WBB outlasts Syracuse 72-62 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL



Hello readers! I am back and covering the joy of Louisville women’s athletics after a (what to me seemed like) a quick wedding and honeymoon.  I appreciate the guys handling my coverage and I am looking forward to some more exciting moments in 2025.  

Here's a fun photo from the wedding :D   

You can find Jared and Katy in there and our very special guest, Louie!! 
  

Paulie also invited me back to the Yum! Center for some ACC WBB action with the Syracuse Orange so lets jump right on in. 


WBB



The Cards are hot and on a 7 game winning streak as they beat the Cuse by ten and now hit the road for 3 games.   Six Cardinals finished in double figure scoring as Louisville outlasted Syracuse 72-62 and move to 13-5 on the season.  Nyla Harris went 5-11 for 10 points and 11 rebounds, Jayda Curry went 4-8 from 3 point range.

Photo: Jared Anderson

End of 1Q  Cards 21-15
FG %
10-18 55.6% Cards
5-11 45.5% Syracuse
Reb. 10-5 Cards
3-pt %
1-4 25% Cards
2-4 50% Syracuse

Georgia Woolley took it to basket (missed) and grabbed the defensive board to start the game.   She also sported a black eye and a large mouth piece so I quickly remembered how tough she plays.  She was all over the floor the entire night even though the stat sheet doesn't reflect as much. 

The Cardinals Ja’Leah Williams drove in to score and got fouled, she grossly missed the FT but followed up with a rebound and Roberts gets the second chance bucket to get the offense going.  Nyla Harris joins the scoring party and the Cards are off to a 6-0 start to the game. 

With about 5:30 on the clock in the first quarter, Jayda Curry hits the Cards first three pointer beyond the arc.  At the media timeout UofL had a 17-7 lead on the Orange.

Sophie Burrows controlled the offensive charge for Syracuse, going 4-4 for all of the Orange’s points before Woolley was finally able to convert for something making it a 19-12 game, Louisville.

A couple of UofL turnovers in the paint lead to more scoring opportunities for Syracuse as the clock ticked down its final minute.  The two TOs committed by Merissah Russell and Olivia Cochran got Walz visibly frustrated after too many pass attempts...leading to the easy steals by Syracuse.

End of 2Q 15-12 Syracuse

FG %
5-19 26.3% Cards
6-15 40% Syracuse
Reb. 12-11 Cards
3-pt %
1-5 20% Cards
0-3 0%. Syracuse

The Cards open the quarter with a missed 3 point attempt.  Coach Walz made it a point to mention in yesterday's press conference that this team is capable of making a lot of 3-point shots, as they do it often in practice but they started the game 1-6 from 3 point range.

Both teams were struggling to find any offensive rhythm, and the Cards went on a scoring drought for almost 4 minutes where they went 0-4. 

And after another turnover, the Orange put together a scoring run of 8 more points to tie it 23 all.

Then the Cards turned it up a notch and found themselves with a 33-26 cushion after an 8-0 run of their own when Imani berry hit a 3 pointer, prompting an eruption from the crowd heading into halftime. 


HALF 33-30


Photo: Jared Anderson


End of 3Q 26-21 Cards

FG %
11-15 73.3% Cards
9-17 52.9% Syracuse
Reb. 6 all
3-pt %
3-3 100% Cards
3-5 60% Syracuse



Syracuse started the scoring in the second half but the Cards took control scoring 7 straight points before Nyla Harris lost a shoe and played that way for about a minute and a half.  A Syracuse timeout would give her the opportunity to grab the 2nd shoe after she tossed it in Cardinal Couple’s direction.

The Cards went on a 5-5 run and extended the lead to 15 points 54-39 before another Syracuse timeout with just under 5 minutes on the clock.

It looked like the Cards were going to pull away before the Orange found a spark to close the quarter on a 12-5 run and bring the score to 59-51.  Jayda Curry went 3-3 from 3 in the quarter.  


End of 4Q

FG %
3-11 27.3% Cards
5-16 31.3% Syracuse
Reb.  12-7 Cards
3-pt %
0-0 0% Cards
1-4 25% Syracuse



The Louisville defense held Syracuse scoreless for more than 2 minutes to start the quarter but then went on their own scoring drought for more than 7 minutes going 0-8 along with 3 turnovers in that time.  With 2:30 to go, Syracuse pulled it within 5.

Olivia Cochran's trip to the line was productive extending the Cardinals lead with a much needed 2 points.  Louisville went 7-8 from the free throw line in the quarter.   

Photo: Jared Anderson

UP NEXT

Louisville vs Virginia Tech

Sunday January 19th

4pm ACCN

FRED REPORT

Freddie Freeman is today's "Fred" The Dodgers first baseman slugged 22 homers in 2024.


