A tale of two halves in WBB win over Clemson --LAX upsets Colorado -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS BLOW OUT AND THEN HANG ON VS. CLEMSON

It was a tale of two halves in Sunday's WBB game against Clemson .

Louisville came out gangbusters in the first twenty minutes, led by 30 points late in the second quarter and looked to be on their way to a huge blowout over the 14-13, 8-10 Tigers. You can credit a lot of the UofL superiority to the Cards lights out three-point shooting from Norika Konno and Hailey Van Lith, and a defense that held Clemson to 34% shooting. Creating Tiger turnovers was huge and capitalizing on them even larger -- the Cards created a 20-0 points off turnovers advantage to lead 51-22 after twenty minutes. 

It was sort of a chess match for most of the first quarter, Louisville found themselves up 7-6 with 3:36 to play after a Eno Inyang Clemson jumper. Then, someone lit the fuse. Liz Dixon converted inside, Van Lith dropped a free throw shot and Konno buried a three to make it 16-8. The Cards would complete the 13-2 run with two Morgan Jones free throws and a Kasa Robinson jumper at the buzzer. 20-6 and Clemson looked confused. 

The Cards would tack on five points to begin the second quarter on a Chrislyn Carr three and Jones jumper. It was 30-10 after Robinson scored again and Merissah connected on a three-pointer. No one would have blamed the Clemson bus driver for getting up and heading to team parking to start the bus at that point. 

To their credit, the Tigers didn't completely fall apart and were still down, but by just 22, after Van Lith rolled in a jumper with 3:24 until half time. The Cards had one more spurt left in them as halftime approached, though...back-to-back threes from Van Lith and Konno and then another Van Lith three had the total at 49-19 and Josie Williams put back in the paint completed the 11-4 half-ending run and the Cards had a 51-22 lead at half. A 31-14 second quarter advantage for UofL and the Cards had shot a sizzling 60% in the second quarter. 

A slow third quarter start for Louisville, not scoring for the first 4:18 of the session bfore finally getting a couple of Robinson free throws to drop. It's not that Louisville was in danger of losing their massive lead, but Clemson had their hatchet out and were chopping away. Makaya Elmore had a huge quarter with nine points for the Tigers in the third, what was just as impressive was that Clemson had held Louisville to eight points in eight minutes. It was 62-41 Louisville with a minute left in the quarter before the Cards got a follow up by Carr and a Cochran jumper to to take a 66-43 lead into the final quarter. 

   

If there was anything memorable about the final quarter, it was the five-minute stretch where the Cards scored just one point. UofL had a 75-52 at the 7:02 mark of the quarter after a Russell jumper. They scored a free throw over the next five minutes and it was a 76-67 game with 2:17 to play. Credit Clemson for the 15-1 run on the Cards and, although it looked like the Cards had a substantial lead to hang on with, there were more than a few nervous people left in the KFC YUM! Center. A Cochran jumper with 2:02 to play broke the scoreless streak.  The Cards would add two Russell free throws the remainder of the way and clinch the 81-69 win.

(Someone get on the story Hailey's accepted a proposal...fast!) 

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- The Cards took 13 free throws and made nine of then for 69.2% That's just a tad lower than the 70% we mandate for a letter...they did go 4-5 in the crucial fourth quarter, no one attempted more than four, but no letter here.

REBOUNDS -- Clemson took the boards battle 39-34, despite Cochran gathering 12 for the Cards. No letter here.

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Louisville shot a decent 48.4% for the game and had an impressine 23 assists to go with the makes. 15 turnovers is a bit high and you can't like getting outscored 44-24 in the paint. I do like the 50% from three point range though, so I'll award a small case "e" 

DEFENSE -- The first half Cards defense was spectacular, allowing just 22 points. Paint defense overall wasn't that spectacular, though, getting outscored 44-24 and Clemson did climb out of a slow shooting start to finish at 43.8%. Still, the defense was good enough to win and we'll allow a CAPITAL "D" for that. 

FINAL FRED REPORT:  _-_-E-d

The Cards return to action Thursday with a trip to Notre Dame. 

THEY SAID IT: 

POST GAME VAN LITH AND KONNO

POST GAME WALZ

LAX DOWNS COLORADO 12-5

Louisville got a career high four goals from Izzy Seikel and Sara Addeche turned in another impressive performance at goalkeeper as the LaxCards beat visiting and #25 ranked Colorado 12-5 Sunday afternoon at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. 

Louisville held a 5-1 lead at the half, with four different Cards scoring. The Buffs would battle back to start the second half with three straight goals, but UofL would go on a 5-0 run to finish the quarter and hold a 10-4 advantage after three quarters.  

