Cardinal Couple: WBB falls to Duke 59-58 -- SB opens season in FL -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Friday, February 6, 2026

WBB falls to Duke 59-58 -- SB opens season in FL -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Good morning and welcome to the weekend. I've been chasing around cardinal birds on campus this week getting some shots for our new space on campus. Thought I could share a couple here :D

This is 'Miller' in front of Grawmeyer Hall

WBB

Have I told y'all how much I hate the color blue?

Louisville 58 Duke 59

Mackenley Randolph scored first point at ft line with almost 4 min off clock. Cards 0-8 to start game while Duke was 7-7. Louisville got it's first couple of buckets from Reyna Scott with 4:30 min left- Cards go on 7-0 run to make it 16-8. Fornier for Duke scored 11 in the first quarter. Duke shot 71% in the first quarter and the Cards shot 18%.

7-0 run for Cards made it 27-20 Duke which felt less daunting. Blue Devils went scoreless for 3 min but UofL gained almost no ground 34-25. Ziegler snuck in for the put up and in and then Duke hit the lucky 3 at the buzzer to make it a 10 pt. game at the half. Not a great sign.

Louisville comes out second half and scored immediately but the Blue Devils respond quickly. An Elif three pointer in front of the UofL bench makes it a 3 pt ball game Cards on a 7-0 run 41-38. 4+ min scoring drought for Duke but 3 turnovers in row for Cards and all the sudden Duke up by 8 again with 3 min left.

Full defensive possession with one min left in 3rd quarter to get the ball 46-43. Elif makes it underneath. Ball off Duke at the baseline and Cards get the ball with 15 seconds left in the frame. 7 turnovers by Duke in the 3 quarter alone. Reyna took the 3 pt. shot attempt but it was off.

Cards tie it up on a Reyna Scott drive to the basket and one and it's 46 all. Ziegler steals it and Cards looked for first lead when she makes it and its a 49-46 Louisville lead. UofL outshooting Duke 22-9 in 2nd half. Dunk retakes 50-49 lead with 6:30 left in the game

Laura goes 0-2 in one offensive possession but she really had some great looks they just didn't fall in. The rims were not forgiving for Louisville against Duke. Offensive foul by Duke's Fornier on Elif and Cards get the ball back. The crowd is roaring.

But... a 7-0 Duke run over 3 min makes it 54-49 with the Cards scoreless for more than 4 min and that quiets much of the fan base.

The story here was as follows.

Elif 1-2 at line and Duke hits 3 to make it a 7 pt Duke lead again. Taj 1-2 at line. Skylar 1-2 at line. and then another scoring drought where the Cards went scoreless from the field for more than 4 minutes. But will someone come to the Cards rescue to close it out? A familiar superhero?

Imari Berry hits 3 to make it 57-55 with about 2 min left. Duke responds Cards score quickly and Duke calls timeout with 66 seconds left and a 2 pt advantage.

Cards get the steal and push it forward to Berry for the layup but the shot misses but they do get the foul call. After sinking the first.. she misses the second FT with 1 second on the clock. And that’s all she wrote for this one.

I'll just say this... I would love to see this Duke team in the ACC tournament.

Softball

The Cardinals are flying south for some warmer weather. They’ve got a forecast averaging about 70 degrees Fahrenheit for the weekend ahead.

Louisville has not lost a game vs any team in the Felsberg Invitational field; FIU, Lehigh, Stony Brook and TX A&M CC. They will play 5 games over the 3 days.

It is Holly Aprile’s 8th season at helm. The Cardinals return 15 of their 21 players from the 2025 season including 7 starters. The senior class is lead by Easton Lotus, Chelsea Mack, Bri Despines, and Alyssa Zabala . The Cards’ pitching staff features a blend of experience and youth. Zabala leads the group, joined by transfers Madi Reeves (Miami Ohio) and Anna Wise (Ohio), both of whom bring multiple complete games and all-conference credentials from the MAC. Freshman Jayden Gohs adds immediate impact potential after being named to the Softball America Freshman Watchlist, while Brooke Gray and Ryann Sanders provide additional depth.

Louisville opens tournament play Friday, Feb. 6, against Stony Brook at 4:30 p.m. ET, followed by a matchup with host FIU at 7 p.m. ET. The Cardinals return to action Saturday with games against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (11:30 a.m. ET) and Lehigh (4:30 p.m. ET), before closing the weekend Sunday against FIU at 11:30 a.m. ET.

As Always,

Go Cards

~Daryl

1 comment:

Merv2/06/2026 2:27 PM
That was a good game! Cards came out ❄cold, couldn't buy a basket in the first quarter, but battled back to take the lead. Then, at the end, the Cards could have tied it up and gone to overtime. All in all, it was a great basketball game! The Cards the battle hard against a good shot blocking Duke Squad, as the Cards get ready for the next one, like coach said! The Cards know they block a lot of shots - pump fake and pull up. Cards are going to see a lot of that at Syracuse on Sunday.

Go,Cards L1C4
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Louisville women's basketball

Nov. 4 UConn (Annapolis) L 66-79
Nov 9 NKU W 89-61
Nov 12 Colorado W 74-68
Nov 16 at Clemson W 65-54
Nov 19 Morehead St. W 96-49
Nov 22 Kentucky L 62-72
Nov 28 E.Illinois W 91-38
Nov 29 ETSU (Bellarmine) W 88-50
Nov 30 Bellarmine W 100-37
Dec 4 South Carolina L 77-79
Dec 7 New Hampshire W 94-43
Dec 10 Ball St. W 93-62
Dec 14 at UNC W 76-66 (ot)
Dec 17 EKU W 76-51
Dec 20 Tenn. (at Brooklyn) W 89-65
Jan 1 SMU W 91-58
Jan 4 Va.Tech W 85-60
Jan 8 at Miami W 77-68
Jan 11 Pitt W 86-46
Jan 15 at Notre Dame W 79-66
Jan 25 Boston College W 85-56
Jan 18 at NCST W 88-80 (ot)
Jan 29 at Stanford W 84-66
Feb 1 at Cal W 71-59
Feb 5 Duke
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