FREE THROWS -- Louisville went 9-12 which is good for 75%.  They came up big in the fourth quarter when they really needed some points and the Cards found a way to get to the line.  Capital F

REBOUNDING -- The Cardinals out rebounded the Orange 40-29 with Nyla Harris and Ja’Leah Williams leading the charge with 11 & 10 boards respectively.  Given Syracuse's height advantage, this was a large advantage for UofL.  CAPITAL R

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  The Cards established control to start the game and held on tight towards the end to continue the win streak.   It seems to me, this team is starting to have some fun.  Nyla Harris lost a shoe for several trips ups and down the court and a part of me thought maybe she felt some joy and excitement and some of the crowd giggled and cheered her through it.  Because of the silly turnovers due to passing it too many times when they should've taken the shot, I give it a lower case e 

DEFENSE --  Both teams went on some runs here and there, most notably at the end but it happened a couple times in the first half too.  Holding Woolley 1-5 from 3 point land was a huge factor in the victory.   The Orange still shot 42.4% in the game.... i give it a lower case d



FINAL FRED TALLY:   F_R_e_d


The Cards head to Virginia Tech next for a Sunday tilt, then to Virginia and SMU completes the three game road trip. Tje VT game could be a tough one...the Hokies are inviting Liz Kitley back to laud and praise her and the Gobblers are 12-5 on the season. 

POST GAME JEFF WALZ

POST GAME JA'LEAH WILLIAMS AND JAYDA CURRY



As always
Go Cards!

~Daryl 

Louisville Fined, Reprimanded by ACC -- Softball run rules FIU -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WALZ'S REMARKS DRAW ACC FINE, REPRIMAND

The ACC has fined the University of Louisville $20,000 in an institutional fine and also issued a public reprimand for Jeff Walz's remarks following the Sunday loss to Syracuse at Syracuse. 

Walz was critical of the intentional foul called on Olivia Cochran as time ran out in the contest and Louisville held a one-point lead. The foul gave Syracuse's Dyaisha Fair two free throws, which she made, to give Syracuse the lead and win over the Cardinals WBB squad. The referee crew that made the game changing call did something you usually don't see in close games late in the action. Instead of just giving the 'Cuse the ball out of bounds again, they really overjudged the infraction and changed the course of the outcome. 

I have been asked why did Louisville foul there with the lead, and, although the decision has been upheld in a lot of circles, I have to ask..."why put the outcome in the hands of an officiting call? Especially when you have the lead?"  I choose maybe the lesser of two options there, in my mindset and thinking...why foul when you have the lead and don't need the ball back. 

In any event,.. Walz commented, the ACC didn't like what he had to say and slapped the Cards twice. They fell back on the rules interpretation of the Sportsmanship Policy that says:

"Public criticism of officials or public comments evaluating the officiating of particular contests is not in the best of intercolligiate athletics. Individuals associaated with the athletics program, therefore, are prohibited from commenting while acting in an official capacity on officiating of the than directly to the Conference office."

After all the chatter and debate over the game changing call, the fact still remains that the winning outcome goes to a team that had appeared to lose, but got a second chance from a crew that made a call you don't usually see in a situation like this. It speaks volumes about the inconsistancy and subpar efforts of referees in the ACC this year. Will the call affect the annual ACC Conference seedings, or who will win the regular season ACC WBB Titile?  No, probably not...but if Louisville comes in second in the league by a game, it will surely be bantied about again. Currently, Louisville (9-3) is a game and a half behind Virginia Tech (11-2) in the conference standings and a half game behind Syracuse. Teams play 18 league games this season before the tournament. If Syracuse wns the league, look back to this incident. 

That $20,000 could have bought a lot of lacrosse gear. 

What can be done to improve the officiting in women's college basketball. Some will tell you it isn't broken and doesn't need fixing. Many will look at this gaffe by a crew in a game between two "top 3" teams in the conference and shake their heads in disbelief...expectng better. Others may point to Louisville losing a nine-point lead in the quarter as a key in the Cards loss. The point is, it's a shame and disgrace for a highly-charged, competitive game like this one was to have the possible decision altered by a call you rarely see in this situation and by a substandard officiating crew.. 

Finally, I have been asked if Walz should have made remarks that drew the fine and reprimand. My take? Hell, yes. Sure, Olivia fouled. But, Fair was nowhere naar the basket and Cochran's foul wasn't a brutal, intentional knock-down, just an arm hold. The girl wasn't even shooting. Got to let that one, go... officials, not toss an intentional at her.  If those refs had heard me after the call, they would have probably banned me for life from ACC WBB games. 

I guess the bottom line is still..."those who score more, win". How the points end up that way will be the argung point here for quite a while, is my guess, in this situation. Yes, the free throws still had to be made.Should they have ever been awarded? I say no.

The big problen here is how do you come up with officiating in WBB that isn't drawing so many complaints and criticisms? The game needs officials, no doubt. But, the travel is long and maybe not the best paying gig for those who are entrusted with the whistles. Other ACC coaches have had complaints about the refs recently, too, but the ACC officials chose not to go after them . Olivia is the victim here. She was just doing whaat her coach told her to do, and 99% of the time, a regular foul is called and Syracuse is given the ball out of boundss to try again. But...this WAS in Syracuse. I'll leave it there. . . 

We welcome your siggestions on how to get good WBB officials in the ACC, or in all of collegiate women's basketball. Leave a comment,

SOFTBALL SLAMS FIU 11-2

Zabala!

