I saw didn't impress me much. I had heard that she was much improved pre-season but needed to be convinced. I'm convinced now.

    Maria Moore's court vision is amazing. She and Durr are both big-time creators on offense and make already good players like Walton and Hines-Allen better. And both are fearless.

    This team could really do some damage come March.

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    Replies
    1. Oops...make that "Mariya" Moore.

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    2. Nice assessment of the final 20 seconds. We scored 26 points in the last 4 minutes.

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  7. I totally believe in Jeff as the mad scientist but I believe that in the 2nd qtr. he was way too invested in using their top of the key weave. NC State had obviously scouted that pattern and it's options well as they had the passing lanes shut down but we continued to stay with it.

    The 3rd qtr showed us beginning with a woman defense which hurt their open 3 point opportunities and an end to the weave. Both jump started our come back + I am sure his 1/2 time words of motivation :-)

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  8. Curious why Erin (who has been successful of late with not fouling while blocking shots and getting rebounds) was not given a longer opportunity while instead Sam Fuehring (who just has not had the floor time) was given significant minutes.

    Looked to me like during Erin's time in the ball just was not rebounding near her area rather than her making mistakes.

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    1. It was probably because of the frantic up-and-down pace of the contest. Fuehring is fasted that DeGrate. One guy's opinion.

      Fantastic win for UofL...no matter what Walz says. They beat the opponent, the refs and the crowd. Where did they play that game? Petticoat Junction High School? Hooterville Community Center? Surely NC State could find a better place for a season. I thought that big guy in the front row was going to jump on the court a few times and throw blocks or beat up the guy ref.

      --The Real Joe Hill--

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    2. Rumors are that Mr. Douglas and Mr. Haney tried to bribe the refs but Jed Clampett got wind of it and got Mr. Drysdale to send a huge donation to the Retired Referees Association to keep it fair. Obviously, they didn't get the notification in time.

      I also watched the final minute again and my heart goes out to the two NC State players who were sobbing uncontrollably while they lined up for the band playing the NC State Alma Mater. They had it and lost it. The emotions of college basketball.

      Paulie

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    3. Seeing that girl sobbing for NC STATE showed how much this game hurt to lose. This game would have put them in the first tier and off the bubble for the tournament. I compare to us losing to ND at home by two if we led all the way and lost on a bonehead play

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  9. 58 fouls? Them little birdies must have been pooping on the court at NC State. Glad that Matthew Mitchell personally recommended the officiating crew for this one. When did the "Caissons Go Rolling Along" become the NC State fight song? Louisville'd defense looked as bad as the first half Seattle Seahawks yesterday. Where's Waldo got lucky.

    Matthew Mitchell For Governor

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    1. Oh, I'm so glad I wasn't the only one that thought of "Where's Waldo" when I saw the NC State band. They sounded pretty good, though.

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  10. Ciera Johnson and Kylee Shook, two of the five members of the Cardinals' 2016 class that is ranked sixth nationally, were named McDonald's All-Americans on Sunday night on ESPNU.

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    1. Baylor, Notre Dame, and Texas have two. Maryland and Stanford have 3. UConn with just one. Poor Geno!

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  11. I just watched the final 25 seconds again and Cards got lucky that Weatherford wasn't called for a foul on the tie-up. Then, again, the Cards just got plain lucky overall. NC State imploded in the late going. Mariya Moore, will you marry me?

    Blue Lou

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    Replies
    1. Of course they got lucky....but they took advantage of the opportunities that NC State gave them and made all the plays at the end. I'm also surprised that Weatherford was not called for a foul, just based on the way the whole game was officiated, but it looked like a clean tie-up to me and none of the NC State players seemed to complain.

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    2. What a clutch play by Weathorford and what a great time for one of the refs to make a decent call. Talk about shocking.

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  12. Charlie Creme has moved Louisville to a 3 seed. ( 6 last week) and playing first rounds in Louisville. Don't we have the same problem with facilities during the first round this year as last?
    Maybe we could use one of the high schools :-)

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  13. Anyone know of a way to find the Syracuse game on video?

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    1. It's on one of the Fox channels.

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    2. RSN Reg Fox Sports Network not sure which one though.
      Charlie Creme says no one should get a big head over beating Duke this year. I was concerned when Walz said he thought the team wasnt working as hard since beating Duke. Duke hasnt beaten a top 50 team all year and most likely wont since they have 3 chances left with ND, FL St, and Miami Fl.
      Creme says ACC is slightly down this year. Right now I agree though there is still time for Fl State Syracuse Miami to get better. Fl State isnt as good as last year so far and they only lost one good player. Syracuse at HOME is licking their chops to get at us. This is a statement game for them just as it was for NC State. I hope we have a healthy respect for them and prepare hard this week. I forget these kids have classes haha.

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    3. None of the Fox guides for that date shows the game being available. That was the reason I asked, thought maybe someone who had a company other than TWC could be showing the game as available.

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    4. Hope this helps and is accurate. This link shows the game is on the MSG network - Madison Square Garden which serves all of New York state. It is not on MSG+ NETWORK.
      See the link for the schedule of games
      http://www.msgnetworks.com/shows/college-sports/msg-networks-college-basketball-schedule.html

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    5. Whoops... sorry you can't get MSG on video unless you are a subscriber in their market.

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    6. Direct TV's guide indicates it is on channel 634. However, that channel may be part of their "Sports" package. We get that package every year just for the basketball season then drop it in March/April.

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    7. TWC is showing it on their schedule. I already have my DVR set.

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    8. If there was ever a game suited to be on ESPN's BIG MONDAY...it would be this one. Maybe the four-letter network will throw some of its billions around and purchase the contest. Dave and Doris would probably like to call this one.

      Paulie

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    9. Thanks much.
      The game was not on there yesterday morning as I looked through all of their schedules and my guide. It is now set to record.

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  14. Arica Carter turnover story
    First 5 games had 3.5 per game...last 13 games has only 1 per game. Played 33 minutes yesterday without one turnover.

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