The Cards would add two more goals in the fourth quarter before Colorado ended the scoring...it was Louisville, though, who ended up with the win to go 1-1 on the season. 

POST GAME CARDS INTERVIEW

Cardinal Couple did not have anyone in attendance to cover this one, with the changed WBB time, but we congratulate Louisville Lacrosse on getting a convincing win over a top 25 foe. (This post game audio from UofL sports, not us.)

PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON

paulie. 

Softball Wins and Winning, Lax, and WBB

 Softball Wins and Is Winning

That's not a typical headline we get to write, but it is the case on this opening weekend of Softball.

In the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida in the Tampa/St. Pete area, the Softball Cards are in the middle of a game against Missouri after it got rain and lightning delayed yesterday.  That means the Sunday schedule will have Louisville vs Howard at 10am, Missouri vs Prairie View A&M at 12:30(ish), and then hopefully the conclusion of the Louisville vs Missouri game.

Hey, it's an outdoor sport, you do whatcha gotta do to get as many of the games in as you can.

The game stands at a score of 2-0 with the Cards leading 23rd-ranked Missouri in the bottom of the 3rd with 2 outs.  The Cards are (or will be?) batting.  Taylor Roby is on 2nd, and Korbe Otis is on 1st with Sarah Gordon coming to the plate to bat.  The scores came all in the bottom of the 3rd: Easton Lotus singled, then advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch.  Daisy Hess doubled to right, scoring Lotus, then Roby doubled to right, scoring Hess.  Otis then drew a walk to get on base and that's where the game stands.

The Cards did have an earlier game in the day against Southern, with Sam Booe in the circle for the whole thing.  In five innings of pitching, Booe only allowed a single hit, while the Cards rounded 10 to take advantage of the college run-rule to end the game after just four and a half innings.  Taylor Roby went 2-for-2 at the plate with a two run homer in the mix.  Vanessa Miller and Paige Geraghty both had triples in solid performances at the plate as well.

Booe's no-hitter was going strong until the top of the fifth inning, and I want to know what commentator said something to jinx it.  She retired the first 10 hitters she faced and never faced more than three batters in any inning of the game thanks to a solid defense backing her up.

As mentioned, the Cards will face Howard today at 10:00 am and will hope to finish the Missouri game in the afternoon, depending on the lengths of games, and team travel schedules.

Colorado Visits Lacrosse

After a tough battle against Denver on Friday, the Colorado Buffs come to visit the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium starting at noon.

CU makes the drive up I-65 from Nashville where they tangled with Vanderbilt on Friday, going down to a 10-11 loss in overtime.

Charlie Rudy and Morgan Pence are the main attackers for the Buffs, and there seems to be some early uncertainty between the pipes with Danielle Heintz and Grace Donnelly spending time in goal.

With Louisville hosting, you can catch it on ACC Network Extra streaming.

Clemson Comes to Town

Oh yeah, there's a basketball game as well.  The Clemson Tigers will match up against a UofL team scrabbling to get back into the national rankings in the chaotic ACC.

The Tigers are in the lower ranks of the conference, at 5-9, but that has proven to not be a solid determining factor on who wins games in the ACC this year.  And one of the prime examples is from the end of December when Clemson knocked off a very good Virginia Tech team.

Louisville will be looking to climb out of the quagmire of teams all at 9-4, tied for third in the league.  This, of course, has particular relevance when it comes to ACC tourney time to get the double-bye.  Of course there are four more games past this one to help determine that, including one against Miami, another participant in the 9-4 mosh pit.

Amari Robinson, a name I feel like we've been calling for a decade, leads the Tigers.  She hails from Douglasville, GA, which, you know, has a penchant for producing some pretty good hoopsters.  Robinson averages over 13 points per game.  Ruby Whitehorn is the only other player to average in double-digits.

Will Walz continue the Konno, Kasa, Harris version of the starting lineup?  Or has Chrislyn Carr's recent high scoring efforts earned her a place back in the opening look?  Your guess is as good as mine, but if you can't be at the KFC Yum! Center for the game, it can be found on ACC Network Extra, and you should be able to make it a nice double-header with Lacrosse which should finish up right around in time for the 2:00 pm tip-off.

Do note that 2:00 pm is a changed gametime, with the original tip scheduled for 6:00 pm, but moved because...well, apparently there's a big football game, or something like that.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Even Louie is fed up with the officiating

Case, Jared, Paul, and myself had a lot on our plates as we dive headlong into the overlap between winter and spring sports.  Basketball, Softball, Lacrosse, and plenty more discussion happened.