Louisville Softball's win streak goes to six games to start the season and mastery in Florida remains unblemshed as well. 

On Tuesday, the Softball Cards popped out to a 4-0 first inning led over FRIU and added six more runs in the fourth nning to gett the rule-run "W" in Miami. 

A Bailee Richardsn first inning double scored Chelsea Mack and a three RBI home run from first baseman Riley Frizell gave UofL a 4-0 lead that they never relinquished. 

(Lovely Daisy...)

The Cards added six runs in the fourth inning on  four FIU erors and were aided by a huge double from catcher Kiley Goff. The scoring was completed when shortstop Daisy Hess doubled home Ally Alexander in the top of the fifth. 

Alyssa Zabala (3-0) gets the win in the circle, allowing two runs on three hits in four innings. Sam Booe pitched a scoreless inning to close out the win. 

The Cardinals will continue their road stretch on Thursday at 6 p.m. when they take on host FAU in the opening game of the Joan Joyce Classic 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Have a great Valentines Day readers, if you have that someone special that may surprise you or you are surprisng and/or honoring them. And, Cupid is out there...be careful, you unattached or unclaimed.....

paulie

WBB tops Syracuse 81-69, leads the ACC -- FRIDAY CARINDAL

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL



Hello again readers and welcome back to my favorite day of the week.  And...Happy Groundhog Day! 

Fridays just hit different. Especially payday Fridays. It's a new month, the president of UofL has officially been with the university for a year and we are looking forward to a giant month of basketball for the WBB program. I can also sense the ice is thawing off of the softball program.  Lets hope that groundhog says spring is near... 

WBB

                                       Photo: Jared Anderson

FINAL- UofL 81, 'Cuse 69

The Cardinals marked another notch in the win column and put themselves solely in first place in the ACC at 8-1 and 19-3 overall.  Nyla Harris led Louisville with a career high 18 points and pulled down 14 points.  Kiki Jefferson had 21 points in the game where she went 9-11 at the line.  It was a game where the Cards took awhle to get started, but, once they did, they took over and won before an appreciative crowd.

End of 1Q 21-14  Syracuse

FG %
6-13 46.2% Cards
9-16 56.3% Orange
Reb. 10-7 Orange
3-pt %
0-2 0% Cards
1-5 50% Orange


To start the game, Sydney Taylor fed it to Olivia down low to put it up and in.  Kiki Jefferson then hit a jumper for 2 to make it 4-0 Cards while Syracuse committed 2 turnovers in the first 2 minutes.  After that, the Orange started to find some momentum and they took a 6-5 lead with 6:42 on the clock on a crazy layup by Dyaisha Fair which seemed to inspire the Orange as Syracuse went ona  run shooting 4-5 from the field.  After a small scoring drought by the Cards, Nina Rickards hit a jumper to make it 10-8 'cuse after 5 min of play.

If Syracuse didn't go 0-6 with three offensive rebounds in the last minute of play they might've had an outstanding shooting percentage....and really put Louisville in a big hole. They were shooting 89% (8-9) at one point and finished the quarter scrambling but were able to keep the ball out of Louisville's hands.


End of 2Q  26-13 Cards


FG %
11-17 64.7% Cards
4-16 25% Orange
Reb. 11-6 Cards
3-pt %
2-3 66.7% Cards
1-7 14.3% Orange


Rickards hit two back to back jumpers and the Cards turned the Orange over in between, bringing them within three at 21-18 before another empty possession for Cuse allows Jefferson to push and find some more offense and brought the Cards within 1hree. Syracuse called a timeout 1:15 min into the quarter.  The Cards regained the lead 22-21 when Le Le Love hit a layup at the 7:30 min mark.  The Cards held Syracuse scoreless for the first 3:45 in the quarter.   Rickards hit another jumper, her fourth of the quarter to put UofL up 30-23.

Syracuse then hit a 3, stole the ball for a fast break layup from Fair to make it 30-28 Cards when Walz called another timeout. After it,  Syd Taylor hit two big threes to extend Louisville's lead again to 36-29 with about 2 minutes left until halftime.


HALF 40-34

End of 3Q 20-13 Cards

FG %
6-12 50% Cards
3-16 18.8% Orange
Reb. 13-10 Cards
3-pt %
0-2 0% Cards
3-5 60% Orange



Kiki Jefferson got the scoring going to open the second half with a jumper and a couple free throws to put the Cards up by 10 (44-34) just a couple minutes into the half.  Jada Curry picked up her third foul with 3:10 left in the third.   Not a very offensively productive game for Jada on this night.  The Cards went on 7-0 run, building a 55-43 lead.  Syracuse went scoreless from the field for almost 4 minutes while the Cards found themselves in a scoring drought of their own for about 3 minutes.



End of 4Q   22-21  Orange

FG %
5-14 35.7% Cards
9-21 42.9% Orange
Reb. 10 all
3-pt %
1-6 16.7% Cards
3-7 42.9% Orange



Heading into the final quarter, Louisville lookied to maintain some distance. They went on another scoring drought of over 4 minutes, though, where they went 0-7.  
Syd Taylor hit another 3 to put the Cards up 66-53. With 2:30 to go in the game, Syracuse had 57 points, 20 under their season average. 

