Cards Vball fall in the Elite 8 2-3 -- Battle of the Bluegrass WBB Edition -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hello readers, 

Thanks for checking back in with us this Sunday morning.  We are all still shuffling around... so the post today is coming from Daryl.   Jeff is unfortunately traveling back to Louisville instead of heading to Tampa this morning so I will cover yesterday's disappointing loss to the Pitt Panthers.   

We also have a huge rivalry matchup downtown this afternoon which Paul and Jared should be in attendance for.   

from UofL Vball twitter

VolleyCards

Photo: Jared Anderson

The Cards suffered a reverse sweep at the hands of the Panthers for a second straight time this season.  At Fitz Arena.   Louisville came out looking much stronger and smarter than Pitt did in the first two sets but Pitt was able to make them competitive.  Which is the opposite of what the final 3 sets looked like for Louisville.   The Pitt defense was able to stuff the Cards as UofL scored only 16, 19 and 7 points in the final 3 sets.   Aiko Jones started 7-7 before she cooled off and Pitt adjusted their blocking to prevent the Cards from finding any gaps on the floor beginning at the end of the 2nd set.   Pitt's Olivia Babcock also turned up the heat and was able to find her rhythm and completely knock the Cards off balance.  

The Cardinals finish their season 27-5 overall.   They hit .213 overall against Pitt with five aces and 13 blocks in the loss. Middle blocker Phekran Kong tied her career-high with 13 kills while hitting .600 along with eight blocks. Outside hitter Anna DeBeer tallied 13 kills, eight digs, and three blocks, middle blocker Cara Cresse recorded nine kills, five blocks, and an ace, and middle blocker Aiko Jones added nine kills, six blocks, and five digs in her final match as a Cardinal. Setter Elle Glock had 39 assists, four digs, and a block, while libero Elena Scott totaled 10 digs, four assists, and three aces.

Panthers advance to their third straight Final Four by hitting .286 with 11 aces and 14 blocks. Torrey Stafford led the way with 18 kills, 11 digs, and two blocks, and Olivia Babcock was right behind her with 16 kills, eight digs, five blocks, and three aces. 

The match featured a whole lot of back and forth points with both teams rarely going on any runs to created distance.   Except for the last set.   This one was not even close and you could see that the Cards ran out of gas....motivation...something.    Pitt had all the momentum and luck as they made it 7-1 in the fifth set and gave the Cardinals almost no hope of walking away with a win.  

A season that was so promising ends in the "great eight". I won't go into ending up in the same region as Pitt, the selection committee obviously did not want both Louisville and Pitt in the Final Four again. though. Pitt goes to Tampa, along with Texas, Nebraska and Wisconsin.  

WBB

photo: Jared Anderson

#18 Louisville Preps for the Battle of the Bluegrass Against Kentucky

The Cards and the Cats will square off at 2 p.m. ET 

ACC Network

Heading into this one on a four game winning streak, the Cardinals have held opponents to 59 points or less in five of their nine games this season. Louisville has forced 20 or more turnovers in seven-straight games and in eight of their nine games this year. The Cardinals rank 16th in the country and have averaged 22.8 turnovers forced per game this season. Louisville has won the last six meetings against UK. The last time the two met, the Cardinals kept the state red as they defeated Kentucky, 86-72.

Kentucky fell to Minnesota 76-57 the other day. Ajae Petty is coming off back-to-back games scoring at least 20 points and grabbing at least 12 rebounds. In fact, she earned Southeastern Conference Player of the Week. Petty is leading the team in scoring (15.9) and rebounding (10.0), while she also ranks second in the league in field-goal percentage (61.2) and rebounds (100). Maddie Scherr, a senior guard from Florence, Kentucky, is second on the team with 14.0 points per game, despite missing four games this season.

With Walz at helm, Louisville leads the series 9-6 (5-2 home, 4-4 away).

photo: Jared Anderson

As Always, 

Go Cards

~Daryl

Strong First Half leads Louisville WBB past UK 86-72

 CARDS GIVE CATS A THUMP IN RUPP

Liz Dixon came to play Sunday at Rupp arena against UK.

Dixon went 5-6 from the floor and 6-7 from the free throw line in 26 minutes against a UK squad that didn't have the answers for stopping her, She even talked about it...albeit briefly, in a post-game couple of comments , indicating she'd played in this rivalry before, knew what to expect, knew what she needed to do and went out and did it. A different venue and different rules for holding post-game pressers with the coach and players Liz was just getting going, when presser moderator asked if there were any final questions for her. We could have listened all night, we few Cardinals media in attendance.  

Hailey Van Lith (21 points) or Morgan Jones (12 points) were big in this one, also. The Cards jumped out to a 14-6 first quarter lead, after a fast break score by Chrislyn Carr and UK never challenged after that. A 21-14 first quarter lead for the Cards, where Dixon had six points and the Cards sank all five free throws.

(Cardinals fans, including former Louisville mayor
Jerry Abramson and wife Madeline were in attendance
Madeline was watching game action, Jerry checking the scoreboard).

Maybe the UK strategy for this contest was "send them to the line and we'll win it there" If it was, Kyra Elzy and crew need to go back to the white board. 27 fouls and allowing a foe 39 free throws can come back to bite you, especially if your opponent make 33 of those free ones. The Cards were not so efficient from the deep, though...going 1-15 from three-point land, All's well that ends well, though, as the Cards win their sixth straight over the school in blue. In his typical slow-play humor fashion, Walz claimed credit for the free throw success and blamed the three-point effort on his assistants. 