Check it out at anchor.fm:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/Spring-Sports-Underway-e1uqeb5

and it can also be found in any quality podcast directory.

-- JMcA

Defense delightful in Cards cruise over Clemson 70-45 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WBB GOES TO 10-0 WITH 25-POINT WIN OVER CLEMSON

It was a strange and puzzling scenario leading up to the Cards WBB win over Clemson on Sunday. 

The game was originally scheduled for noon -- but was pushed to 2 p.m.-- (about 90 before the planned start of the contest). The reason? In a blanket-covering comment of the situation,  the ACC reported the delay was affected because of:

"A result of a player undergoing further (COVID) testing." 

The word we got was that a player woke up Sunday morning and didn't feel so good. In these days of the pandemic, it is immediate cause for testing and contact tracing. The proceedings resulted in Louisville having only seven players at the start of the game until the other five were retested and cleared.

So, the Cards WBB squad took to the floor for the tip with a bit of an altered starting line in Kianna Smith, Dana Evans, Elizabeth Dixon, Hailey Van Lith and Mykasa Robinson. The good news was that four of the "on-hold" players were eventually allowed to return to the sidelines after their test came back negative. Ahlana Smith did not see action for the Cards -- make what you will out of that. 

Despite all the delay and trepidation, the Cards WBB squad turned in a stellar defense performance, arguably their best of the 2020-21 season, in limiting the Tigers to 27.1% shooting, no made three-pointers in 19 attempts and just five fourth quarter points in the runaway win. 

Louisville also put four players in double figure scoring...Kianna Smith leading the way with 17, "E" Balogun added 14, in what may be been her best overall game of the season, and Dana Evans and Liz Dixon added 10 points each. Evans sat the entire second quarter, due to early foul trouble, and saw just 23 minutes overall -- but the Cards, in her early absence -- put together a 18-12 edge in scoring over Clemson in the 10 minutes before half. 

UofL did start a bit slowly and maybe that's attributable to two new starters on the court. Six turnovers in the first seven minutes brought back painful memories of the Cards third quarter against Virginia Tech on Thursday, but, in the words off Jeff Walz: 

"We settled down some, and that's what we needed to do. We were just getting way too careless with the basketball and it was just nice to finally see us get up shorts and make that extra pass." 

After Evans second foul, with about a minute left in the first quarter, Walz decided to sit her but Kianna Smith and Hailey Van Lith took reigns of the team and the Cards used the six-point win of the quarter to go from a 16-14 lead to a 34-26 advantage at the half. Defense was getting it done for the Cards, too. Clemson was shooting just 13-34 (38%) from the floor and had not been to the free throw line yet. 

Walz shortened up the lineup Sunday a bit with only eight players seeing 17 minutes or more.  

As the second half began, the Tiger's effort continued to plummet. it was 53-40 Cards after three. A huge 15-2 run by Louisville in the third made the score 49-30 and it was highlighted by threes from Evans and Smith, plus Balogun scoring five of her points in the stretch. 

One almost had to feel sorry for the Tigers in the final quarter. The ball simply wouldn't go in. Clemson didn't score until Delicia Washington connected on a put-back with 4 minutes to go. Clemson would not make another basket...they were 1-20 from the floor in the fourth, but did sink three of their four free throws. 

Washington, by the way, ended up with 10 points on the afternoon -- but she'll probably best be remembered for her unsportsmanlike-like behavior. With 5:25 left in the first half, she encountered the Cards Dixon after a Dixon rebound, Dixon was quickly pulled away from the potential fracas by the teammates (which was probably quite fortunate for Washington). Washington, however, continued to "jaw" and demonstrate,  she was "T'd" up by the officiating crew and removed from the game by Clemson head coach Amanda Butler, Washington then continued her show of discontent on the Clemson sidelines, arguing with Butler and stomping off to sit down, changing chairs to distance herself from Coach and then carrying on a seemingly heated discussion with assistant coach Daniel Barber.  

All in all, as Coach Butler pointed out, It was a game where the Cards plainly dictated the course of action on the court. Louisville shot well in the contest and after the rough, turnover stretch in the first quarter, simply out-played the Tigers on both ends of the court. 

THE FRED REPORT

Early struggles Sunday but an eventual blowout...

FREE THROWS -- The Cards had nine attempts and made eight of them. Only three Cards went to the line in 40 minutes -- Kianna, Hailey and "E". That 89% success rate is well-over the 70% we mandate as worthy of a letter, SO IT EASILY EARN A CAPITAL "F".  34 fouls were called in the contest, 17 per side...which was the exact number of fouls called in the Virginia Tech game. 