Louisville put together a string of fast break layups to kill some clock and keep any of the Orange's attempts to close the gap from meaning much of anything. The Cuse possibly might've had a remote chance when they made another 3 and got it within 10 with 48 seconds left in the game. Syracuse called a timeout but didn't do anything with the final seconds as the Cards dribbled it out to victory.  

Photos: Jared Anderson

UP NEXT

Louisville vs #5 NC State

Monday February 5th

7pm ESPN2

FRED REPORT

NBA player Fred Van Fleet

FREE THROWS -- Louisville went 22-29 at the free throw line which is good for 75.9% Kiki Jefferson led going 9-11 while Nyla Harris followed suit going 8-10. Big night for the Cards at the charity stripe and it was needed in a night where the 3 pointers were not really falling.  CAPITAL F

REBOUNDING -- The Cards outrebounded Syracuse 41-36 after a big second quarter with the Cards securing a 11-6 advantage. It was Nyla's night as she pulled down 14 rebounds, 6 of them on the offensive end.  CAPITAL R


EFFORT/EXECUTION -- After the Orange started the game 8-9 shooting almost 90% and winning the first quarter 21-14,  the Cards flipped the script and doubled them up 26-13 to take a lead into the half and never let it go. The 3s weren't falling for UofL but the Cards managed to find other ways to score.   The team gave the crowd of over 8,200 plenty to cheer about.  CAPITAL E

DEFENSE -- The Cuse averages more than 77 ppg and UofL held Syracuse to 69 points in the game. Dyaisha Fair, who Walz believes is the best guard in the league, played all 40 minutes and went 10-23 from the field for 28 points, 13 of which were scored in the 4th quarter.. she seemed to run out of gas towards the end. Capital D


FINAL FRED TALLY: F_R_E_D


Its been a long week...enjoy the weekend and let's get a few more relaxing weekends at home and some big basketball wins this month!! 



As always,
Go Cards

~Daryl

Strong second half leads Cards WBB past Syracuse 79-67 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

HARRIS HAS 18 TO IMPROVE CARDS TO 7-4 IN ACC CONFERENCE 

Louisville women's basketball got a big boost from freshman Nyla Harris in Sunday's win over Syracuse, Harris was one of several surprise starters for the Cards against SU, along with Norika Konno and Mykasa Robinson, as Jeff Walz looked for ways to shake things up a bit and end the Cards two-game losing streak. Walz was proud of the new-to-the-starting lineup trio, as well as who came off the bench for the Cards. 

Still, there were some lapses and areas for improvement. Louisville had expanded a two-point, end of first quarter lead into a 12-point lead early in the second quarter, but fell prey to a 19-2 run from Syracuse to trail by five late in the quarter. In this game of runs, the Cards responded with a 5-0 run to tie the contest at 34-34 with 24 seconds until half...going in at the break trailing 36-34.

The end of the third quarter was when Louisville statred the run that peeled the Orange for good. With the contest tied at 54-54, after a Syracuse three, Louisville got a Carr three, two Robinson free throws and two Harris free throws in the final two minutes of the quarter. That completed the quarter on a 7-0 UofL run and gave Louisville a 61-54 lead. 

How would the fourth quarter go? Would the Cards be able to avoid a scoring lapse and actually create some distance on their foe? 

Yes, they were. Quite convincingly, in fact, for awhile, at least. To start the quarter, two Harris baskets in the paint made it 65-54. A Harris follow up for a bucket and Morgan Jones jumper made it 69-56. Two free throws from Jones culminated a 14-2 UofL run and had the Cards comfortably in front and a Carr bucket pushed Louisville to a 75-56 lead with 5:29 left in the game. 

The Cards would gather only two more buckets the rest of the way-- baskets by Liz Dixon, but even a game-ending four minute, 9-0 Orange run could not catch the Cards and Louisville gets the regular season sweep over Syracuse. A scary ending for Morgan Jones, who sprained her ankle with 2:36 to play. 79-67, down from a 21-point lead at one time, but a nice, needed road win for the Cards Sunday.

A game of huge implications and proportions. Louisville goes into their bye week in a knot for fourth place with teams that have four losses in conference (NC State, Virginia Tech and Miami) and just two games back of league leading at 8-2 in Notre Dame and Duke. The Cards have yet to face the Irish. 

Sometimes, it's good to rest up a bit and watch the rest of the league beat each other up. 

Big tips of the cap for Sunday performances by Kasa Robinson (12 assists, seven rebounds and five steals ! ) and Liz Dixon (11 points in 25 minutes). 

(Walz put his cheaters on to go over the game plan with J. Fred Muggs )

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- 13 for 14 from the charity stripe is going  to help you win a lot of games and that's how the Cards shot it from the stripe today.  CAPITAL "F". no question...

REBOUNDS -- the Cards squeak by here 39-37 and we've already mentioned the heroics of Robinson and Nyla Harris. You win the game, you win the rebounding battle and you win a CAPITAL "R".