1ST QUARTER

(Walz and UK Coach Kyra Elzy share a light moment before the fray)

I mentioned the 14-6 early start for Louisville, the first four Cardinal baskets were scores from inside the paint. If Walz's strategy was to take it inside and out-power UK in the paint, it was working.  After all, it worked for Liz Kitley and Virginia Tech against the Cats, the only team that had handed UK a loss, prior to Sunday. A Merrisah Russell score in the paint, a Josie Williams bucket in the paint, even tiny Chrislyn Carr driving and scoring in the paint -- you get the idea...the Cards had found the key to success. 21-14 and, no, it wasn't football, despite the foot-ball like score. 

2ND QUARTER

Van Lith and Jones jumpers extended the Cards lead to 25-14 and Jones added a couple of (say it with me...) layups in the paint and it was 29-14 with still 6-1/2 minutes to play before halftime Most of the nearly 9,000 in Rupp Arena had gotten strangely quiet, except for the Cardinals fans in attendance. A Dixon jumper plus 1 set the score at 35-22 and the Cards went on a 7-3 streak to end the half with Olivia Cochran connecting (hmmm...I wonder from where?) two seconds before halftime. 42-25 the halftime score and eight Cards had scored in the half, led by Dixon's 10 and Jones 8.

3RD QUARTER

UofL pushed the lead to 20 (50-30) in the first three minutes of the third quarter, on eight free throws...made two-at-a-time by Cochran, Dixon, Dixon again and Van Lith. A Dixon jumper made it 52-30, which turned out to be Louisville's biggest lead of the afternoon. The Cats began cutting into that margin as the quarter progressed and whittled it down to 54-40 with three minutes left in the quarter. The Cats would get within 12 late in the quarter after a Maddie Scherr three, but Carr's jumper as time expired made it 61-47 after three quarters. It wasn't quite nervous time, yet, but stranger things have happen in this rivalry, so Louisville had to maintain for the final 10 minutes. 

4TH QUARTER 

 

Hailey made seven free throws in the fourth quarter and Kasa Robinson six. A Cochran jumper and Van Lith layup pushed the Cards lead out to 65-49 with seven minutes left in the final quarter. A Nyla Harris bucket increased that to 71-51 and Cardinals fans began breathing a bit easier. But UK was going down swinging (sorry, bad pun) and cut the UofL lead to 11 with 2:53 to play. It was 78-67 after Scherr hit two free throws with 2:16 to go, but a Jones put-back on a missed Van Lith three and two Robinson free throws had the tally at 82-67 with 50 seconds to play. Hailey's two free throws ended the scoring with 18 seconds left to give the Cards the 86-72 win. The teams made a combined 16 free throws in the final ten minutes and 43 in the game on 60 attempts. I guess the officiating crew was working on commission...

THE FRED REPORT

(Yabba Dabba Doo! Cards gave Cats loss #2..WOO HOO !) 

FREE THROWS -- We mentioned earlier that Louisville was 33-39 from the charity stripe. That's a whopping 85% and easily qualifies for a CAPITAL "F". Jeff Walz did mention in his post-game remarks that he really doesn't pay attention to the percentage made as much as he does the number of free ones made. We're still "percentage folks" here, if a team is sinking them with a high percent, it tends to make the opponent foul you less (unless you're Kentucky). I'm still convinced the Cats defensive strategy is based on..."if you foul them hard enough and often enough, that'll keep them from making baskets". How'd that work out Sunday, UK? 

REBOUNDS -- Louisville won the battle of the boards 44-35. What I may have liked the most about it was that 22 came from the Cards "bigs". The funniest stat here is that "Team" had 8 rebounds in the game for Louisville and 6 for UK. A CAPITAL "R" is awarded, though, and I guess I need the stats-keepers to explain to me what constitutes a "team" rebound. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- The Cards shot 44% from the floor, which is pretty good when you figure they shot 7% from three-point range. 16 turnovers isn't too bad, either, especially with UK's ball-hawking guard crew. 14 assists on 26 made baskets is a decent percentage, also. Only two points off fast breaks is a bit disappointing, though. Louisville scored 33 points from the line and 38 points in the paint and coaches love to see their teams get almost half their points from the paint. I'll award the CAPITAL "E" because of these things, the 86 points scored and the win. 

DEFENSE -- Eight blocks is impressive (Jones with four) and 42% shooting for Kentucky show the effort on the defensive end was good, but not particularly great for the Cards. Allowing 72 points and forcing just 14 turnovers also is a few more points and less forced turnovers than I'd like to see. Defense wasn't the main reason Louisville won Sunday, but it was solid enough to keep UK's point total lower than UofL's. I'll go with the small case "d" here.  

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-R-E-d

So...a fun and successful visit to Lexington Sunday. They still don't have a media buffet (boo) but they give the media a $11 bucks card to use at the concession stand. Mine got me a slice of pizza and box of popcorn. I guess we're spoiled in Louisville...but, it was pretty tasty pizza, 

What's way more important than the culinary situation, though, is that Louisville looked consistently good, played efficiently and beat an SEC school and their in-state rival.

Convincingly.

Walz has told us all that it might take a while for this team to jell, but they may have taken a big step toward that jelling Sunday. 

The Cards probably won't see a more one-sided ,away crowd this season. But, despite the occasional encouraging roars from the home crowd, these kitties weren't able to sustain a drive, grab a lead or stand up to this task today. It might be a long season for them once SEC conference play starts. 