REBOUNDS -- Clemson won the battle of the boards 43-41. That was largely because of their 21-10 advantage on offensive rebounding. I keep this stat pretty simple...if the Cards lose the "grabs" stat, they don't get a letter -- so, no letter here. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Louisville committed 16 turnovers but only 10 in the final three quarters. They barely took the points-in paint stat 26-24, and had small margins of superiority in fast break points, points-off-turnovers...but lost the second-chance points stat. The Cards 45.8% shooting and 8-22 three-point efforts (36%) were enough to get them a letter, but a smallcase "e" is all I'll award. 

DEFENSE --  This was where the Cards excelled Sunday. They won the turnovers stat, steals stat, won 9-0 in blocks and held the Tigers to 0-19 three point shooting and 27.1% from the floor. They easily get A CAPITAL 'D" FOR THE DEFENSE...IT WAS THEIR BEST DEFENSIVE EFFORT OF THE 2020-21 SEASON. 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-_-e-D

JUST FOR FUN

The imaginative mind of our pool photographer Jared Anderson is always a delight to encounter.

  (@mrandersonjared on Twitter) caught this great sequence of Coach Walz during the contest and I just had to use it today.  Add your own captions...if you want.. 

 

 

"Hey, we're finally underway!"

"And we're all going to watch the Steelers later tonight!" 

"Here's how I plan on eating my wings during the game" 

"And I'll be sure to serve punch to everyone!" 

(Obviously, these were taken well before the Steelers playoffs game last night. Maybe he was watching Lamar and the Ravens...)

Louisville returns to action Thursday night (fingers crossed) when they host the Boston College Eagles for a 8 p.m. tip (fingers crossed again) in the KFC YUM Center.

paulie

 

ACC WBB report -- WEDNESDAY NIGHT ACTION

THREE LOWEST SEEDS PULL UPSETS IN FIRST DAY

So, how many times can you recall the ACC women's basketball tournament or any basketball tournament) starting out this crazy? #13 seed Wake Forest defeats #12 seed UNC. #15 seed Pitt gets their second win the ACC this season with the exciting two point win over #10 seed Notre Dame. In the nightcap, Clemson, seeded #14 upsets #11 seed Miami (with Bea Mompremier). 

It makes you wonder about Thursday.


WAKE FOREST 83 - NORTH CAROLINA 73

The day started with Wake Forest and UNC engaged in a tight one. Ivana Raca had 12 first quarter points to give the Demon Deacons a 20-17 lead. WFU would build that to six, but the TarHeels Shayla Bennett spurred a run that cut it to two at the half, WFU still leading. 

UNC took the lead halfway throgh the third quarter at 44-43, but a 6-0 Wake run ended the third 61-56 and UNC would not get any closer than that in the final quarter. 83-73 to advance Wake Forest to play Virginia Tech tomorrow at 11 a.m. Raca ended with 27 points for Jen Hoover's team. Joining her in double figures were Christina Morra (19), Gina Conti (10) and Alex Sharp (19). Bennett had 26 for UNC.

The key? Rebounding. Wake had a 47-22 advantage. Center Janelle Bailey played just 22 minutes for North Carolina.


PITTSBURGH 67 - NOTRE DAME 65


The second game started out a Notre Dame blowout. They roared out to a 11-3 led, but the Panthers fought their way back into it and trailed just 16-12 after one. Pitt kept coming. They grabbed a four-point second quarter edge at 29-25 bu the Irish fought back with a 6-0 run. Gabbie Green sunk a jumper at the buzzer and Pitt went into the locker room ahead 34-33. 

The craziness was just getting started. In the third, Pitt would push out to a eight-point edge, led by Day Harris, but here came the Irish, behind Katlyn Gilbert, and the third ended 51-47 Panthers. Notre Dame went 5-18 in the third quarter (27%) but hadn't surrendered by any means. Muffet's squad saw their final lead at 55-53 and tied it at 65-65 on a Gilbert layup with 21 seconds to go.

Harris -- calm, cool and collected -- buried a jumper with 2.7 second left and then stole the Notre Dame in-bounds pass after an Irish timeout to cinch it. Pitt advances to play Georgia Tech at 6 p.m. Thursday. Harris had 20 points for the Panthers, Ismini Prama sank four threes for Pitt to finish with 12 before she fouled out. Gilbert was the ND leader with 20 points. 


( I talked with Cardinal COUPLE readers Arthur and Bea before the Clemson game. He was nervous about facing Miami, but correctly indicated he thought Kobi Thornton was due for a potential big night. Bea was just nervous -- playing a team that had beaten them twice. I guess the bourbon is flowing at the Hampton Inn, and who can blame them? I'm ready for one or two myself).