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- 25 assists on 31 made baskets is excellent, Louisville also had a whopping 35-7 advantage on points off the fast break. They also won the points off turnovers 27-17. We proudly bestow a CAPITAL "E"

DEFENSE -- The Cards had 14 steals, six blocked shots and look good *most* of the time. Those periods where they couldn't stop the Syracuse runs were a bit anxious, though . I'll go with a small case 'd'

FINAL FRED REPORT :  F-R-E-d

 

A much needed road win in a lot of aspects. Does Walz stay with this new starting five? Can Kasa stay hot all over the court? Will Nyla Harris just get better and better? Things we'll find out next Sunday, when Louisville faces UNC in the KFC.

POST GAME WALZ:  JEFF WALZ POST SYRACUSE 1/29/23

POST GAME HARRIS: NYLA HARRIS POST SYRACUSE 1/29/233

paulie..

Cards WBB crush Orange 100-64 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 SIX IN DOUBLE FIGURES IN CARDS 36-POINT WIN

Louisville Women's Basketball scored 50 points in each half and put away Syracuse 100-64 in the Carrier Dome Sunday afternoon. 

A balanced scoring effort for UofL, with six players in double figures, led by Liz Dixon's 18 points. Kianna Smith had 16 points, Ahlana Smith added 13, Chelsie Hall and Emily Engstler added 11 each and Hailey Van Lith finished with 10 for the Cards, who shot 53% for the game and held Syracuse to 33%. Olivia Cochran almost made it seven Cards in double figures, with nine points and Kasa Robinson finished with a flurry of five points in the last 1:27 and ended up with seven points on the afternoon. 

The Cards jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first four minutes of the contest and a Payton Verhulst three with five seconds left in the quarter created a 30-17 lead for Louisville in the first ten minutes. 

Louisville was showing no fatigue in their fourth game in eight days and had a 34-22 a couple of minutes into the second quarter, despite Syracuse scoring the first five points of the quarter. The Cards enjoyed a 44-31 lead with 3:19 until half time after a Hall jumper and Van Lith score set the 50-39 half-time score with a jumper 40 seconds before halftime. 

Hall led a balanced Cards attack with nine first half points. The Cards held a 23-10 rebounding edge and already had 30 points in the paint, compared to Syracuse's 10. Naje Murray was trying to keep Syracuse in the contest, with 12 points and the Orange's Carr sisters had combined for 18 points. 

The action slowed down a bit offensively in the third quarter, the two teams combining for just 26 points  Dixon assumed the top hand for Louisville with six third-quarter points, Hailey Van Lith's two free throws with 48 seconds left in the third set the tally at 65-50 Louisville. The Cards managed just 27.8% shooting in the third (5-18), but Syracuse was even worse, going 4-20 for a cold 20%. 

The fourth quarter saw Louisville explode for 35 points, hitting 14 of their 21 shots and holding Syracuse to just 14 points and 4-14 shooting  Engstler had seven fourth-quarter points, playing before a contingent of family and friends in Syracuse and Robinson fired up the Cardinals bench late by nailing a three and then appearing to sink another three the next time down court that was ruled to be just a long two-pointer. The Cards had a 100-61 lead with 22 seconds to go, their largest lead of the game, but a Syracuse three at the buzzer was ruled to be good and UofL had gone to 21-2 on the season and 11-1 in the ACC. 

THE FRED REPORT 

(Two wins this season now...over Syracuse)

FREE THROWS --  Louisville went 11-15 from the free throw stripe, Van Lith leading the way with 4-5 accuracy. 73% surpasses our 70% mandate to earn a letter. When you consider that UofL shot just two free throws in the first half (making them both) I'll give the CAPITAL "F" here for knocking them down when they started to pull away, going 5-8 in the fourth quarter. 

REBOUNDS -- No question here on who was the missed shot grabbing leaders. Louisville won the battle of the boards 55-26. Cochran led the Cards with 11 and Engstler added 10. Impressive that Cochran collected hers in just 20 minutes of court time. A CAPITAL "R" easily earned here, 

EFFORT/EXCUTION -- Louisville had a whopping 60-20 edge in points-in-the paint and 32-12 advantage with second chance points .That indicates a superior effort to me.  Dixon may have had her best game this season for the Cards off the bench and a 23-12 edge in assists and 53% shooting make it verty easy to award a CAPITAL "E". 

DEFENSE -- The Cards limited Syracuse to just 25 second-half points and 23.5% shooting. UofL had seven blocks and eight steals. The 64 Orange points were seven less than they scored in Louisville 24 days ago. Louisville did lose the second quarter, though, and Syracuse did make 10 threes on the Cards. I'll just award a lower-case "d" here.

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-R-E-d

                                                       **************************** 

A win by more than I expected in this one. It was good to see Liz step up and have the afternoon she did and I was pleased to see Kianna get 16 points. Impressive to win by 36 when you're playing your fourth game in eight days, on the road and getting the win with a total team effort. Good to see Emily return to her previous school, play well and get a win. A nice birthday gift to Kasa Robinson and thanks to the announcers for not querying once where Norika Konno was. Also, good to see a dominant fourth quarter for Louisville.