The Cards return to action Weds vs Bellarmine in Freedom Hall

PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON) 

paulie

CARDS 64 - CATS 58 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 THREE IN DOUBLE FIGURES IN WBB WIN OVER UK

Kianna Smith is presented her 1,000 pt. ball 

Another season, another Louisville women's basketball win over Kentucky. 

Another close affair, the Cards having to overcome a 54-53 UK lead with 3:37 left in the game, but...to the delight of 12,167 fans in the KFC YUM! Center...the Cards ended the contest on a 11-4 run and #7 Louisville improved to 8-1 on the season. 

Chelsie Hall led UofL with 15 points and Ahlana Smith and Hailey Van Lith added 13 each in the win. Credit a Cards 32-28 point edge in the paint, 21-9 edge in points-off 21 UK turnovers and holding UK star Rhyne Howard to just nine points on 3-13 shooting to give Louisville their fifth straight win over UK. The Cards won the battle of the guards on a night where Olivia Cochran left in the third quarter with a blow to the head and Liz Dixon saw just seven minutes and had just two points. In a game of runs, it was Louisville's final one that spelled the difference. 

A tightly called contest where 36 fouls were whistled, three technical fouls were issued and Kianna Smith fouled out with eight minutes to go. The "over-attentive" refereeing drew the ire of the Cardinal faithful -- Cardinal favorite Eric Brewton seemed to be on a mission to call the slightest hint of any contact and UK, for all their determination to hang with the Cards, seemed intent on giving the ball back to Louisville. The Cats had 23 turnovers and the Cards 10 steals. 

Louisville did build a 19-13 first quarter lead, but managed just two points in the final five minutes of the second quarter to go in down by one at halftime 33-32. A final five minutes of the first half that started with the Cards holding a 30-22 lead, but 1-5 shooting and a questionable technical foul called on Olivia Cochran after blocking a UK shot and looking at a UK player led to two Howard free throws. Let's order a set of horse blinkers for "O", I guess. 

 

It wasn't the best of nights for UK's potential ALL-American. She went 3-13 from the floor, had just seven rebounds in 39:30 minutes. Constantly frustrated by the Cards switching defensive tactics, she failed to score in the second half. 

Louisville used a withering defense to hold UK scoreless for the first six minutes of the final half.  During that strettch, the Cards built a eight point lead (43-35) and outscored UK 12-6 in the quarter. UK shot 1-13 in the third and one had to be optimistic that Louisville had this one if they could continue the defensive pressure. 

UK wasn't having it. 

With the Cards leading 49-42 after an Engstler steal and layup, UK got a timeout and started to chip away at the led. A 5-0 run had them within two at 49-47 with 6:26 to go and they tied it 30 seconds later on two free throws from the aptly named Treasure Hunt. A Hall steal and layup put Uofl back ahead but UK gained a 54-53 lead after a Howard block and Dre'una Edwards layup on a fast break. 

3;37 remained in the game. How would the Cards respond? 

The answer is...impressively. Ahlana Smith knocked down a jumper and Van Lith sunk a fast break layup to put UofL back up by four. Smith nailed another jumper to make it 59-54 with 1:41 to play. Cardinal fans started breathing a bit easier. UK's final points came with 84 seconds to play on an Edwards jumper.  A clutch bucket by Van Lith (she had eight fourth-quarter points) and three Hall free throws... after a technical on UK coach Kyra Elzy (who was a bit upset that a foul had not been called on Kasa Robinson after a Howard missed shot).secured the win. 

A win that sent Cardinal fans home happy. A win that UK tried to prevent, but, ultimately, fell out of their reach, despite 7-14 fourth quarter shooting. Turnovers will get you almost every time and the Cats six miscues in the fourth were a key factor in sending them back eastward on I-64 after the game with a loss and 6-3 record. 

THE FRED REPORT

As Fred Rogers used to say, it was
a beautiful day in Cardinal-hood Sunday 

Free Throws -- The Cards went 8-12 from the charity stripe,...getting four of them from Hall. 66% does not meet our 70% standard for a letter, though, so no letter here. 

Rebounds -- We had a 37-37 tie in the board grabbing category/ Engstler led Louisville with 10....no one else had more than five. We didn't lose the battle of the boards, so I'll award a small-case "r" for the effort/ 

Effort/Execution -- A 40% shooting night for Louisville (26-65) and just 13 turnovers. I'm not thrilled about the 4-13 three point effort, nor just nine assists -- but the overall effort got the Cards the win and I'll award a small-case "e" .

Defense -- I liked what I saw on the defensive end. UK shot 38.9%. They had 21 turnovers. The Cards had 10 steals and six blocked shots, winning both those categories handily. I have.no hesitations in handing out a CAPITAL "D".  Our defense won this one for us.

FINAL FRED TALLY:  _-r-e-D

We spoke at length at the start of the seasson about the Cards depth at guards and that was the area that UofL excelled in Sunday afternoon. Ahlana Smith and Chelsie Hall had 28 points, add in Van Lith's 13 and those three guards had 64% of our scoring. And none of the three are over 5'8". 

Louisville brings in Eatern Kentucky next -- on Thursday at 8 p.m.  A game scheduled when Samantha Williams was still coaching the Colonels. A nice tune-up for UConn next Sunday. 

(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON)

THEY SAID IT:

: 

POST GAME WALZ

POST GAME CHELSIE HALL/AHLANA SMITH

paulie

    

Final Four Bound and Gameday - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball is Final Four Bound

It was a historic ACC battle in Freedom Hall as the wide net Cards punched their ticket to Columbus for the NCAA Volleyball 2021 Final Four.  The deed was done in four sets, 25-18. 21-25, 25-21, 25-20.  Georgia Tech battled, but the Cards ultimately blocked their way to advancement.

