CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDINAL COUPLE
We report on the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports here. Thanks for checking us out! Click the picture of Louie to hear the latest Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast!!

Monday, February 25, 2019

Louisville women's basketball bests Boston College 87-51 -- Softball takes two -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DURR'S 23, STIFLING "D" GIVES CARDS WIN NUMBER 25


Defense got the job done and Asia Durr added another 20+ point game to her resume yesterday in the 87-51 win for Louisville women's basketball yesterday in the KFC YUM! Center in front of 11132 fans. 

The Cards (25-2, 12-2) knew that BC was prone to giving up points, the Eagles (14-14, 3-12) had surrendered over ninety in eight of their last ten games. They had also lost nine of those ten games. Although Louisville fell three points short of the ninety mark, they took advantage of a less-than-stellar B.C. defense to shoot 51.7%, get 32 bench points and Durr complied her 23 points in just 27 minutes of court time. 

The Cards have been prone to slow starts in the past but this one was pretty much over early. After Arica Carter's jumper made it 12-3 with 6:38 left in the first quarter, the Cards pushed that out to a 23-11 lead at the first quarter's end. The "A" Team (Arica and Asia) had 13 of those and the rout was on. 

Coach Walz got to experiment with a lot of different combinations in the 40 minutes (no one played more than 27 minutes) but the question that started being posed to me early on was "Where is Mykasa Robinson?" I had a feeling it might be part of the post-concussion protocol players go through (no bright lights or loud noises) but didn't get the official confirmation on the absence reason for the talented freshman until halftime. 

Coach Walz went into a bit more detail in his presser, which you can hear below. 


With Kasa sitting out, it provided freshmen Lindsey Duvall and Seygan Robins extended minutes and valuable court-time experience.

Both met the challenge, Duvall totalling nine points, hitting two threes, getting a steal and a rebound. Her free throw shooting was off, just 1-4, but as she explained to me post-game, she just didn't get her legs into the free throws and vowed to solve that with extra practice and attention to detail.

Robins added three points but produced four assists in her 13 minutes. She looked comfortable out there and boh should be key influences on the 2019-20 Louisville WBB squad. 

Louisville won each quarter, won the rebounding and scoring in the paint battles and forced 24 turnovers. The Cards got 11 steals and Kylee Shook continued to impress with 14 points on 6-7 shooting -- nailing both "three" attempts and grabbing seven rebounds.

She told Coach Walz she wants to "be pushed" by the coaching staff. Looks like she got a big shove by them in preparing for this one. 

The Boston bunch was aggressive, no doubt. They committed 23 fouls, giving the Cards 27 free throw chances and forward Taylor Soule took things way-too-seriously by gathering two technical fouls and a exit from the action. It got chippy at the end of the first half when Soule and Sam Fuehring got entangled on a rebounding/possession attempt and early in the fourth when Soule got aggressive and menacing on tiny Dana Evans after she fouled Georgia Pineau...which got Soule tossed. 

Asia Durr felt the wrath as well, getting tackled out-of-boards when she was going for a pass by the scorers table. This time the culprit was Sydney Lowery and a hush fell over he crowd, wondering if wither would get up from the mid-air collision and subsequent tumble to the hardwood. Fortunately, both did and Asia shrugged it off in her post-game comments, saying it was just "part of the game". If my Chicago Bears are looking for a safety in 2019-20 that can break up passes, they should watch some game film on Lowery, maybe. 

Moving the ball, good movement off the ball, shooting the ball well...lock down defense...all things that lead to wins. And, that's what the Cards did yesterday -- in a convincing fashion.  

THEY SAID IT


Post game remarks below, or the "Steve and Paulie" show...with me and Bittenbender asking the questions. 

LINK: JEFF WALZ POST GAME

LINK:  ASIA AND SAM POST GAME

LINK: JOANNA BERNABEI MCNAMEE POST GAME (AUDIO ONLY)

(Nothing like 30 people in a media room and two people asking all the questions.) Hey, not scared, not shy, here.... 