CLEMSON 71 - MIAMI 56

The Tigers came out roaring and jumped to a 18-9 led over a Miami squad that looked slow and disorganized. It was 25-15 after one, Thornton had 11 points already and the Clemson fans, what few of them that were there, were ecstatic. Miami regrouped in the second quarter, steadily chipped away at the lead and eventually cut it to two. At 37-33 Clemson for the halftime break, but "uncle MO" was on Miami's side. 

No one told Clemson, though.

Miami grabbed their only lead at 41-39, but, Clemson got Thornton re-engaged, came back and went on a quarter-closing 16-3 run to hold a 55-44 advantage after three. They would increase upon that and Chyna Cotton drilled a three in the fourth to make it 71-56
. 
Mompremier had 23 for the Canes in a losing effort, she's gone for the WNBA next year and was playing dinged up but with all she had. Thornton ended with 27 for the Tigers, who will go against Boston College Thursday at 8 p.m. Amari Robinson added 16 for Amanda Butler's squad, who shot 50.9% for the game. Miami's shots would go, they finished at 31.7% from the floor. 

So, how does your bracket look? 


paulie
xxxxx 

WBB Cards Clobber Clemson 75-50 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DANA EVANS GOES FOR 27 IN 25-POINT WIN

A fast start last night in Clemson, SC propelled the Louisville women's basketball team to an early lead and Louisville never looked back in the ACC win against the Tigers. Dana Evans led all scorers with 27 points, Elizabeth "E" Balogun totaled 15 in the first 20 minutes and the Cards (13-1, 2-0) romped their way to a 75-50 triumph. 

Early on, it was Balogun 7 - Clemson 2 as the Chattanooga sophomore led a 10-0 Cardinal that put UofL up 12-2 after an Evans three made it 12-2 with 5:17 remaining in the first quarter. It was open season on hunting and bagging threes in the first ten minutes, Louisville sank five of them, and had no trouble in establishing a 25-12 run in the first session. 


The Cards came out hot in the second quarter as well, stretching a 32-16 lead to 44-22 after four straight threes in a two-minute sequence from Balogun and Evans. After buckets by Evans, E and Jazmine Jones, the Cards held their largest lead of the first half at 50-22 with 38 seconds remaining. It was a half to remember, the Cards made 10 threes, Balogun and Evans were responsible for 39 of Louisville's 50 first half points and UofL was shooting 56% (29-52) from the floor and 50% (10-20) from three-point range. Louisville won the second quarter 25-10.


I'll get into this a little later on in today's column, but I'll say it was the Cards finest effort for one half this season. 

It was a large defensive effort for Walz's squad in the first twenty minutes. They held the Tigers to 24% shooting, just one three-pointer and held Clemson scoreless the final 3:43 of the half. 50-22 at the break and the Tigers walked back to the locker room stunned, searching for answers and hardly looked like the team that had defeated Notre Dame by 16 a few nights ago in South Bend.  

The pace slowed a bit in the final two quarters. Although Louisville won the third 15-10 to take a 65-32 lead, Clemson was fighting for pride and starting to make a few stops and plays. Yacine Diop, Norika Konno, Elizabeth Dixon and Kasa Robinson eventually entered the action and the first three mentioned in the sub sequence scored the final six points of the third to extend the lead to 33 at the end of the quarter. Clemson's Kendall Spray, the ACC Player of the Week last week, had just one made three in the game. 


Walz did a lot of experimentation with player combinations in the fourth period. 

Clemson took advantage of the situation and went on a 8-0 lead midway through the final quarter to cut the Cardinal advantage to 24 at 66-42 with 6:11 to play. Walz re-inserted three starters to stem the tide and, aided by Norika Konno's five- fourth quarter points, Louisville sailed to a 75-50 win, despite getting out-scored 18-10 in the fourth and scoring just one point in the first five minutes of final quarter action.

An incredible night for the Gary, IN junior. Dana going 10-20 from the floor, seven of the makes being threes and also adding three rebounds and four assists. Balogun was just as incredible, going 6-10 from the floor in only 20 minutes of action.


THE FRED REPORT

Fred "Mr Rogers" would have probably
sung "It's a Beautiful Night in the Tiger Den"
after last night's UofL performance

FREE THROWS -- If there was a lack of something in last night's contest, it was called fouls. Only 27 in the contest and just 10 by Clemson. The Cards went seven for nine (77.8%) from the line, Dana never went to the line and four players took two each. Free throws definitely weren't a factor last night. We'll award a CAPITAL "F" for the Cards effort, albeit a brief one, from the charity stripe. 