A moment of silence for those impacted by
tornadoes in western Kentucky and the region.

Louisville has gotten off to a slow start a number of times this season, and this match was no exception with the Yellowjackets getting out to a 4-1 start before the Cards shut it down with a six point run.  Once the tone was set, UofL was able to slowly stretch the lead with GT only able to get the score margin down to two points the rest of the set.  .281 hitting for UofL over GT's .186 basically tells the tale.

It looked like it would be another relatively easy cruise for the Cards but Tech had another idea, and Louisville let off the gas a bit in the second set.  The Cards got a bit sloppy late in the set...well, as sloppy as this team ever plays, anyway.  The birds and the bees mostly traded points with a slight edge to the Cardinals leading to a 20-15 lead for UofL.  Tech then reeled off six straight points, with five of them listed as Cardinal hitting or blocking errors.  Anna Stevenson would stem the tide slightly, but the techsters would get back on it to close out the set with another four straight with two Louisville hitting errors as part of it, to take the second set.  Louisville hitting cooled to .152, and GT heated up to .281.

Anna says, "No means no."

It wasn't to last for Buzz, though.  The third set opened up much like the first, with GT getting out to a 4-1 lead before Louisville settled in and ripped off another 6-0 run.  Every bit of this one was GT attack errors, but four of the seven were credited to Louisville's blocking.  Not so fast, said GT, though, climbing back into a tie ballgame at 8-8, then a few points later, but UofL would get the lead back and never give it up in the third set.  A 6-1 run for the Cards was a big part of that, ending with a 17-11 lead.  Tech would get it within two a few times the rest of the set, but never closer.  UofL's hitting rebounded to .222.

Again, the broad pattern repeated in the fourth set.  GT put a 6-2 lead on the board before UofL would come roaring back with an 8-1 run for a 10-7 lead.  Trading points again, until an Anna DeBeer kill at 15-12.  The rotation saw Ayden Barlett sub out for Claire Chaussee returning for the front row.  But this wasn't just the usual Chaussee, this was Tournament Claire.  After a Stevenson kill, five of the next six UofL points were kills by Chaussee pushing the UofL lead out to 22-17.  A pair of GT hitting errors gave UofL match point at 24-18.  Tech staved off two of them before Stevenson had enough and planted the final point of the match through the NCAA sport court.  Hitting stayed on track at .216 in the fourth.

Overall, .217 hitting for the Cards is fine, but nothing to write home about.  Credit to GT's defense, including reasonable blocking - 7, for much of that.  GT's hitting wasn't great at .152 and the Louisville blocking was a major factor, totaling 17 blocks at a 4.25 blocks/set clip.  Back that up with Anna DeBeer and Elena Scott doing some great digging, 21 for DeBeer, and 19 for Scott, and GT had to be frustrated in their hitting game.

Tournament Claire asks, "Did someone say it's
tournament time?"

Tournament Claire led the UofL hitting at 18 kills with The Anna's not far behind, 14 for DeBeer, and 13 for Stevenson.  Three solo blocks for Stevenson, plus a solo for Amaya Tillman would headline the UofL blocking.  They would also lead the shared block category with seven and six.  Aiko Jones and Tori Dilfer each participated in four with the left side hitters, DeBeer and Chaussee contributing three and two shares apiece.

Let's give some credit on GT's side of the net for a very fine game from one of the Killer B's, Mariana Brambilla with 27 kills at a .243 clip.

So the Cards advance to a program first Volleyball Final Four.  The Cards get the "early" match in Columbus on Thursday with a 7pm first serve.  They'll be playing Wisconsin who advanced from the all-Big-Ten Regional final in Madison over Minnesota in a sweep.  The other side of the bracket has three seed Pitt with a four set win over Purdue.  Give credit to Purdue for pushing Pitt well, including a 30-28 win in the second set.  The nightcap match was Texas vs Nebraska.  The 10th seed Huskers were able to set up another reunion between Dani Busboom Kelly and her collegiate coach John Cook with a four set win over second seed Texas in the Longhorns home.  So we have an ACC vs Big Ten Final Four, with the Big-12 and PAC-12 being eliminated.

The Volleyball Final Four will be held in Columbus, OH Thursday and Saturday.  As mentioned, UofL gets the early match on Thursday with a 7pm start.  The second match will be 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first or at 9:30, whichever is later.  Both matches will be aired on ESPN.  The championship match will be Saturday evening at 7:30 on ESPN2.

(Volleyball Pictures by Jared Anderson) 

Basketball Gameday

It's hard to believe that a UofL vs UK Top 15 women's basketball gameday is playing second fiddle to anything, but that's where we are this week.

The Cards and the Cats face off at the KFC Yum! Center today at 1pm.  Always an epic battle, this installment should be no different.  The big question is who will stop Rhyne Howard, with some expectation that Hailey Van Lith draws the assignment, at least out of the gate.

How good is this Kentucky team overall?  We're not really sure, yet.  A loss against DePaul certainly raises some eyebrows.  A loss to Indiana isn't bad, and then a bunch of wins over a bunch of "meh" teams doesn't enlighten much.

Beyond Howard, the biggest scoring threats are Dre'una Edwards, Robyn Benton, and Jada Walker.  Howard is the biggest scoring threat from range, though the others have all put in respectable numbers from range.  Let's throw in the fifth scoring threat here, if for no other reason than because she has the best name in basketball, Treasure Hunt.