THE FRED REPORT


Fred McMurray had "My Three Sons" on TV
Cards have "my three seniors" saying adios
Thursday night
FREE THROWS -- Louisville went 19-27 from the line for 70.4%. For me that's worthy of a capital letter. Asia 10-13. We won't elaborate on Duvall...CAPITAL "F" 

REBOUNDING -- Cards win the rebounding battle 38-27. Boston College was 12th out of 15 teams in the ACC in rebounding. Shook, Jones and Fuehring with seven each. Yes, that's a CAPITAL 'R' IN MY BOOK. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Only 14 turnovers, 16 assists and over 50% shooting is what we like to see. The Cards also won the fast break points battle (13-6) and got 27 points off turnovers. Let's keep the capital letters rolling. CAPITAL "E". 

DEFENSE -- The Cards forced 24 turnovers, made 11 steals, held BC to 19 points below their average and 41% shooting in the 36-point win. I loved the defense yesterday and let's close it out with a CAPITAL "D". 

FINAL FRED TOTAL:  F-R-E-D


NEXT


I doubt we get Mr & Mrs. Wuf in the
YUM! Thursday Night. I'll see 'em at
the ACC Tourney. 
24-3 N.C. State comes to town Thursday night. They are tied for third place in the ACC with Miami and a 11-3 conference record. It's Senior Night and the Cards would love a huge crowd to come out and say "Thank You" to Asia, Arica and Sam in their final regular season home game. 

This will be a tough one. NC State's losses have been to North Carolina (51-64), at Florida State (70-75) and Notre Dame (73-95). They won't be an "easy out" by any means. They need to get a win in their final two to secure a top 4 ranking for the ACC Tournament and avoid playing on Thursday. With Louisville and Miami being their final two, they have their work cut out for them. 

Be there. 

(PHOTOS TODAY FROM JARED ANDERSON. IT IS WHAT HE DOES. DOES QUITE WELL.) 




SOFTBALL SLUGS BY KANSAS AND BRADLEY

They finally got on the field in rain-plagued Knoxville for the Tennessee Classic and the Cards made the most of the chance, going 2-2 yesterday. 

Danielle Watson went the distance in the first game, a 5-3 win over Kansas, and recorded eight strike-outs in the process. A three-run first inning for UofL got things started in the right direction...Sidney Melton's triple and Rebecca Chung's home run the major blows delivered to the Jayhawks for the early 3-0 lead. 

Maddy Newman and Melton scored in the fifth to push it to 5-0 and then weathered a three-run fence clearer in the bottom of the fifth from Madison Sykes (no relation to me that I know of). 


In Game Two, Louisville got home runs from Megan Hensley, Kyra Snyder and Charley Butler...and freshman Taylor Roby got the win in the circle with the save going to Hensley. Megan had four RBI's in the contest. 

At 6-5 on the season, the Cards go back to the Vols field for a 11:30 a.m. rematch today against Bradley. They'll conclude their Tennessee trip against the Vols at (appox.) 4:30 p.m. 


paulie
xxxxx









15 comments:

  1. Paulie, it was great seeing you and Sonja yesterday.

    Really looking forward to Thursday night. Two really good teams playing a really big game on Senior Night...can't beat it. Hoping for another 10,000+ fans. This team deserves that.

    Stood in line at the Yum! this morning to get NCAA regional tickets. Got some really nice mid-court seats. I understand that there were some big problems with Ticketmaster.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely, Mike! Good to see you also. I've heard that this morning, people unable to get the 1st and 2nd round on line.

      Nice score on mid-court. Knowing the politics of who'll be handling seating arrangements for 1st and 2nd, I know I've got no chance whatsoever of keeping my regular season media coverage location. Which is a damn shame, I've covered every home game this year live/on site. Show me one other media representative who has done that. Don't waste much time on it, because there aren't any -- except me.

      Paulie

      Paulie

      Delete
    2. Seriously...you won't get media seats?

      Like you said, you're at every game. And you ask the good/tough/interesting (take your choice) questions at the pressers. And you make that information available to us fans. NOBODY else in local media does that. Nobody else even comes close.

