WBB Hosts South Carolina -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Take On Gamecocks in ACC/SEC Challenge

Louisville will play one of the marquee matchups in the final day of the women's ACC/SEC Challenge tonight, as the #22 Cardinals bring in the #3 South Carolina Gamecocks. The ACC did not have a great night in the first of the two gamedays in this year's version of the event, with the league coming away with just one win in the seven competitions on Wednesday. Syracuse beat Auburn 66-60. Stanford gave Tennessee a good run, but ultimately fell 65-62. NC State took #9 Oklahoma to OT in Norman before losing 103-98. Vanderbilt, UK, Georgia, and Texas A&M beat Virginia, Miami, FSU, and Georgia Tech, respectively. Making matters worse for the ACC is that the undefeated Wake Forest lost at home to William & Mary while Boston College was thumped at home by Quinnipiac. 

While there weren't any ranked vs ranked matchups last night, there will be three big ones tonight. Louisville and SC are in the early slate of games, along with #2 Texas hosting #11 North Carolina. In the 9PM slot, #13 Ole Miss hosts #18 Notre Dame. Clemson takes on Alabama, just as they did on the men's side of the challenge, coincidentally. VT hosts Florida to start the evening at 5PM, Pitt travels to Mississippi State, SMU hosts Arkansas, Duke hosts LSU, and Cal heads to Missouri. The ACC has to win eight of tonight's nine games to win the challenge. That will be a tall task. 

South Carolina is 7-1 in the early going, with their only loss coming in their last game. That was against Texas in the Players' Era Tournament in Las Vegas. Not a bad loss by any stretch of the imagination. They're scoring 89.5 points per game and beating opponents by an average of 36.1. Louisville cannot afford another slow start like they have seen in numerous other games this season. The Cards risk being run out of the Yum! Center in the first half against a team like South Carolina. 

The Gamecocks are led by Joyce Edwards and Ta'Niya Latson, who average 19.6 and 17.1 points per game, respectively. SC has four players averaging double figures, with Madina Okot and Tessa Johnson joining the other two. Raven Johnson, the fifth starter, averages 8.8. The Gamecocks don't go terribly deep in their bench, with their sixth player having just 131 minutes. If Louisville can play fast (but controlled), they may be able to wear down the opponent. 

Louisville is promoting tonight's game as a Stripe Out. I'm not usually a big fan of these, especially when Louisville has struggled to get its fans to take part in full color promotions. The easiest thing to do is provide the shirts, but so it goes. The simple way to put it is that if your ticket is in an odd-numbered section, wear black. If your ticket is in an even-numbered section, wear white. More information is available at this link: Stripe Out Page

Tipoff tonight will be at 7:00PM, and the game will be carried on ESPN. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

CARDS WBB TO FACE SOUTH CAROLINA IN 2025 ACC/SEC CHALLENGE -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS WILL HOST GAMECOCKS IN CHALLENGE

Louisville women's basketball has never been known to back down from a challenge, and it looks like they may have an early one on the schedule when Dawn Staley brings her South Carolina Gamecocks to the KFC YUM! Center to face Walz and the Cards in the ACC/SEC annual challenge.

The national runner ups will come to town on Dec 4th. An official tip time and TV designation has yet to be determined. 

This will be the third year of the challenge for the squads...the Cards previously faced Oklahoma and Ole Miss in the past and are 1-1 overall in the challenge. South Carolina is 2-0...beating North Carolina and Duke. 

South Carolina's 2025-2026 roster is a formidable one, with returnees Raven Johnson, Tessa Johnson, Maddy McDaniel, Joyce Edwards, Chloe Kitts, Ashlyn Watkins, Maryam Dauda  and Adhel Tac. Transfers in Ta'Niya Latson and Madina Okot will bolster the roster and freshmen Ayla McDowell and Agot Makeer could play significant roles as well.

Dawn Staley has already booked an impressive early schedule...with a trip to USC on Nov 15th and Texas, Duke and UCLA in Las Vegas to close out November. The Gamecocks have also scheduled trips to play Florida and Kentucky in December. 

Kitts will cause problems for the Cards. The 6'2 senior forward was the SEC Tournament MVP last season and draws this compliment from Staley..: 

"She's a dawg playing this game and has become what we projected she could be when we first recruited her". 

Kitts on playing for the Gamecocks:

"You have to realize you go through highs and lows. You might have a good stretch of games...you might have a horrible stretch of games. You just have to try and find a healthy balance and believe that every thing is going to be OK." 

Overall, South Carolina is 18-4 against the Cards 

paulie