Louisville Athletics are joining with Kroger and the KFC Yum! Center in encouraging fans to bring cases of bottled water to the game today.  There will be a Kroger truck parked on the plaza in front of the Arena taking donations of cases of bottled water to be taken to western Kentucky to help with relief efforts in the wake of the destruction from the tornadoes that struck early Saturday morning.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Lastly, Case, Jared, Paulie, and I were all on the call for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast yesterday.  We covered a lot of Volleyball, as you might imagine, but we spent some time on Basketball as well.

You can check it out at the Youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax65I2s5_70

at it's podcast home at:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/Volleyball-and-Basketball-Look-for-Big-Wins-e1bio01

or at pretty much any of your favorite podcast directories.

JMcA 

L's UP in Rupp -- UofL WBB 67 - UK 66 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS PREVAIL IN ONE-POINT SUNDAY THRILLER

"Hey, ref

Head Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz will tell you that the objective is to win games in the coaching world. Mission accomplished yesterday in  a packed, noisy Rupp Arena where 11,256 predominately blue-clad fans witnessed the exciting 67-66 UofL win. 

Matthew Mitchell, skipper of UKWBB, described it as finishing one play short of the objective. He was correct as well, UK with a chance to take the lead on the final possession and falling just short of the goal. You can't blame one player for a loss...ever...but either the shot goes in or it doesn't. Thankfully, it missed. 

A great view of Matty's bald spot in the coaches pre game chat. 

If this game didn't thrill you, have you on the edge of your seat and raise the pulse and emotional level in you yesterday...head to the doctor and see if you are human or cyborg. The annual UK vs. UofL yearly rivalry game felt like a regional final or, dare I say it, a Final Four type of contest instead of a pre-conference tilt between two top 15 squads who had one loss between them prior to the contest. The pre-game aura was electric, an anticipation (correctly so) of a contest that all wanted and thought might be exciting.



The battle of the Bluegrass, hoops style, began with the Cards jumping out to an early 8-3 lead after four minutes of action. Three different Cardinals scoring and Louisville avoiding what most Cardinal fans hoped they would -- a slow start. UK devised their own "comeback Cats" strategy, though, and it was centered around two players -- powerful Rhyne Howard scoring from everywhere and KeKe McKinney dropping threes on the Cardinal defense. The Cats grabbed a 16-15 lead with 2:10 left in the first but Louisville went on a 6-0 run to finish the quarter, Liz Dixon and Dana Evans leading the charge to give Louisville a 21-16 lead after one. 

UK was not backing off, though. Howard went on a second quarter, seven-point opening run to tie the contest at 25-25. Sabrina Haynes buried a deep three and drew a foul from Jazmine Jones to give the Cats a four-point edge halfway through the second quarter, and the media timeout couldn't have come at a better time for the Cards -- UK was on a 13-4 run in the quarter and led 29-25. The Cards managed to stay just four points behind until the final 106 seconds. Then, a half closing, Howard-led, 7-2 run changed a 33-29 score into a nine-point UK jaunt that had Louisville on their heels 40-31 at the intermission. 

A 24-10 quarter for Big Blue, Howard had 15 of the second quarter points and 20 overall in the game on 7-15 shooting. Dana led Louisville with 11 points but the Cards, simply put, had to find a way to shut down the superb sophomore 

They accomplished the task.

Howard was held to two made free throws in the third quarter, Louisville went on a 13-0 run that spanned the final three minutes of the third and turned a 55-45 deficit into a 58-55 lead. Yacine Diop exploded for six crucial points in the run. Louisville shot 64.7% in the session after halftime. Howard got just one look and missed it. Kylee Shook nailed two threes in the quarter and Dana added seven points to turn this one around in Lexington and the elated UK crowd had been partially silenced. The Cards led by three with ten minutes to go. Diop, Dunham, Jones and Shook had silenced the threat. Could they hang on, though? 

The fourth started and three minutes passed before either team could add to their point total. UK reserve Jaida Roper was fouled on a three-point attempt and sank two of her three free throw attempts to draw the Cats within one. A huge blocked shot by Kylee Shook (she had five in the game) got the ball to Louisville and Diop scored her final bucket to push the lead back to three. 45 seconds later, Jaz pulled up for a jumper and sent Cardinal fans and the UofL bench into a frenzy when it went through the net. 

Here came UK again, though. KeKe drained another three and suddenly it was 62-60 Cards and 4:52 showing on the clock. The Cards were trying to hang on and over a minute and a half of frantic hoops passed before the next points -- Howard bullying her way into the paint for two and a potential lead-changing free throw. The "gimmie" wouldn't drop, however and with 2:37 remaining, Diop found Shook for a jumper that put the Cards up 64-62. After a Howard bucket to tie it again , the possible play of the game occurred when Evans spotted Kylee alone past the three-point line, rlfled a pass to her and she played string music to set the score to 67-64 Cards. 

1:51 remained. 

Another costly UofL blunder had them fouling Haines on a three point attempt. She tanked the first but connected on the other two and it was 67-66 Cards. It stayed that way the rest of the way, a couple of turnovers and missed shots filling the time and leading up to final 11 seconds. 