REBOUNDS -- Surprising at first glance, Louisville lost the boards battle 47-40 to the Tigers. Upon further review, there were several sequences in the game where Clemson took four or so shots before connecting, so that "puffed" the stats. And, UofL did win the defensive boards battle 26-25. Kylee had 10 grabs, eight on the defensive end and Liz was responsible for five in just 16 minutes. I can't award a letter here, but unique circumstances and the Cards first half shooting excellence skew this stat. 

EFFICIENCY/EXECUTION -- Louisville passed the ball well, found the open player and ran the offense well for most of the contest. Yacine led the "bakery" stat with four turnovers, but, all in all, the Cards fared well in getting done what had to be done. 23 points off turnovers and the Cards ran the transition game quite well. Here's your CAPITAL "E". 

DEFENSE -- A wonderful performance in the first three quarters, no doubt. 20 turnovers for the Tigers and Louisville blocked seven shots, led by "E"'s five. 18-62 shooting for Clemson and just three fast break points. Maybe the most remarkable stat was the 1-8 three-point shooting Clemson managed. 50 points for the Tigers....and just 32 after three quarters. The defense (doesn't) rest, your honor, and we have come to a decision. A CAPITAL "D" for the shut down effort by UofL when the Tigers had the ball. 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-_-E-D


SO...

Debate it if you will, but I'll call that first half the finest one Louisville has produced all season.

The Cards looked like a team that could go very, very far in the NCAA Tournament for 20 minutes last night.

Maybe. I'm a little disappointed that the "killer" instinct seemed to wane in the final twenty (Clemson won the second half 28-25), but...let's face it, this one was over early and (in my opinion) the sparse crowd of 1196 didn't have much at all to rally around most of the night. In deference, they're Football crazy these days down there, with National Championship dreams permeating the city and campus and, rightfully so. 

A chance to get a little extended playing time for the Cardinal reserves and that's always good, especially when it is an ACC opponent. Those opportunities may not present themselves much in the future. Coach Walz expressed pleasure in his post-game remarks about the win.

Has the jello finally jelled? 

The Tiger (maybe) mirroring the look in Clemson fans eyes
and on their faces after last night's game. 

Last night, the jello was served -- or, more like forced down the throat -- to a Clemson squad coming off a huge win on the road. 

The Cards saw the 5-9 version of Clemson, not the road-warriors who gave Notre Dame their first home loss in ACC history.

 No matter, they kept shoveling the gelatin down the Tigers pie-hole and it was refreshing to see. 

Let's hope second helpings are plentiful out of the Cardinal refrigerator as the Cards continue to explore the menu in the ACC establishment. 

Duke comes up next for the Cards, a visit to the KFC YUM Center on Sunday 2 p.m. Coach Walz wants 12-13,000 in attendance for this one. You got it in you, Cardinal fans? 


JUST IN

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour will live on. 

Although it won't be on the radio, Jeff McAdams has set up a podcast format for us that will debut Saturday, 1 p.m. on You Tube. 

We kept the name, in tribute to the years of our broadcasting efforts, despite there being an absence of a radio station you can turn on to listen to us. My guys tell me podcasting is the wave of the future. I hope you follow us over to the venue change. 

Please join us at:  youtube.com/watch?v=x5ZYz6Z7140  for our first broadcast. Case Hoskins will go into more detail about our transformation and continuance in his Saturday column. It should be informative and interesting !! 


paulie
xxxxx

Back to Business -- WBB Visits Clemson -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Travel to Clemson

Now that the year has begun it is time to get back to business. Louisville Women's basketball plans to do just that when they visit Clemson tonight.  The Cards and Tigers will top off at 7:00 p.m., ET.  The game is slated to be aired on ACC Network Extra, or you can tune into Nick Curran and AJ on the radio on Cards Radio WKRD 790 AM.

The Tigers play their home games in Littlejohn Arena. I would expect a decent crowd for this one, with the Cards coming in as a top 10 squad and the general excitement about Clemson Sports playing a factor as well. Their football squad is playing for the National Championship and sometimes other programs will bring in highly ranked programs fot recognition and a cameo temperance to fire up the fan base and bolster attendance.

Attendance usually hovers around the 1400 mark for home games in Littlejohn. They did bring in almost 4300 against Alabama State (Education Day event) and 2830 for South Carolina.

Probably got a bad mushroom. The Clemson Tiger is
simply known as The Tiger, no nickname
. He needs sunglasses 

Louisville improved to 12-1 after a scare against Syracuse in the ACC opener.  The Cards have won
their last two conference road openers and are 15-1 on the road against the ACC the last two years.