      Delete
    3. It’s silly you won’t get your normal media seat and that they’ll either move you to an end zone or the overflow media. You should get to keep your normal spot by Mayor Abramson

      Delete
    4. I sat end zone seat yesterday for AZ at Cal. Definitely a challenge right behind the basket. I saw Aari McDonald in my dreams driving in the paint surrounded by 4 players.
      Walz should straighten out whoever is assigning Media seats. It’s not like 40 media people show up for his media press conferences. Paulie is probably among 6 regulars and provides better coverage than anyone. Walz appreciates it and should step. It’s an OUTRAGE!!!’

      Delete
  2. Nice win. Expected win. Proud of the team's defense. Go Lil Dove! Don't let a few free throws break your stride.

    Curtis "Never got the free ones. No one ever guarded or fouled me" Franklin

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  3. Glad the Cards were up Big when Duvall came up short on a free throw. Walz couldn’t hold back his laughter at it. She was hot beyond the arc.

    Seygan looked much more comfortable out there but she’s still hesitant to shoot. Her first shot didn’t go in and she didn’t want to shoot after that until Walz yelled at her. That confidence will come over time I think.

    Overall good win and a much needed large margin of victory for the Cards.

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  4. Thought BC coach Mac summed it up with saying they have no true point guards and no confidence. Amazon this team has won 14 games and 3 games in ACC. A true credit to the players and Coach Mac they almost beat Miami, Minn and VT. This team is awful and out of gas right now. Never saw worse ball handling all year long. The season is just about 8 games too long for them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lowery is about the only decent ball-handler BC has and she had four turnovers. Garraud and Ortlepp, the other guards, combined for nine turnovers. Lowery does have a decent future, though, in bump and run nickleback coverage in the NFL.

      Paulie

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    2. Nine turnovers between two players is nothing with this team. Dickens has committed 10 turnovers twice this year. They play hard, just overmatched and don’t have Div 1 players. Good coach but won’t matter if she isn’t successful recruiting.

      Delete
  5. Love the games were everyone contributes. Thinking Mykasa would have had a field day.
    Thanks for asking about her Paulie. A lot of folks had her confused with Alexis, the walk on who has the same kind of hair and thought she was at the game.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've never been under concussion protocol but Sonya has. You just don't want to rush back. Or maybe I have and just never realized I had a concussion. Back then, you just rubbed a little sirt on it and got back out there. Even if you saw two quarterbacks/point guards or four refs...

      Paulie

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  6. Just to clarify, me and Sonya will in all probability get media passes for the fst two rounds in Louisville but neither Walz not WBB SID has any say in seating arrangements. Last year they tried to move Sonya up to the overflow media section at the top of 119 and put me in the corner on the floor next to the visiting cheerleaders.

    We "moved" Sonya down next to me and Mike Gilpatrick of River City Cards and no one said a word due to the proliferance of "no shows" by us.

    A different SID handles NCAA Tournament seating. Which is stupid. Why not just stay with the same person who has handled it all year? But, I'm "Sgt. Schultz" and know nothing, Colonel Hogan.

    Two years ago was even worse, we were both in overflow media. I follow the team to the ACC Tournament and get penalized for it.

    Ah, politics...

    Paulie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. From prior experience with the SID's for the various sports at UofL, I can tell you some of them would do anything in the world for the media and some absolutely hate dealing with the media.

      That has always confused me. So, you are in Sports Information but you only want people to read the information you provide?

      I come here for women's sports at UofL. Maybe that scares a few of them. Don't give up the fight Paulie. When self-serving and prejudiced actions replace logical moves, it's time to clear out "the egos".

      If you kiss a$$ enough and become a "yes" person, you may gain their respect but you'll lose the respect of your fellow journalist.

      - Former journalist who is glad to be just a fan now -

      Delete
    2. I'm not going to go there. All SIDS work hard and their work is appreciated by us here at CC.

      In other news, Notre Dame having their way with Syracuse at Syracuse 82-58 Irish with about four minutes to go.

      Q looks stunning in his suit and specs, tho.

      Paulie

      Delete

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