Tatyana Wyatt corralled a missed, potential Dana dagger from beyond the arc three. Wyatt advanced the ball to Howard and she drove down the right side of the court. She decided to launch a three instead of driving to the hoop. Three seconds on the clock. Howard soared to take the shot over the defending Bionca Dunham, my heart skipped a beat as the shot approached the rim and...it drew iron but did not go in. Jaz corralled the miss, the buzzer went off and a joyous UofL bench stormed the court to celebrate and congratulate their victorious teammates on the floor. 

A nail-biting thriller had ended in Lexington. Louisville 67- UK 66. Four straight in a row for the Cards over UK. Yes, the joy and excitement of Louisville women's basketball came to fruition. I watched with pride and admiration as the Cards made their way off the court to the tunnel leading to the locker rooms. 

Breathe, Cardinal fans. It's over. The epic battle had ended and pandemonium reigned for the Louisville contingent. A game I'll remember for quite some time. Two heavyweights standing toe-to-toe slugging it out. Louisville getting the decision.


THE FRED REPORT

Fred G. Sanford. "Lamont, you got to get us
tickets to watch those Cardinal women ! 

FREE THROWS -- Louisville got four free throw chances in 40 minutes. No, this isn't a misprint. In one of the weirdest, one-sided calls by the officiating crew I can remember in recent memory. UK attempted 15 "free ones" and made 12. A 19-9 fouls called discrepancy -- the Cats being the huge benefactor -- but Louisville made all four attempts. Three for Dana, one for Diop. We'll award a capital "F"...any less of a effort, if humanly possible, and the Cards go to overtime or worse. 

REBOUNDS -- A clear 37-17 advantage to Louisville. Kylee reigning supreme with 13 grabs. No UK player gathered more than five. Diop's six rebounds off the bench in just 18 1/2 minutes was huge, as well. I break out the capital "R" for boards dominance. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- 15 turnovers for the Cards, not a bad number, considering the intense UK pressure. An eye-popping 10 assists for Dana. The Cards won the second chance points stat 11-6 and shot 51.8% from the floor (29-56). Yep, a capital "E" here. 

DEFENSE -- A gutsy Cardinal effort on defense. Six blocks, and shutting down Howard to just six second-half points in 20 minutes. Hanging in there at the end with both Dana and Jaz sporting four fouls. The 13-0 run in the third, after the media timeout when Louisville held UK to 0-4 shooting with Diop and Shook turning up the intensity pressure to"11" was the key for me. Let's close it out with a capital "D" 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-R-E-D  (our first perfect Fred report of the season) 


FINALLY...

This photo says it all. Heart-thumping eventual happiness
on Sunday

The Cards took UK's best punch, survived against the Cats and the referees on the road and took a highly exciting, competitive match. Four Cards in double figure scoring (Evans 18, Shook 11 and Dunham and Jones with 10 each) Two double-double efforts, with Shook's 13 grabs and Dana's 10  dishes. 

Maybe my MVP goes to Yacine Diop, though. When it mattered, when she was truly needed, she produced. Consider out of her almost 19 minutes, 10 of them came in the pivotable fourth quarter and 17 in the second half. The poise and experience of the veteran was a stabilizing force in the Cardinal third quarter rally and in the maintenance of a Louisville lead that withstood as much UK hammering as the construction efforts on the Rupp Arena property. .  


I saw a basketball battle yesterday that any basketball fan anywhere had to appreciate and talk about. After attending 16 straight contests between these two, I didn't think anything could surprise me anymore. I was wrong. I saw the continued emergence of maybe the best women's basketball player in the nation in Howard. I saw Louisville do a outstanding job of largely negating Howard's efforts in the final 20 minutes.

I saw why future Cardinal opponents will have feelings of dread and insecurity when they come to grips with having to face Louisville. From Shook to Jaz, to Diop, Dunham and Dana...this is a team that grew up a lot yesterday and went out with a competitive spirit.

I saw a classic. 




THEY SAID IT: 

Walz, Shook and Evans post-game video :  https://youtu.be/iPs3s7xQz8k

UK Players post-game video :  https://youtu.be/CAfnv7YFYEs

Matthew Mitchell post-game video :  https://youtu.be/fanliOwOeS8


(A HUGE THANK YOU AND JOB WELL DONE TO JARED ANDERSON FOR THE PICTURES IN TODAY'S ARTICLE AND THE ACCOMPANYING VIDEO OF THE POST-GAME). 


paulie
xxxxx

Durr named ACC WBB Player of the Week -- Cards ranked at #4 -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DURR NAMED ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK

After a week where she averaged 28.5 points per game in two contests, Asia Durr has been named the ACC Player of the Week. It's the third such honor for Durr in the 2018-19 season. She also received the award on Nov. 12th. and Dec. 3rd. 

Durr recorded 32 points in the 80-75 win over Kentucky on Sunday. On Tuesday night, against UT-Martin, Durr ended up with 25 points in the 102-62 win. 

Durr shot 49% in the two games...going 13-25 against the Wildcats and 8-18 against the SkyHawks. The Denny Crum Court has been friendly territory for the Douglasville, GA senior in the first five games of the current six-game home stand and she has 228 points for the season (22.8 a night) in ten games. The Cards close the home stand Saturday when (1-5) Northern Kentucky visits for an 11:30 a.m. contest. 

ACC Player of the Week accolades have been bestowed on Durr nine times in her career at Louisville. She owned the first quarter in the Cards most recent game against the Cats. She scored the first seven points for the Cards in the contest and ended the first 10-minute session with 15 points. 





The Cards face two more non-conference foes before entering ACC play. In addition to the NKU game, the Cards will travel to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan for a Thursday 12/20/18 contest against the 7-1 Central Michigan Chippewas. Currently unranked, CMU did advance to the Sweet Sixteen in the 2018 NCAA WBB Tournament.