Clemson (5-8) had a rough start to the year but has won two of their last three and sit at 1-1 in conference play.  Most recently, they went to South Bend and walked away with a 16-point win.  They gave Notre Dame their first home conference loss since joining the ACC in 2013.

Other than getting beat by South Carolina pretty badly the Tigers have been competitive in games.  The killer has been offense.  They've topped 70 points just five times in 13 outings.

Clemson averages 62.8 points per game.  Their shooting is pretty effective with a .404 mark from the field and .292 mark from three-point range.  Three-point shooting is not Clemson's go-to, as they have only made 59 on the year.  Turnovers have been a problem for the Tigers, who have 283 on the year, nearly 22 per game.

Scoring has been by committee with no particular player being the go to.  Kobi Thornton (13.5 points per game), Amari Robinson (11.& ppg), and Kendall Spray (10.2 ppg) have been the three top scorers with seven other players averaging between three and six points per game.  Thornton was a second team All-ACC member last season.

Spray has been the only deep range threat, making 34 treys and shooting 35%.  Her 34 three's ranks fifth in the ACC.  No one else has made more than nine.She was also ACC Player of the Week last week.

Thornton and Robinson have led the rebounding charge with 6.5 and 6.7 per game, respectively.  As a team, Clemson averages nearly 41 rebounds per game, two and a half more than their opponents.

Louisville owns the series with a 7-3 advantage.  They've also won seven straight, all coming since
the Cards joined the ACC.  The most recent meeting was in the ACC tournament, where the two teams went head-to-head for most of the game before the Cards pulled out a 75-67 win.

Our good friend Arthur should be in attendance and most likely fired up, now that he has returned from a thrilling Fiesta Bowl.  Perhaps he will make a cameo while we're watching the game from our phones and computers.

All in all, the Tigers are in a second year of a rebuild with head coach Amanda Butler, who we've pictured here. We're not sure if she's surfing, skateboarding or just trying to negotiate the walk from the bar to the car at the end of New Year's Eve...but she is a talented coach when not wind-surfing and the Tigers could pose a huge threat if Louisville stays with their recent "play to the level of their opponent" mode.

Planning ahead, the Cards return home this coming Sunday for a tip-off against Duke at 2:00 p.m.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Friday Match-Ups -- ACC Pick Em --North CAROLINA Weekend Schedule -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

ACC Tournament

Tournament Update

So, four games on Day Two of the ACC Tournament. All the better seeds prevailed.

VIRGINIA 57 vs. SYRACUSE 67

The Orange grabbed the early lead and it never faltered, despite a heroic effort from the Cavaliers. Willoughby and Toussaint combined for 32 of UVA's points, but couldn't overcome a 40-29 Orange halftime lead. Q was up to his dramatics in the second half, finally wiping his head off with a towel at the buzzer in the 67-57 Syracuse win. #5 seed takes the win over the #12 seed. 

Four in double figures for the New York school. Strautmane (14) Mangakahia (13) Lewis (12) and Drummond (11). Aiding them, the Orange shot 50% for the game. VA only 37%. Otto the Orange's gals also won the paint scoring battle as well...30-20


GEORGIA TECH 73 vs. NORTH CAROLINA 80

#9 vs. #8 seeds in the second game and UNC rolled out like they were going to romp the Heels. 9-0 early on three straight Leah Church threes but Georgia Tech ended up with the 24-16 lead after one. UNC kept chipping away, though...40-35 was the Tech halftime lead and a 57 tie after three. Without Janelle Bailey, suspended for this one, the UNC squad found their way to a 23-16 fourth quarter and takes this one 80-73.

Church ended with 20, Paris Kea added 19 and Shayla Bennett was good for 18. Points off turnovers (15-6) and second chance points (19-11) the two key numbers in favor of the Chapel Hill school here in the seven-point UNC victory.

CLEMSON 80 - VIRGINIA TECH 79

This was the contest to watch. Back and forth, Tech leading early,,,Clemson catching up and passing them in the third quarter...and a all out fourth quarter that ended in a 71-71 tie. Clemson getting up early in the O.T. and seemingly winning by four but a buzzer-beater by Va. Tech cutting it to one at the end.

So many heroes. Aliyah Collier going for 28 (off the bench) for the Tigers. Taylor Emery 35 in a spectacular effort in defeat. 22 Tiger turnovers and they manage to pull it out. The CU school won the points-in-paint 30-20 and second chance points 11-7, and that helped them win the contest.