:Louisville returns home and will bring in Virginia Thursday night. Six wins in a row now for the #4 Cards, who haven't lost since Jan. 20th. 

paulie

Cards vs Oranges - Sunday Cardinal Couple

 Basketball Up North

(Q's last appearance against the Cards ) 

Picasso had a blue period, apparently the Cards have an orange period.  The Cards' orange period consists of games back to back to back against Miami (orange and green), Clemson (orange and purple) and Syracuse (orange and white).  It also will be the second UofL athletics event against Syracuse in as many days.  We'll pass on discussing yesterday's competition, however.

Today wraps up the Cardinals Women's Basketball's orange period in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.  A fun fact, the Carrier Dome, despite having been named for Carrier, a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning manufacturer, has not had air conditioning in the facility at all until 2020.  Some areas had air conditioning installed that year, and a renovation this year is planned to add air conditioning to the whole facility.  Of course, in upstate New York, the need for air conditioning is limited, but I'm sure it will be a welcome addition to the facility.

(How many Otto the Orange sightings will we get today?) 

Syracuse is currently sub-.500 overall, and only 2-8 in conference.  A little bit of unusual scheduling for The Orange, with a couple of early conference games in the season.  They started off conference play on November 14th against Notre Dame, and then played Clemson on December 11th.

Syracuse does have one signature win on their record, a 97-91 victory over then 18/20 Ohio State.  Other ranked competition has been South Florida, who won 77-53, and the in-conference teams that are ranked, including the Cards in the previous meeting, of course.  All were losses, as you might suspect.

The Orange are led by Acting Head Coach Vonn Read taking over after last season's post-season allegations of inappropriate behavior by Quentin Hillsman, and the subsequent mass exodus of players.

(Vonn Read, like Jeff Walz, has four letters in
his first name and last name. They are the only
ACC WBB coaches with this distinction.)  

Read has settled into a main rotation of about six players having played in all or nearly all of the team's games this season.  Only one other player has played in more than half of the team's games, with other four playing in 10 or less games.  In the previous matchup at the Yum!, Read only put six Orange on the floor.

The Carr sisters, Christianna and Chrislyn, were the pair that did the biggest damage to the Cards last outing, scoring 19 and 17; though Teisha Hyman, the overall highest scorer on the team, wasn't far behind, with 16 of her own.  Otherwise, the stat sheet from that game is mostly unremarkable.  The biggest eye-grabbing number is the 66.67% shooting from three-ball range in the 3rd quarter. for SU.

Christianna Carr against Cards

The Carrs, along with Najé Murray, are the biggest 3-pt threats on the team, though Hyman will hoist a few as well.

Looking to the right side of the stat sheet, Syracuse wins the turnovers and steals columns vs their opponents.  Of course, all stat sheet data has to be taken with a grain of salt. (In the stat sheet, Syracuse outscores their opponents and yet they're 9-11 overall).

UofL needs to have a solid defensive game, prevent the Carr sisters from having big games like they did the first time around, hold Hyman to a reasonable total, and we should see another victory over another school of orange.

TV coverage is again on Bally Sports South, so again I hope the four people that will be able to watch this live enjoy it.  I plan on catching the radio call with Nick Curran and AJ, and then probably go back and watch the replay through ESPN's site.  The TV coverage does make this a slightly earlier start that normal, with the tip at noon.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

(Paulie crashes a photo of our former "mayor for life" 
Jerry Abramson and his lovely bride Madeline.}

The latest edition of the CCRHP is available on Youtube at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr0tjH7pLXA

Four of us joined in the virtual studio, with Case still working on office renovations, Daryl, Jared, Paulie, and myself made the call.  Lot's of talk of basketball as is typical this time of year.  With three games to recap, we moved through them fairly quickly, but a good discussion, as always.

JMcA

WBB wins 84-71 over the Orange -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

 Happy Friday morning to all !

Photo: Jared Anderson

Louisville WBB moves to 14-1 on the season, 4-0 in ACC play after a 5 day COVID pause.  UofL returned to the hardwood to face familiar ACC foe, Syracuse on Thursday evening. The Cards won the opening tip and immediately turned on the jets but Syracuse would not make it easy for the Cards as the Orange impressively operated with only six players.   

This game had a lot of great drama but I will admit, I was still not comfortable with 1:00 min left on the clock for the game.  This had the potential to be a bad loss for Louisville.. one that the tournament committee would've really knocked the squad for.   Luckily a huge back half of the fourth quarter from the Louisville starters pushed the Cards to victory and back on the quest for a national championship.  

UofL was lead by Kianna Smith and Hailey Van Lith's 20 points each.  Emily Engstler also led the charge putting 15 points and 8 rebounds on her former squad. 

RECAP

End of 1Q 23-18 Cards
FG %
10-20 50% Cards
8-16 50% Cuse
Reb. 10-8 Cards
3-pt %
1-4 25% Cards
2-4 50% Cuse
                                                                         Photo: Jared Anderson

Chelsie Hall grabbed 2 offensive rebounds and a steal, the guard's presence immediately felt on the floor in the opening possession.  Cards defense pressed harder, as Emily Engstler gets a steal at the right from her former squad to Hailey Van Lith for the layup in transition.  HVL follows that with a three pointer after Cards absorb the offensive foul. Kianna Smith goes for the 2 point floater,  Emily grabs the rebound off of a Syracuse miss and then Olivia Cochran shakes off a defender to put it up and in and make it 9-5 Cardinals.

 At the media time out, UofL was shooting 45% on 5-11 attempts while 'Cuse managed to shoot 57% on 4-7.  Syracuse also leading from beyond the arc at this point Cards going 1-4 and 'Cuse 1-2.  The Cards were up 11-9 with five of their points coming off of 3 Orange turnovers and used a 4-2 run to make it 15-11, before forcing another turnover.  With 3:39 left in the quarter, Liz Dixon comes up empty on good look under the basket as well as the second chance attempt.  With the teams trading baskets, Emily goes to the rim to make it 17-13.  A travel turnover by Dixon on a pass to her underneath would be back to back bad possesions for Liz.  Notable, she was also wearing-ish a mask for the game.  Coach Walz takes Liz, HVL and Hall out of the game and puts Olivia back in as well as Payton Verhulst and Mykasa Robinson.   HVL was 4-5 to open the game with 9 points in 9 minutes. 

End of 2Q  17-17 All

FG %
8-16 50% Cards
4-12 33% Cuse
Reb. 9-7 Cards 
3-pt %
1-4 25% Cards
1-4 25% Cuse

                 Photo: Jared Anderson

A minute into the second quarter and Mykasa Robinson was taking the charge.  Literally.  She drove to the basket, missed it but Verhulst followed it up for the second chance points and then she was taking the offensive foul to give the Cards the ball back as HVL knocked down the jumper to make it 27-20 Cards. With 5 min left in the half, the quarter was tied 8-8 with UofL still up 31-26.. but the Cards did go cold for almost 3 minutes.  With 3:30 left in the half, several baskets were exchanged before the Cards pushed it to an 11 point lead before Engstler commits the foul and recieves a technical - Cuse gets the 4 points at the line to make it 40-33 with a minute left and Cuse gets the ball.  The Orange take advantage as the clock winds down to the break,  Hall and Dixon miss their 2 final attempts to finish the quarter with the Cards lead 40-35.  Cuse finish the half on a 6-0 run over 1:11 span of time. 

HALF 40-35 Cards 

End of 3Q 21-19 Cuse 

FG %
8-14 57% Cards
8-12 67% Cuse
Reb. 4-8 Cuse 
3-pt %
1-5 20% Cards
4-6 67% Cuse

                                                                           Photo: Jared Anderson

Kianna Smith opened the half with a 3-pointer but two UofL turnovers allowed Syracuse to pull it within 4.  The Cards offense went on another cold streak until Cochran scores on back to back baskets makes it 47-42 before the media time-out with 5 min in quarter.  Dixon and Engstler go for back to back baskets underneath to make it 53-46.  But Syracuse was not going away... in fact, they turned it up.  They went on a run of their own to make it 53-51 before K.Smith slashed to the bucket for jumper to make it 55-51.  A 'Cuse 3-pointer would pull the Orange to within one, 55-54.  HVL missed the 3 point attempt and Cuse drives for the go ahead layup 56-55. 

Tensions grew as Engstler blocked a 3 point attempt and gets fouled, making both attempts to take the lead back for the Cards, 57-56.  Kianna Smith lead the quarter for the Cards with 7 pts going 3-6 from the field, Hyman leading the charge for the Cuse having a 9 point quarter of her own going 4-5 from the field.

End of 4Q  25-15 Cards 

FG %
8-16 50% Cards
6-14 42.9% Cuse
Reb. 8 All 
3-pt %
4-4 100% Cards
 1-3 33.3% Cuse

 It was sloppy to open the quarter but the Cards would not be intimidated.   Kianna Smith  hit the 3, her third of the night to push it to 62-58.  Both squads trade turnovers as Engstler attempted the pass to Olivia but it went right off her fingertips and out of bounds.   By this point, Cuse finds a way to get to line again, now 11-14 FT attempts compared to the Cards' 4-5 attempts.  With 8 min left in game,  the Orange ties it up 62 all on a fade away jumper while Cochran airballs it at other end.  The Cards again went scoreless for another 2:45 stretch with just 6 min left in the game.

Kianna Smith again comes in clutch with her second 3 pointer of the quarter.  HVL gets her 2nd 3 pointer of the game and the Cards are up 68-64 with 5 min left in the game.  The Cards dominated points in the paint 38-18 by this point in the game.  HVL does 4th quarter HVL things and drives to the basket to push it 70-66 in favor of UofL.  The Cards defense forces shot clock violation with 3:45 left in game but then commits a shock clock violation of their own when HVL couldn't connect.   Luckily, UofL gets the ball back when Syracuse cant inbound correctly and that's when Walz breaks out the dry erase board with 3:10 left.  Kasa comes out and takes the charge, HVL dishes it to Kasa underneath to make it 79-68, just like Walz drew it up, I am sure!  But a three pointer by Syracuse's Carr with 45 second left make you think there's a chance..?  Her basket made it 79-71 Cards but former Orange forward and regular three point threat, Emily Engstler responds with one of her own to make it 82-71 with 35 seconds left.   UofL finished the game on a 22-9 run to seal the victory at home.

CARDS WIN 84-71

UP NEXT

Louisville AT Boston College

Sunday, January 16th at 12 p.m. 

Nightmare on Main Street avoided
thanks to Hailey and Kianna

FRED REPORT


FREE THROWS --  The Cards were losing the battle at the free throw line 4-5 compared to Cuse' 11-14 attempts early in the 4th quarter before the Cards went 5-5 to finish out the game 9-10 overall.  It always amazes me how the whistle seems to disappear when a team is operating off of a short roster.  The Cuse didn't experience foul trouble in this one, Cards were successful when they got to the line.  CAPITAL F

REBOUNDING --  The Cards and Cuse matched for 31 rebounds each.  UofL was outrebounded 22-20 on the defensive glass, behind the effort of Engstler's 8 boards.   It worked out for the Cards this time but I'm afraid of future matchup issues if the Cards cannot get more scoring opportunities than their opponents.  lower case r

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Louisville forced 20 turnovers, including 11 steals. 24 points came off of turnovers.  Engstler received a technical after committing a personal foul which gave Syracuse 3 free points and the ball and allowed the Orange to make it close before halftime.  Word on the Cardinal Couple street is that she was also pretty emotional while resting on the bench. CAPITAL E 

DEFENSE -- Syracuse tied it up 62 all in the 4th quarter before Walz put the starters back in.  Kianna Smith and HVL both hit 3 pointers to put the Cards ahead for good but this was a scary match for the #2 Cards pretty much the whole way.   The team could be coming off of COVID affects and just winded easier which allowed Cuse attempt to come back late in both halves, but we hope it was just a little rust the team was able to work through to seal the victory. lower case d 

FINAL FRED TALLY: F_r_E_d

Cardinal Couple Radio - As far as I know, we have a full house scheduled for the Cardinal Couple Saturday Radio Hour!  The gang will have much to catch up on. 

 

 

As always 

Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

On playing, rescheduling, postponing and waiting -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS MOST LIKELY TO FACE SYRACUSE THURSDAY

With the word out (from multiple sources) that Louisville women's basketball will probably practice Wednesday and play Syracuse Thursday at the KFC YUM! Center, one has to speculate that the squad's "dance with Omicron" wasn't at severe as some programs and people have experienced with the Corona virus. At least Jeff Walz hasn't had to become a part-time communication specialist this season -- calling coaches to discuss the possibilities of games in a 48 hour window on days WBB doesn't usually play.

At least for now. 

As far as what the remainder of the season brings, your guess is as good as mine. One has to wonder if a sizable crowd will show for hosting Syracuse, given that that infection numbers seem to be spiking rapidly over the past few days and schools and such are reverting to stay at home classes, work and such. It'l be interesting to see if we'll once again get a mandate of limiting attendance to sporting events. And, how many get sick after the big attendance at the college football National Championship Monday night in Indy? . 

Jared will have more on how Syracuse has fared this season. During a cursory look at them, they strike me as a team of mystery. They put a 40-point beating on Clemson but lost to UNC by 36. They knocked off Ohio State but lost to Buffalo.

I don't envy new head coach Vonn Read in his role of having to come in and clean up and try to rebuild the mess that we saw unfold up there when Quentn Hillsman was dismissed. It seems just about every other ACC school ended up with someone out of the transfer portal from Syracuse...that they are 6-7 this season mirrors the ups and downs of their season. I tease about herding kittens here at Cardinal Couple from time to time, but Read is trying to gather up loose Oranges on a downhill slope.

If Omicron continues to spread like wildfire, will we see a return to conditions -- where crowds are diminished and mandatory masking is put into play? It may not be a bad idea. When one out of every four people are testing positive...and there's no guarantee that your shots, type of mask you wear and booster are going to protect you...it makes for nervous times in crowds. 

But, they're still playing and scheduling games and we'll report on the joy and excitement they bring. Three days a week for contests as we approch Feburary in the ACC may come to fruition if more schools go on pause.  

I was asked "what constitutes a situation where a team can't play, in regards to personnel" recently and from what I've found, a school must have seven players who are able to play and one member of the coaching staff available. A look at the 'Cuse box score against Duke shows that they had seven play against Duke, although one player played just one minute.

 

 

So, how will the Cards WBB squad look after a week off? Will it be a game where Walz will have the luxury of going deep into the bench? Or will we get a news break that Syracuse has gone into COVID pause and there won't be a game at all?

It's just beginning to get interesting for the #2 or #3 team in the nation (depending on which ranking serving you believe)  If 13-1 wasn't exciting enough for you, hang on...there are plenty of challenges ahead and not all of then are from opponents. 

paulie