Information for that one still not finalized but viewing is listed as of now on ESPN+.




CARDS #4 IN LATEST AP POLL

Louisville women's basketball is now #4 in the NCAA women's college basketball rankings based on the most recent AP poll. The Cards are one of nine undefeated teams in the top 25. 

UConn retains the #1 spot, getting all 31 first place votes. The Huskies are 9-0 on the season. Notre Dame is #2 with a 8-1 record. Baylor takes #3 with a 7-0 mark. The Cards (10-0) are fourth and Mississippi State rounds out the top 5...the Bulldogs are 9-0 this season. 

Despite losing to Louisville, UK moved up one spot to #18. 

The undefeated teams are UConn, Baylor, Louisville, Miss. State, Maryland (9-0), Tennessee (8-0), NC State (10-0) Minnesota (8-0) and California (9-0). 

Besides Notre Dame, Louisville and NC State, other ACC teams in the top 25 are #15 Syracuse and #24 Miami. Both schools are 8-2 on the season. 

The ACC, SEC and PAC 12 dominate the top 25 with five schools each in the top 25. Tennessee, Miss. State, Kentucky, South Carolina and Missouri are the SEC representatives. From the PAC 12...Cal, Arizona State, Stanford, Oregon and Oregon State are top 25. 

The Cards have played two top 25 teams in Arizona State and UK and are 2-0 against them. Still to come, top 25 match-ups feature Notre Dame, UConn, NC State, Syracuse and Miami. 

Last weeks Bracketology predictions had Louisville as a #1 seed in the Greensboro region.

With roughly 1/3 of the season in the books, the Cards have performed well on the road and at the KFC YUM! Center. Let's face it, though, the toughest part of the schedule remains and the odds for the Cards to remain perfect going into the ACC and NCAA Tournaments are a considerable long-shot.  

How do you think the Cards will finish the regular season? Undefeated? One loss? Two or three losses? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section! 

One game at a time, though, is how UofL approaches them, and...so far, perfect! 

Halfway to the 20-0 record that the 2017-18 Cards started the season...sit down, buckle up and get ready for the journey! 



HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!

We are very grateful and always happy to have WBB analyst and Cardinal Sports Zone columnist Paige Sherrard  join us on our weekly broadcasts of The CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR. As well as seeing her at UofL WBB games. Her love for all things UofL fits perfectly with our thinking and she's been a Cardinal fan since her early days, when "Mom" would dress her up as a cheerleader and unleash her on unsuspecting but appreciative crowds and gatherings.  

It's Paige's birthday today! Wish her a Happy Birthday via Twitter at @PaigeS_502 !!!





paulie
xxxxx




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Sea of Red sees Cards defeat UK WBB 80-75 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DURR'S  32 PACES CARDS PAST CATS

Another classic Battle of the Bluegrass yesterday in the KFC YUM! Center as Louisville WBB holds on after squandering an 18-point lead to down Kentucky by five in front of 13786 screaming fans Sunday afternoon. 


The fans had plenty to yell about. A Cardinal team that looked invincible in the third quarter after a close first half. A Cats squad that did not buckle under the pressure after falling behind 18 points in the third quarter. Frustration about the Cards 41% free throw shooting in the final quarter. Outrage at maybe the most ridiculous technical foul assessed to Louisville this season. All the elements were in place to create a situation that ultimately ended with a lot of Cardinal fans leaving with feelings of relief that victory was secured and UK fans walking out wondering "what might have been" if the defense had been a little stouter earlier. 

This was a contest early on that featured an Asia Durr 7 - Cats 7 start, after the senior All-American provided the Cards offense in the first two minutes. UofL used a 5- 0 run to take a 12-7 lead after Sam Fuehring completed an "and one" a minute later. Louisville held that five-point lead for the quarter with Dana Evans knocking down a jumper with 25 second before the horn. 

Evans also started the scoring to open the second quarter. Several fans commented to me that they were puzzled by Arica Carter's lack of minutes in the contest, but with Evans performing the way she was on both ends of the court, Walz made the decision to keep the diminutive point-guard from Gary, Indiana out there. Her free throws gave Louisville a 34-27 edge with 2:30 before the halftime break and Durr's two charity tosses secured a 36-29 halftime edge for the red-clad home team, an interesting choice of uniforms, arguably to support the "red out" promotion..while UK was clad in the white. 

Louisville was bucketing the ball and that was good for a 16 for 29 half of shooting for 55%. UK at 38%...hindered by a less than spectacular 4-15 effort in the second session of ten minutes. Cardinal fans gladly, but a bit nervously, eyed the lead while wondering if the Cats had a run still to come. 

One thing UK was proficient at was knocking Durr around like a cue ball on a billiards table. Between UK's trio of Maci Morris, Rhyne Howard and Taylor Murray...Durr was getting pummeled like a defenseless quarterback under siege by the Chicago Bears defense. Asia shrugged it off and even smiled about it in the post-game presser. Just a part of the college game were her words.

Nevertheless, the Cards came out on fire in the third. A Jazmine Jones three-ball, followed by a Durr trifecta and then a Fuehring basket plus free throw gave the Cards an early 9-4 run in the first two minutes of the second half to push the lead to 45-33. That would grow to 57-39 (the Cards biggest lead of the game) with three minutes left in the quarter when Jones went coast-to-coast to put in a layup. A minute later, a beautifully timed lob to Jones for an alley loop basket had the YUM! Center patrons in a frenzied delight.  Then, inexplicably and incredulously Jones was whistled for a technical foul. She was stunned, the fans were stunned and Jeff Walz argued the call vociferously with head referee Joe Vaszily. He's not nicknamed "silly Joe" without good reason, you know.

Jones had yelled "Let's Go!" after the alley-oop went in.

Either those two words are a couple that really tick off this officiating crew or her vocal delight was mis-heard and mis-understood. It was the start of a 8-2 run for the Cats after the free throws and subsequent possession. The Cards recovered, though, and finished the quarter up by 15. Bionca Dunham on a excellently-timed bucket and free throw and an Evans basket. It appeared the Cards might have the Cats searching for the exit and the quarter ended with Louisville up 67-52. 

Give credit to Matthew Mitchell and his squad for succeeding on their strategy to get back in the contest. In what might have seemed like the longest ten minutes in Louisville play this season, the Cats employed the "let's foul them and see if they can earn it from the line" ploy. 

It was the right employment and worked well. 

The lead started to drop. From 17 to 10 halfway through the fourth. Louisville was sinking either just one of the two free throws they were getting, or none at all. The Cats were scoring on their possessions. Asia Durr was having trouble finding the range on three-pointer attempts and, despite a eye-popping swat of a Rhyne Howard layup by Jones, the Cards had seen the lead evaporate to five with two minutes remaining. 

The Cards had 12 free throw attempts in those final two minutes. Five went in. UK sank two free throws with 27 seconds remaining to get within four at 77-73. It was nervous time in the downtown arena. 

Fortunately, UK never got closer than four. A Fuehring free throw with 14 seconds set the tally at 79-73 and Carter hit one of two with 5 seconds to set the final numbers 80-75. The Cards win. Despite being out-scored 23-13 in the final quarter. Louisville remains undefeated at 10-0 and Kentucky takes their first defeat of the season to set their record at 9-1.

Asia Durr early made this win possible. Despite 2-10 three point shooting (I still say she had dead legs in the fourth quarter, something she denied in the post-game interviews) Durr's theatrics for three quarters helped UofL construct an advantage.

The first seven points, 17 in the first quarter, 24 by halftime. Despite the tae-kwon-do, defense-by-mugging tactics UK employed. 

Walz played nine players in the contest, but three of them combined for just 14 minutes (out of the 200 minutes available). I'll not question the substitution patterns. He's with them every day and knows what he's got.  


THE FRED REPORT

I think we all needed water (or something stronger) after Sunday. 

Free Throws -- 15-28 is 53.6% I won't say anything else about it. I've already got Coach Walz mad at me about my earlier question about them. No letter awarded

Rebounds -- UofL held a 32-28 edge in grabs. Fuehring and Dunham with seven each. Jazz added six. The number, while a "win" for Walz's squad, pales when you consider that the Cards managed only six on the offensive boards and gathered only six second-chance points. I'll offer a lower case "r" here, but it could easily be a "no letter". 

Effort/Execution -- The Cards definitely hustled all game and had a 12-0 fast-break-for points edge. Seven steals and 13 forced turnovers. 56% shooting is excellent. They had no answers for Rhyne Howard (25 points, 10 rebounds and six assists) but they just may have faced the SEC Freshman of the Year yesterday. Just seven turnovers for Walz's Warriors. I'll award the capital "E" here. 

Defense -- Louisville held UK to a 43.3% shooting percentage. They shut down long range threat Maci Morris ( 11 points in 26 minutes ) but senior Taylor Murray and Howard went for 43 points on 14-29 combined shooting, You can defend free throws and the Cats did excel there with a 16-19 success rate. (84.2%) 75 points a bit higher than Louisville normally allows. I'm OK with designating a lower case "d" for the defense. 

FRED RECAP:  _-r-E-d


SOOO...

Louisville did what they needed to do to win the Battle of The Bluegrass. Five players in double figures (Durr's 32, Fuehring with 12, Jones added 12, Dunham contributing 11 and Evans ending with 10). 

A game yesterday that Louisville was never really in danger of losing but a game where UK dominated the final quarter, a quarter that has been their worst quarter so far this year. Kudos to the incredible hustle and spirit of Jazmine Jones, Durr's "oh-it's-time-for-another-big-game-performance" afternoon and solid battling in the paint from Fuehring and Dunham. 

An example of the beating performed on
Asia yesterday (From Charlie Springer's
UofL Card Game website -- Photo credit to
Cindy Rice Shelton) Taking it on the chin...

I'm not overly concerned with the lack of minutes from Shook or Carter. You win as a team and you go with whose hot. We don't know how much Shook's tendinitis affected her time or performance and Carter contributed well in her time out there. 

This was a game most Cardinal fans thought would be a close win for Louisville and they got just that. Maybe not in the way expected, but, any landing you can walk away from is a good one and Louisville flew through some choppy weather, weathered a slew of questionable "calls" and "no calls" from the stripes and scored the most points. 

The team will take it. The fans will accept it. I'm happy about it. A fun afternoon in front of a vocal and enthused sea of red that hung on every shot, play and sequence. 

An opponent that refused to roll over. A home squad that gutted out a quite physical win. College basketball, with all it's many twists and turns, was in fine display yesterday by the river.


THEY SAID IT

Post-game comments below: 

JEFF WALZ

ASIA DURR AND SAM FUEHRING

KENTUCKY'S MATTHEW MITCHELL, MACI MORRIS and RHYNE HOWARD (audio only)



paulie
xxxxx



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