FSU  51 - DUKE 41

If the third game was, as most agreed, exciting, stimulating and fun to watch, this one was like getting a root canal, while heavily sedated and it taking forever.

Someone had to win and Florida State never trailed in methodically duking out the Dookies. Heck, it's putting me to sleep just typing about it. What you need to know...Haley Gorecki is a stud for the Blue Devils, Neither team could sink a three if their lives depended on it and Kiah Gillespie had a double-double for FSU (15 and 12). Thank goodness I was sitting next to the FSU play-by-play guy. His fevered pitch over something that wasn't exciting at all kept me awake.

FSU advances, so the better seed theory stayed alive, but, honestly...the ACC should have just said that neither team advances and they'd move Clemson and Va. Tech move to Friday instead. .


ON TAP TODAY

Live from Greensboro

With Paulie present at the ACC Tournament I will leave recapping the games to him, but wanted to point out the four match-ups we'll see today.

#5 Syracuse vs #4 Miami, 11:00 a.m.

Cuse is coming off a 10-point victory in the first game yesterday and the U is set to play their first game of the tournament.  These two teams met in New York in late January where the Hurricanes won 84-71.

#8 North Carolina vs #1 Notre Dame, 2:00 p.m.

Live from Greensboro...Mr. Arthur and Bea.

The Heels held on down the stretch in their first game of the tournament in the first half of yesterday's events while the top-seeded Irish have come off a double-bye.  Notre Dame went to Chapel Hill in late January and got upset by UNC 78-73.

#7 Clemson vs #2 Louisville, 6:00 p.m.

The Tigers held on to win by one in overtime in their opening game of the tournament yesterday while the Cards are fresh off a double-bye.  UofL blew out Clemson 76-44 in the KFC Yum Center at the beginning of February.

#6 Florida State vs #3 NC State, 8:00 p.m.

FSU was sluggish in a low-scoring game for their first appearance in the tournament yesterday while the Wolfpack is the final team of the tournament to see the floor.  The Seminoles took down NC State during the Wolfpack's stretch of losing three of four in early February 75-70 down in Tallahassee.

ACC Pick Em

Some brackets are looking pretty ugly for the folks who picked lots of upsets.  As of this point in the tournament the higher seeds have won every game.

Going into the final game last night there 5 remaining perfect brackets of the 23 entries.  Two of those were ruined when FSU defeated Duke.

Here is a list of everyone's record going seven games in with seven remaining:

7-0

Paul Sykes

Case Hoskins

Jeremy Wilkerson

6-1

Curtis Franklin

Nick O

K Stark Sr

Arthur

Seminole Sue

Jared Anderson

Thomas Irwin

Charlie McAdams

"#1"

Sandy W

5-2

Sonya Sykes

Joe Hill

Douglas Anderson

Jason Wyrick

Daryl Foust

Jeff McAdams

4-3

David Watson

Spanky

Vivian McAdams

3-4

Cardinal Chimps (has 3 guaranteed losses between Friday and Saturday, not yet included in record)

Weekend Schedule

Women's basketball will hopefully have three games this weekend.  The only guaranteed one is today at 6:00 against Clemson.  They could also play on Saturday at 2:30 and Sunday at noon.

Softball is down in Auburn for the War Eagle Challenge and some of the games have been slightly altered.  They will play Radford at 10:00 and Michigan State at 12:30 on Friday.  There will be two more games on Saturday when the Cards play at 10:00 against Radford and 3:00 against Auburn.  The Cards will wrap up play on Sunday with a game against Mercer at 11:00.

Lacrosse will host Duke on Saturday at noon.  With Paulie in Greensboro I may be the only representative present, pending Worldwide's schedule.  I typically do not tweet during games as I have a camera attached to my face so check out the UofL Twitter (@louisvillelax).

Women's tennis has two games, one on the road and one at home.  The Cards will visit Notre Dame on Friday at 3:30 before returning home to the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center to face Georgia Tech at 10:00.

Baseball has their ACC opener, hosting Boston College for a three-game series.  They'll play Friday at 5:00, Saturday at 1:00, and Sunday at noon.  UofL does charge for ACC games at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Track and field will be in Birmingham for the Indoor Championships all weekend.

Men's basketball will play at Virginia on Saturday afternoon.

Men's tennis will have two home matches on Sunday, facing Notre Dame and Wright State.

You can catch Worldwide, Case, Daryl, and myself will be in the studio on Saturday.  If our engineers can get everything working as we hope then we should have a phone call with our fearless leader from Greensboro about halfway through the show.

Whether he answers or not, who knows?

It's how he rolls.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared