Softball and Lacrosse Open Seasons -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Sweeps Double Header

Louisville softball got their season started in Ft. Myers, Florida yesterday with games against Long Island University and Georgetown University. The Cards got ahead early in both games and held on to win the pair. The offense wasn't stellar, with Louisville scoring just six runs across the two games, but the defense and pitching gave up just one run in response. Louisville walked away from yesterday morning's game against LIU with a 2-0 victory and they carry a 4-1 win over Georgetown into this evening's rematch against the Hoyas. 

In the top of the first against LIU, Easton Lotus moved into the lead-off spot and walked to open the game. She then stole second. Kylie Goff, in her first game as a Cardinal, batted second, and also drew a walk. A wild pitch moved the two runners to second and third, so Daisy Hess, who took over the third spot in the order, decided to also take a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Another newcomer, Riley Frizell, held the cleanup spot and promptly singled in the first run of the season. LIU finally got their first out when Bailee Richardson grounded out, but it was a fielder's choice to third and Goff came home on the play. Paige Geraghty reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases again when LIU couldn't get an out, but a pair of strikeouts ended the threat. Louisville led 2-0, and that would be that. 

Alyssa Zabala got the start for Louisville in the first game, and she finished with three hits and a walk given up over four full innings. She struck out one batter but gave up no runs. LIU's biggest threat came in the third, when two singles and a sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out. Zabala was able to induce two pop-outs to preserve the shutout. Sam Booe took over in the circle after the fourth, presumably just to rest Zabala's arm. Zabala was effective in the fourth, allowing one hit but otherwise getting three quick outs, but the Sharks were finding the ball with their bats, which isn't usually good for keeping scoring down. Booe came in and struck out five over three innings, but also gave up a hit, two walks, and a hit-by-pitch. Not the cleanest, but not the end of the world. The runners were scattered, with just a walk and the HBP coming together in the sixth. A strike out and a grounder straight to third took care of it.

Offensively, Frizzell was the only player with multiple hits for the Cards. Hess, Richardson, and Chelsea Mack (the UK transfer who has taken over in CF), were the only other players to reach base more than once, with a walk and a hit each. Mack and Richardson answered the defensive questions that were outstanding. With Zabala in the circle, the defense went Goff (C), Frizzell (1B), Lotus (2B), Richardson (3B), Hess (SS), Geraghty (LF), Mack (CF), and Vanessa Miller (RF). Gabby Holloway got a hit as a pinch hitter and Maddi Grant was the designated hitter.

The second game saw a bit more offense out of the Cards, who took a 1-0 lead in the second and went on to win 4-1. The second game saw a change to the lineup, with Ally Alexander taking over at third and Richardson moving to DH. Gabby Holloway had the start in game two and pitched very well, but it was Brooke Gray who earned her first collegiate win in relief. Izzy Harrison came on to close the game out and, while she gave up two walks in the seventh, she struck out the side for the save. 

Like the first game, Lotus reached first in her first at bat, this time on a single, and stole second. Her steal came after Goff had struck out, but Hess walked to backfill at first. A strikeout and a line out ended the inning. Holloway, who gave up a hit in the first, played with fire a bit in the second, as she gave up back-to-back singles to open the inning. She followed up the hits with a pair of strikeouts split by a ground out to end the threat, and the Cards rewarded her.

The bottom of the second opened with a Paige Geraghty triple, and she came home two batters later on an Alexander single up the middle. That 1-0 lead held through the fourth, despite Georgetown loading the bases with nobody out. An uncharacteristic error by Hess opened the inning and a single put two on. A bunt that was probably intended to be a sacrifice was beat out and the bases were loaded. A pop up got the first out of the inning and a sharp ground ball to Easton Lotus was smartly played. Double plays are difficult to turn in softball because of the larger ball and the shorter base paths. Rather than try to get the 4-6-3 double-play, Lotus fired the ball to Goff for the force out at the plate. The bases remained loaded, but the run didn't score. A ground out to Hess, who calmly rectified her prior error, ended the inning.

Louisville would put two runners in scoring position in the bottom half, but nothing came of it. The fifth brought the end of Holloway's season debut. A walk to open the inning turned into a runner on third with one out after a sacrifice and a steal. Holloway picked up a strikeout to make it one on with two outs, but a single tied the game. With a tie game in the fifth, Coach Holly Aprile turned to the young starter in Brooke Gray. Gray got a fly out against her first college batter (excluding fall ball) and Louisville took over. Hess opened with a walk and advanced despite Frizell's grounder being right at second base. A foul out meant there was just one out to bring the run around, but an error gave the Cards a freebie. Paige Geraghty singled to third, who was thrown off by the advancing Hess. The Hoya 3B airmailed the throw to first and both Louisville players advanced, with Hess coming home for an unearned run. Cards regained their lead 2-1.

Another fly out opened Gray's first full inning of work, and it was followed by a double. She picked up her first strikeout on the ensuing pinch hitter, and the pinch runner was thrown out at third on an attempted steal. Three up, three down... kind of. Maddi Grant came on to pinch hit for Alexander to open the sixth and tripled to right. Chelsea Mack singled her home and stole second. Easton Lotus singled through the middle and Mack's counterpart in center couldn't get the throw home in time. Lotus advanced to second on the throw and then a bunch of weird stuff happened. Georgetown made a quadruple change and the new pitcher plunked Kylie Goff. Hess then popped up, and Lotus somehow advanced on the play. Frizell grounded to second, where Goff was out, and Mia Forsythe was caught stealing after coming on to pinch run. Nevertheless, Louisville led 4-1.

Izzy Harrison came on to close out the game, with Gray in line for the win, and walked the first two batters. You already know how this ends, so I'll spare you the dramatics. The ball was never in play in the seventh, with the two walks being followed by three strikeouts. Ball game, Cards. Easton Lotus and Paige Geraghty were the only two Louisville hitters with multiple hits in this one. Goff reached twice as the result of an HBP, and Hess was the only other Cardinal to reach base more than once. Hess walked three times, a very Joey Votto-esque performance in the 3-hole. 

Louisville is back in action at 5PM this evening with a rematch against Georgetown, which will be immediately followed by a game against FGCU (scheduled for 7:30). The Cards will take on FGCU again tomorrow at 12:30PM to close out the event. Both games against the hosts will be available on ESPN+.

Lacrosse Falls at Denver

The Cards made a game out of it against the Pioneers, but the final score doesn't quite reflect the threat. Louisville cut Denver's lead to 11-8 entering the fourth quarter, but 5-0 quarters bookending the game set the final score at a lopsided 16-8. The Cards were competitive in the mid-game but were unable to match pace with the offensive output of a Final Four team from last season.

As you might expect, after the rules changes this offseason, the penalty summary is nearly as long as the goal summary. Ten cards were issued in this one, with Louisville picking up seven of them. Playing with fewer players on the field is a good way to give up power play goals, as you might expect. No Cardinal was carded more than once, which is good, but we'll have to see if they can clean things up as the season progresses.

On the offensive side, Louisville was led by Kokoro Nakazawa's three goals. Kylea Dobson, Tiffany Natoli, Nicole Perroni, and Negai Nakazawa scored one apiece. The Cards only had two assists, with one coming from Negai, and the other coming from Izzy Seikel. Louisville converted 8 of their 14 shots on goal, and those 14 shots on goal came on just 23 shots. The Cards were competitive on draw controls, as well, losing that battle just 12-14. Louisville recovered more ground balls and had more clears. Denver's offense was just overwhelming. Sara Addeche played the entire match and finished with 14 saves. A herculean effort against 30 shots. 

The Cards have today off before they head to Boulder to take on Colorado tomorrow at 2PM. There is a lot to learn from this game, despite the outsized deficit at the end, as Louisville led the middle portion of the game 8-6. They'll have to score in the first and fourth quarters to win going forward, though.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're without Jeff this week, as a road trip to see former Louisville players in the PVF takes him away. We'll have Jared, Daryl, and myself, as well as another week with Paulie, to fill the show. We'll talk big WBB games and the opening of the spring sports seasons. There won't be any live stream of this week's episode, but you can check out the podcast as always. The show officially starts at 11 AM Eastern, and there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB big win vs Notre Dame 73-66 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL


Welcome back, Dear Readers & hellllllllllooooooo weekend.

It's been a big basketball week for the Louisville program. WBB went 1-1 this week in their rivalry matchups with NC State and Notre Dame. We are also glad to have Paulie rejoin us this past week on the broadcast and his thoughts here in writing again.  I know he appreciates Thomas keeping his seat warm on media row.  And Thomas is officially 2-0 at the games.   

Lets get into the recap from last night.  




WBB


Whew! What a night Cardnation!! The energy from more than 9,400 fans at the Yum! Center no doubt helped power the squad to victory on Thursday on national television 73-66 over Notre Dame... to move to 20-4 on the season and 9-2 making it the 14th 20 win season in a row.  Nyla Harris had another career high night going 9-11 for 19 points and led all rebounders with 10.  She mentioned how much FUN she was having 



End of 1Q 15-12 Cards
FG %
7-18 38.9% Cards
5-15 33.3% ND
Reb. 12-10 ND
3-pt %
1-5 20% Cards
0-4 0% ND



In the irst two minutesof the game,  ND went 0-4from the floor with 3 turnovers and 3 steals.  Nyla Harris and Nina Rickards connected underneath but were blocked but they did not give up on the play when Rickards got her own rebound and she drove the basket to put it up and in and one.  Cards went out to an 8-2 lead with 6 min left in the quarter.  ND called a timeout with about 5 minutes on the clock with the Cards up 13-2 after ND started the game 0-8in shots and the only points they had were a gift from the refs at the line.  ND hit a couple buckets out of the timeout. ND had 7 turnovers in the quarter, the Cards had 5.


End of 2Q 17-15 ND


FG %
7-16 43.8% Cards
7-17 41.2% ND
Reb. 12-8 Cards
3-pt %
1-3 33.3% Cards
1-3 33.3% ND


The Cards got back to scoring in the opening minute of the second quarter when Nyla Harris got second chance points on a layup underneath.   Syd Taylor hit a 3 on the assist from Olivia underneath. The Cards struggled to break the zone... so when the defense all flocked to the paint... UofL dished it outside to find their second 3 pointer in the game and make the score 20-12 Cards.

ND hit their first 3 when Citron scores it to make it 26-23. (She is back... Groan.? 
Nyla Harris had a strong first half with 12 points and 6 rebounds, 8 of them coming in the second quarter going 4-6 from the field.


HALF 30-29




End of 3Q 24-18 Cards

FG %
7-16 43.8% Cards
7-17 41.2% ND
Reb. 12-8 Cards
3-pt %
2-5 40% Cards
0-4 0% ND


A couple free throws from Syd Taylor put the Cards up 40-35.  Olivia strongly put the ball up and in for the layup and the Cards steal it away on the next possession. Jada Curry hits her first bucket of the day on a 3 pointer that put the Cards up 45-37.

Cards get out to a 47-37 lead with 3:49 on the clock.

It is L O U D in the Yum Center.

Kiki Jefferson hits the 3 to make it a 10 point game again 50-40.

End of 4Q 19 all

FG %
5-10 50% Cards
7-15 46.7% ND
Reb. 8 all
3-pt %
1-7 14.3% Cards
3-5 60% ND

Three big things you need to know about this quarter was the following offensive sequences... 

-- Russell 3 pointer 60-51

-- Taylor 3 pointer 63-53

-- Curry 3 pointer 66-53

These cushions really pushed Louisville to victory.  But the Cards did not slow down or let up on the energy.   Olivia Cochran put up another strong layup with under 5 on the clock.   Walz called giant timeouts when the Cards struggled to corral the ball or if the potential of a jump ball was near, making sure the possession remained with the Cards.  

With about 3 minutes left in the afair,  the Cards killed some clock with a 12 point lead.  The team struggled to put anything together offensively in the final minutes

Cards were up 68-61 with 1:30 to go.

Hidalgo stole it from Jefferson and attempted a 3 but missed. Rickards got the rebound and got fouled.  JMy thoughts at that point of time were..."just make your free throws, Cards." and Kiki Jefferson at the line did... to make it 72-66.
One more free throw to close of the scoring and Louisville had won on ESPN before an obviously disppointed ESPN annoincin crew (accorfing to Paulie). 

FINAL 73-66

UP NEXT

Louisville at #21 Syracuse

Sunday February 11th at noon

FRED REPORT

Fredrick Douglass

FREE THROWS -- It could've gotten scary for the Cards in this one as they went 14-23 at the charity stripe. Coach Walz acknowledged in the post game that this was a bad night from the stripe. Considering his squad just got a giant top #15 win on ESPN, he joked about them emphasizing they are free. The Cards went 61% at the line. Not good. no letter

REBOUNDING -- The Cards outrebounded the Irish 42-36. Nyla Harris led all rebounders with 10. She came up huge when we needed her to. And in the post game she commented on how much fun she was having out there helping her team get second chance opportunities. CAPITAL R


EFFORT/EXECUTION -- From the opening tip off, the Cards showed no signs of being intimidated or tired after a late night on Monday in Raleigh. CAPITAL E

DEFENSE -- The Louisville defense took it up a notch when the Irish came to town. Fresh off a rivalry loss on the road on Monday, the Cards came out with vengeance Thursday night. They forced ND to go 0-8 to open the game prompting ND to call a TO. The Cardinals held a strong ND team that averages 83 ppg to 66 in the game. CAPITAL D

FINAL FRED TALLY:   _R_E_D

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

THEY SAID IT: 

POST GAME JEFF WALZ:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_4rlAMxOXc

POST GAME NYLA HARRIS AND NINA RICKARDS

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

Keep Paul in your thoughts as we slowly welcome him back to the sidelines.   The Cardinals have another giant matchup for the top of the ACC on Sunday afternoon.   Lets keep it rolling, ladies!!! 

A very special "THANK YOU!" to Jared Anderson for the photo work and for staying in touch with our fearless leader Paulie on all thngs site related. He's done a great job guiding the boat and I don't know where we would be without him

Softball and Lacrosse get started today, both on the road, for matches. We haven't found any viewing links yet, but we'll keep searching and Case will have recaps in our Saturday column, we hope.

As always,
Go Cards

~Daryl

Cards and Irish Face in Rivalry Game -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville and Notre Dame to Air on ESPN

Louisville defeats Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament

When you think of rivalries for Louisville women's basketball a few might come to mind. Of course, Kentucky is always at the top of the list. Perhaps UConn or NC State makes the list. But Notre Dame is one that is probably right up there near UK. Jeff Walz vs Muffet McGraw only amplified the rivalry, even with the latter retired and Niele Ivey taking the reins.

Louisville and Notre Dame will tip off with an early 6:00pm game and it will be aired on ESPN, the flagship of all sports channels.

#15 Louisville is fresh off a loss at a top-three NC State on Monday night. The Cards still sit at 19-4 this season with an 8-2 ACC mark. Their conference record puts them half a game behind 9-2 Virginia Tech.

#12 Notre Dame (AP Poll) is 17-4 on the year and 7-3 in the ACC. They have won three straight and are fresh off a 25-point victory over Pitt. Also in that stretch was a 17-point win at UConn. 

Even without Olivia Miles, the Irish have been a tough team that can make a run for the ACC title. Freshman Hannah Hidalgo has made a strong case for ACC Freshman of the Year by averaging 24.8 points per game, 6.4 rebounds per game, and 5.1 steals per game. Notre Dame also returned Sonia Citron (16.9 ppg, .397 three-point shooting, .913 free throw shooting) and Maddy Westbeld (13.9 ppg, 9.2 rpg). This Irish team loves to score, averaging 83.1 points per game.

Notre Dame leads the all-time series 18-13. In their most recent match-up, Louisville defeated 1-seed Notre Dame 64-38 in the ACC Tournament. Some other exciting games between the Cards and Irish are below.

Louisville 86, Notre Dame 64 (02/27/2022)- Louisville raced out to a 31-3 first quarter lead and even pushed that lead to 42 points in the second quarter.

Louisville 74, Notre Dame 72 (03/04/2018)- Her name is Asia Durr. After the Cards hit free throws down the stretch to hang on to defeat Notre Dame in the ACC Championship, Jeff Walz politely reminded Muffet McGraw that "that other player" is named Asia Durr after Durr won ACC Player of the Year over Arike Ogunbowale.

Louisville 100, Notre Dame 67 (01/11/2018)- Everything went right for Louisville as they blew out the Irish at home in front of 12,600 fans. AD hit a buzzer beater to close out the third quarter as icing on the cake. Not bad for a top-five match-up.

The great AD

Daryl and I will be in attendance for this one. She'll have the write up in the Friday Cardinal Couple.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Good to be back -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

A RETURN TO THESE PAGES

ok, maybe not but, Hello again..

Hello, and GoCards to you. This is your faithful editor and co-owner of Cardinal Couple  (Paulie) and..can you believe...it's been almost a month since I have turned in an article here? Seems longer than that to me...and, no, I wasn't under the commisioner's suspension. 

Open heart surgery will tend to delay a lot of things in one's life, and, in my case, I was faced with the arduous decision to "get rid of the blockage" or start breathing dry air.  (No, it doesn't mean I ran a quarterback scramble option..but I do feel as if I have been issued a new set of downs.)

First and foremost, I thank this wondeful crew of knuckleheads I have here for keeping the boat on a straight and steady course. It may read "Cardinal Couple" on the name, but...it's Jared, it's Jeff, it's Case and Daryl who are the best damn crew any fella could ever ask to write with and be friends with. Hey, they're the lead guitarists...I'm just glad to be on stage banging a tamborine and singing off-key. My dear Sonja, keeping the gang informed and reporting on my progress. She's my  MVP...no doubt. 

The crew that did the heart work are a great bunch of physicians and staff and I'd recommend them to anyone. I won't give such high marks to the hospital and it's staff, though, and I'll choose to never return there again, if at all possibe. (enough on that).There are some very good hospitlsi n our fair city...I wasn't in one of them. 

When I put on the gown and let them shave my chest...Louisville WBB had recently defeaed Washington and was getting ready to take on Miami. The Walz led group had just two losses and we were seein that the Walzian experiment of putting five, new to each other starters on the court was, actually going quite well. 

Today, i look at this team,fresh off a almost predictable loss at Ralrigh to NCST, and I still love the product on the showroom floor. They seem to have found a place in you, the reader's hearts too...,from what I can gather, too. I won't call them the "Cardiac Cards"...that brings a bit too close reminder to my personal sitution s...but  "no name Cards" has a nice ring to it. 

And, I've been to Raleigh as a visiting fan in WBB . That place is a snake pit for visiting, ranked teams. The Wolfpack Fans love their women's product and they let you know it the entire game. If, for some readon, I could no longer be a UofL fan, it probably wouldn't take much for me to don the Wolfpack sweatshirt and cheer for them. 

There isn't a Durr, McCoughtry, Evans, Hammond, Bingham or Fuehring on this UofL squad...but you have 11 gals who will fight you till the final buzzer and aren't afraid of anyone or anybody. My kind of squad. . 

Maybe that's why I like them as much as I do. They came here, just for a year in some cases, to see what playing with the bird on their chest and the love of 8,0090-10,00 fan each in their hearts was like. They felt a coach like Walz could help them acheive future goals. I think the best is yet to come for them, I hope to make a home game or two before they head to the ACC Tournament. With medical cleaarance, of course. 

(Hey, ma...your little guy is still kicking..). 

So, I go through the physical therapy, the cardiac diet ,and health and exercise scrutiny to make me better. I think this WBB team is going to get better, too. I don't know if they are Final Four quality yet...but, if you can pick the Final Four on this mid-Feburary day...I'll hand over the keys to the Cardinal Couple offices and marvel at your wisdom. 

I look forwrad to the spring schedule for Cardinal women's athletics, too. The "ping" of the bat at Ulmer and the hard-charging lacrosse gals storming up and down the L.L.S. Field. 

Shall we continue the journey together? It feels like a team made it possible for me to get this far and that team is ALL-AMERICAN in my book. Let's see how things continue. It's gonna be fun and I'll never take my health for granted again. 

Yeah...I missed y'all, so to speak... and glad I am able to be back profliferating on these pages. A big "thanks? to all who reached out to check on me, console, advise, suggest, make me smile and keep me abreast on things

I'll see ya at the game....

paulie

Dismal 2nd Quarter Dooms Cards -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Falls 77-67 to NC State

After a frenzied first six minutes saw Louisville hold a 1-4 point lead throughout the early portion of the game, Aziaha James hit a pair of threes to give herself as many points (16) as Louisville had at the time and moved NC State to 4-point lead with 1:47 to go in the first quarter. NC State would not yield the advantage for the remainder of the game. Despite winning the third quarter (and second half) by six points, Louisville could reduce their deficit to no fewer than six. The Cards were, once more, victims of a very bad quarter, losing the second 19-8 to head to the locker room staring down a 17-point margin. The loss drops Louisville into a tie with NC State for second (0.5 games behind VT) with still a brutal schedule ahead.

The game got off to an inauspicious start for Louisville, with the tip going to Aziaha James, who blitzed down the court in a one-on-one situation with Syd Taylor and drew the first foul just six seconds into the contest. James entered the game fifth in the conference with 15.2 ppg which, as I noted in the opener, she reached in the first quarter. She went 1-2 from the line before Louisville immediately turned the ball over. If you're the doom and gloom type, you'd probably expect that to be a sign of bad things to come. As it turned out in the end, you would have been right, but in the moment Olivia Cochran immediately rectified her mistake by forcing a steal under the basket and scoring Louisville's first points. After Louisville traded a couple of buckets with James, someone else took a shot for the Wolfpack. They shouldn't have, I suppose, since Louisville rebounded the miss and used an and-1 by Nyla Harris to make it a 4-point game. 

The Cards would miss a number of opportunities to extend their first quarter lead, and it ultimately came back to bite them. After James's third three in a row (broken up in NCST scoring only by a Mimi Collins free throw) moved the score to 20-16, Louisville was reeling. Those threes were the driving force behind a 10-2 run over five minutes that inverted the Cards' advantage. A pair of traded two pointers seemed to wake Louisville back up before their worst nightmare came true: other players for NC State realized they could score. The Wolfpack's fourth and fifth made threes of the quarter helped them to a six-point lead at the end of the first. The Cards trailed 28-22, and it would only get worse for Louisville from there.

Louisville turned the ball over on their first possession again, so that wasn't super cool. They also gave up an offensive rebound which managed to not turn into a made three. As a result, the Cards scored the first basket of the second quarter to make it 28-24. The next points Louisville put up, free throws by Kiki Jefferson, made the score 43-26. Quick math says that's a 15-0 run, and it's usually difficult to win games when you give those up. Four more points from NC State made it a 21-point game before Louisville picked up two baskets at the end of the half to make it 47-30. Over NC State's long run, Louisville turned the ball over just twice, and the Wolfpack made only one three-pointer. The Cards just could not hit the broad side of a barn. They went 3-14 from the floor in the second.

Halftime included a ceremony recognizing cancer survivors and memorializing those who have been lost. Last night's game was the annual Play4Kay game, in which the Hall of Fame coach of the Wolfpack, Kay Yow, is remembered and money is raised for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. The program announced donations totaling in the thousands raised just during the halftime pledge event. It is often easy to get wrapped up in pink-out games without fully embracing the point of it all, so to see all that was done as part of last night's event was a good reminder. As one minor note, it was a little odd for NC State to do a pink-out in the arena but choose to wear black with pink while Louisville wore all pink. There was nothing particularly wrong with the decision, it just had the unfortunate effect of being moderately confusing at times on the broadcast.

Louisville came out in the third and forced an NC State turnover on the Wolfpack's first possession. Progress, you say, right? Nope. Cards turned it over on their first possession again. Louisville's offensive struggles continued, as they were unable to move off of 30 points until two-and-a-half minutes into the second half. Fortunately, NC State was largely unable to score as well, making just one free throw in that time. Louisville's back-to-back baskets gave them a sign of life before yet another three, NC State's seventh of the game, pushed the lead back to 17. The Cards weren't quite done, though. A 10-4 run brought the lead down to 11, but NC State had just enough in the tank to stay on top of this one. I think that if Louisville had seen the deficit get down to single digits in the third quarter, things may have gone differently. Unfortunately, both times the Cards got it down to 11, the Wolfpack scored on the ensuing possession. The second time saw a brief spurt by NC State push the lead back to 16 with their 8th three of the game. The Cards scored seven of the last eight points of the quarter to make it 59-49 as they entered the final stanza, but that double-digit deficit still haunted them.

Louisville managed to not go 4-4 on opening possession turnovers. In fact, they cut the lead to single digits for the first time in nearly 20 minutes on their first possession of the fourth. After Aziaha James (who else) scored to push it back to 10, Louisville still didn't go away. Louisville did what they do well for a couple of minutes, hitting free throws and playing good free throw defense (NC State missed a pair). With the lead down to six, Wes Moore dialed up the go-to play: have James score. She did and, for good measure, Madison Hayes hit a three to follow it. All of the sudden the lead was back to 11 with under four to go. The Cards found a three of their own and brought it back down to six after a Jayda Curry three and a Nina Rickards steal and lay-in. Of course, James hit another three and that would just about do it. A turnover and free throws pushed the lead back to 11 and it was all over but the crying. Jayda Curry hit another three with 41 seconds remaining to cut the deficit back down to six but it was too late by that point. The Cards were too long in fouling (and NC State too good at hitting free throws) and too slow in scoring (and couldn't really make threes) to make a late charge. Final score 77-67.

Louisville shot 25-68 from the floor. It wasn't great. They outscored NC State on points in the paint, fast break points, and second chance points. They were outscored 30-12 from beyond the arc. That's the game. Sometimes it really is that simple. NC State shot only 43% from the field. It's a 7% advantage on Louisville, sure, but it's also worse than they shot from three. The Wolfpack were 47.6% (10-21) from three-point land. Do you remember after the Wake Forest game when Jeff Walz said (paraphrased) "I'm ok with someone who can't shoot being left open for a three, but not when we leave someone open that the scout says to cover"? I do. It seems the team may have forgotten, though I'm sure Walz has reminded them plenty. Aziaha James leads the Wolfpack with (now) 15.8 points per game. Madison Hayes shoots 45% from three. Allowing those two to go 8-15 from beyond the arc is BAD. Hitting threes isn't Louisville's game this year. They're only 32% on the year and hit just 4.7 per game. So they cannot let the opponent go off from outside. Louisville has four losses now. In the other three, they gave up 9-24 (Alabama), 7-18 (UConn), and 6-14 (UNC) from three. They made no more than four 3-pointers of their own in any of those games. 

Let's look at the Reports.

FRED REPORT

(we bring back Fred Gwynne -- Herman Munster -- for last night's debacle)

F - Free Throws: It's a lowercase f here. I'll spare you the soliloquy. Louisville was 13-17 for 76.5%. It was fine. They went 5-8 in the fourth quarter, missing their last three free throws while trailing by fewer than 10 points. Cool.

R - Rebounding: Louisville won the rebounding battle by a scant one rebound, 42-41. They managed to snag five more offensive boards and won the second chance points category, so I'll give credit there. Since NC State is regularly +9 and Louisville's average is only +6.7, I'm actually going to give the Cards a capital R here. It was a solid rebounding performance.

E - Effort/Execution: Uhhhh. Hmm. Well, they fought back from down 21 in the first half. But, they were down 21 in the first half and gave up a 15-0 run. At some point, the disappearing act Louisville pulls in at least one quarter per game has to stop. No letter.

D - Defense: Nope. As I mentioned, they were nowhere on three-point defense. Allowing an opponent to shoot almost 50% from there when that's their game is not good. The number of those given up in transition was also mystifying. NC State scores 77 points per game. That's exactly what they did in this one. I'm pretty sure we expect better than statistically average from Louisville's defense. No letter.

CASE REPORT

C - Care: The Cards turned the ball over 12 times. It really doesn't seem that bad when you consider three of those were to open each quarter. It's fewer than NC State's 13. It's only a shade under NC State's average, though, as they force opponents into 14 per game. Lowercase c.

A - Assists: Double-digit turnovers always hurt here. Hero ball is also suboptimal. At one point in last night's game, Lindsay remarked, "They're just throwing it at the rim." It was true. The ball movement wasn't great, and the Cards finished with just nine assists... on 25 made baskets. Yikes. No letter.

S - Steals: Cards had seven. That's less than both 7.5 and 8, the standard we want and the number NC State pulled. The Wolfpack also added four blocks to Louisville's 0. Ew. No letter.

E - Efficiency: Over 75% from the line by one free throw is still over 75%. 36.8% from the floor and 25% from three (4-16, ugh), won't win you any awards. Lowercase e.

Louisville finishes with f-R-_-_ and c-_-_-e in the reports. With that kind of performance, it's going to be tough to win games, especially games against top-five opponents on the road. Maybe that's why it's so frustrating that it feels like Louisville let this one slip away. Unlike the game that Louisville saw everything fall apart in the fourth quarter against NC State a couple of years ago, this one was just a slow death that began fairly early at the hands of compounding errors. And it was still a two-possession game with three minutes to go. It's almost unbelievable. 

Louisville was paced in this one by Olivia Cochran. big "O" had a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Both categories led the team and her rebounds were the best on the floor. Madison Hayes was the only other player with double-digit rebounds, as she added 10 to her 12 points for NC State (all threes). Aziaha James led all scorers with 28. Two Cards joined Cochran in double-digit scoring, as Kiki Jefferson put up 16 and Jayda Curry had 12. Those two were 10-10 from the line, with Jefferson managing to avoid the commentator's curse every time Ward and Antonelli attempted to put it on her (she leads the league in free throws, you know?). Nyla Harris finished with nine, Syd Taylor with eight, and Nina Rickards with five. That adds up to 67 if you check it. 

Curry's 12 points were the only bench points Louisville got, which was rare of th Cards and a little disappointing, since we saw 31 combined minutes from Merissah Russell, Eylia Love, and Elif Istanbulluoglu. Curry was also one of four players to have at least 13 shot attempts, one of three with at least 17. Jefferson got her 16 points from 13 attempts. James' 28 came from 18 shots. Curry and Cochran both had 17. Olivia was 8-17 from the floor, while Curry was just 3-17. I know shooters shoot, and I know that Curry hit two threes in the fourth that could have been big if the game was in a different spot. But it wasn't, and she was 1-13 from the floor before that. Curry is shooting 40% from the floor and 40% from three this season, so it's not like she's building a house of bricks on the year. But she was last night, and the insistence on missing, especially early in possessions, hurt Louisville.

The Cards get no time off, as they host another top-15 matchup on Thursday night when the Irish come to town. Notre Dame is just one game behind Louisville and NC State, sitting at 7-3 in conference and 17-4 overall. Louisville will be the lower-ranked team in Yum! Center, as the Irish are currently 12th. I noted last night that it doesn't seem like this team can win big games. That seems particularly true on the road, but they were shaky against Syracuse last week before turning it on after the first quarter. All eyes will be on the Cards with a 6PM tip on ESPN. We'll see how they respond.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Visit Wolfpack -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

PRIME TIME, BIG TIME HOOP TONIGHT ON ESPN2

In a rare Monday night primetime game, Louisville women's basketball visits NC State for a 7:00pm tip-off on ESPN2.

The ranked match-up between the #16 Cards and #5 Wolfpack have major ACC standings implications. An NC State win would put three teams in a tie for first with two losses each: Louisville, NC State, and Virginia Tech. A Louisville win keeps the Cards in first all alone with Virginia Tech holding second and NC State and Syracuse tied for third with three losses each.

UofL is on a three-game win streak, all at home, with the most recent win coming against a ranked Syracuse team. Louisville has lost three times this season but only one in conference play, a loss on the road to North Carolina.

NC State is 19-2 on the year and is riding a four-game win streak. Most recently, they hung on to defeat ranked North Carolina. The Wolfpack lost at Virginia Tech by one and at Miami by 14. They have ranked wins against UConn, Colorado, and Florida State.

Defensively, NC State is about as good as they come. Wes Moore's team allows 59 points per game with teams shooting 34.7% from the field. They've held their opponents to an average of 28.8% three-point shooting.

Aziaha James leads the team with 15.2 points per game. Saniya Rivers (12.8 ppg), Mimi Collins (12.1 ppg), and Madison Hayes (11.6 ppg) join her in the double figures scoring but two more NC State players also average over 9.0 ppg. Offensively, they are similar to Louisville in the fact that the go-to scorer can be one of several players on any given night. They spread out the scoring and minutes played. They also have six players averaging four or more rebounds per game.

Playing in Raleigh gives NC State a sizable advantage in this game. They average 5,200 fans per game at Reynolds Coliseum, which ranks near the top of the ACC. Louisville continues to excel in that category, averaging nearly 8,200 fans per game at the KFC Yum! Center.

Louisville holds a slim 8-7 lead in the all-time series including 3-1 at NC State. The Cards have lost four straight in the series including a 12-point loss at home last year.

All eyes will be on this game tonight so let's hope the Cards show up and show out and put on a performance that will woo over the NCAA Tournament selection committee for later down the road.

Happy Monday and Go Cards!

Jared

Swing, Jump, Throw, Run, Swim - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Golf en México

The Golf team took an excursion south of the border...no, not to Taco Bell, but really south of the border, for the Collegiate Invitational held in Guadalajara.  That's a rather unusual, but certainly pleasant locale this time of year.  The event was apparently hosted by Virginia, and your guess is as good as mine as to how they came to host an event in Western Mexico.

The Cards finished 10th overall in the competition, with Carmen Griffiths being the top scorer for the Cards, finishing in a tie for 9th place.  Beatriz Barrios wasn't too far behind, in a tie for 16th two strokes behind Griffiths.

Golf will return back to the states but staying south, heading to Melbourne FL for an event starting the 18th.

Track and Field Split the Party

UofL Track and Field competed in a couple of different events this weekend.

First, in Albuquerque, NM, Alba Cuns Iglesias posted an eighth place finish in the triple jump in a personal record of 12.81m.  That equates to a smidge over 42 feet.  Impressive to say the least.

Zoe Yeast, meanwhile was participating in the weight throw at the Meyo Invitational in South Bend Indiana, also finished eighth, and had a top throw of 18.03m, or 59 feet and almost two inches.

The next action for Track and Field sees them heading up to Chestnut Hill, MA for Boston College's Eagle Invite.  The Eagle Invite will be a two day event, on the 9th and 10th.

Swimming and Diving

Arthur Albiero's squad was at home yesterday for a meet against Cincinnati, with the well ranked Cards easily taking the competition, 204-90.  The men's side was similarly successful against the Bearcats.

The news here, however is that this was the Senior Day event for Swimming and Diving.  Yes, you read that right, and it caught me just as off-guard.  There is one more event, two weeks from now, for the Cards before the ACC Championship.  It is also a home meet, but it's a two day invitational, the Louisville Invitational, so logistically more difficult to do Senior Day honors.

With a substantial point win over the Bearcats and in head to head competition, you might expect a number of individual and relay event wins for Louisville, and of course you'd be right.

Gabi Albiero led the way with wins in the 50 free, the 100 fly, and both relays (200 medley and 200 free).  Chistiana Regenauer joined Albiero on both relays and also picked up an individual win in the 100 free.  Lindsay Gizzi won both the one and three meter springboard diving events while Else Praasterink is off competing in Doha Saudi Arabia for her native Netherlands at the World Aquatics Championships.  It is good to see Louisville adding some depth to their developing diving side of the squad.

In that 200 Medley relay, Albiero and Regenauer were joined by Cecilia Viberg and Tristen Ulett.  The B-team touched second, with contributions by Karoline Barrett, Kim Herkle, Ella Welch, and Julia Dennis.

Paige Kuwata won the 1650 freestyle (1650?  Seems oddly specific...it's roughly equal to 1500 meters...come on NCAA, just switch to meters already).

Paige Hetrick and Ulett finished one, two in the 200 free.  Ulett also won the 100 back.  Fernanda Celidonio finished atop the podium on the 100 breaststroke with Viberg on the second step.  Summer Cardwell touched first in the 200 fly with Kuwata being next.

Albiero, along with Welch, and Lucy Mehraban filled the whole podium in the 50 free.

Something you don't see too often with the timing precision available today, after Regenauer touched in the 100 free, Celidonio and Barrett tied for 2nd.  Bianca Costea touched fourth for the complete sweep of the event.

Herkle in the backstroke, was joined on the podium by Jordan Durocher, and Zoe Vogelmann.  Ella Welch won the 200 breaststroke.

Another 1-2-3-4 in the 100 fly with Albiero bringing along Barrett, Ulett, and Hetrick.  The 500 free was topped by Ulett, with Maddie Luther reaching 2nd.  Ulett then also won the 200 IM to wrap her day.

And finally, to wrap the event, Albiero, Regenauer, Dennis, and Welch set a pool record, achieving an NCAA A-cut in the process, in the 200 free.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

(Maybe the ony reason to go to Raleigh...to visit with Ms. Wuf)

And, finally, in what may be the biggest news of the day, Paulie took his first step back into the Cardinal Couple waters after major surgery by joining the CCRHP call yesterday, delighting Daryl, Jared, and I also on the call.

With some spring sports getting underway this week, we did do a bit of a preview of Softball and Lacrosse, but the bulk of the time was spent on talking about WBB and trying to find a path through the this last home stretch of games to look the best for NCAA selection.  Basically no one expects to make it through this gauntlet unblemished, so how to put our best foot forward is the question.

Get the podcast to hear the long awaited and joyous return of Paulie to the Podcast at:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Womens-Basketball-Enters-the-Home-Stretch-as-Spring-Sports-Kick-Off-e2fal53

-- 

JMcA

Spring Around the Corner -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Spring Sports "in" and Gearing Up for Action

We've been talking about it for quite some time, but with the calendar officially turning to February, it means spring sports are within view. Already, some have been in action. And the others are just around the corner.

We've talked about the track and field program having success so far this season, and that has continued with performances at three separate meets this weekend. That's right, three. The team added the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Indiana to the calendar, which was apparently a boon to Jayden Ulrich. Ulrich, returning to the state where she began her collegiate career, threw a new indoor personal-best for a result that ranked fifth nationally this season. Her throw won the shot put event by over a meter. Back in the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center, Ellie Maurer won her first event in the unseeded 3000m and Kiyah Yeast placed second in the 200m with a top-10 all time program pace. Natalie Lark took bronze in the women's pole vault. Lucy Fellows came fifth in the long jump.

Swimming and Diving have also been busy. After taking care of business against UK last weekend, they had a tough tri-meet hosted by Indiana last night. The Cards (M15 / W8) faced Indiana (M6 / W9) and Wisconsin (M22 / W14) and split the meet. The Cards topped Wisconsin on both sides of the pool but Indiana took care of business in their home waters. In the event, Louisville took wins with Gabi Albiero (200 fly, 100 free), Christiana Regenauer (100 fly) and Ella Welch (100 breast). Louisville took second in the 200 Medley Relay (Karoline Barrett, Welch, Regenauer, Albiero), the 200 freestyle (Summer Cardwell), the 50 free (Regenauer), the 200 breast (Kim Herkle), and the 100 fly (Welch). Julia Dennis came third in the 50 free, just 0.07s behind Regenauer. On the diving side, Lindsay Gizzi was top for Louisville with Else Praasternick in Doha. Gizzi finished fifth in the 1M dive and fourth in 3M. 

Louisville women's tennis continues to beat up on Austin Peay, as the Cards are undefeated against the Governors all time. Yesterday, Louisville won the head-to-head 5-2 in the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. Louisville picked up the doubles point and got singles wins from Germany Davis, Jamilah Snells, Berta Mirat, and Lillian Mould. Louisville moves to 3-1 on the season, suffering a defeat to Middle Tennessee last weekend. The Cards have a week off before taking on Marshall and Furman on the road next week.

Women's golf is enjoying some sun and warmth at the Guadalajara Country Club for the Collegiate Invitational. Through the first round and a half played yesterday (as scheduled; the second half of the second round and the third round are today), Louisville stands at 16-over-par and tied for fifth in the tournament's 12-team field. Florida State leads with a 4-over. Carmen Griffiths leads the way for the Cards, as she enjoyed a tie for the lead after a 3-under first round. The front nine bit back a tad in the second round, pushing Griffiths to 2-over through nine holes, placing her in a tie for fourth overall after 27 holes. Rylee Suttor and Hana Ryskova are tied for 20th overall at 5-over. Suttor had a 3-over first and is 2-over through nine, while Ryskova had to bounce back from a 5-over first and sits at even-par in the second. Play continues today.

Lacrosse and softball will become more than just hypotheticals this week. Both teams start their seasons on February 9th. While both are on the road, the situations are quite different. Louisville softball heads south for the winter (like plenty of other people in Louisville, to be fair) to get nice weather while there's none to find at Ulmer. Scott Teeter and Co, on the other hand, will head to Denver for what may be their most brutal weather conditions games of the season. Plenty more to come on those sports in the coming weeks. It's time to get excited for the dreary grayness of winter in the Ohio River Valley to wind down. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

I'm out of the show this week, but Daryl, Jared, and Jeff will still take you on the exciting ride that is the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. After all the air time we gave it last week, Louisville moved right back into the lead of the ACC the very next day. The crew will talk the two basketball wins plus whatever else Jared thinks of to get them on their way.  As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

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

Cards Wrap Up Three-Game Homestand with Syracuse -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Welcomes Orange to the Yum

Photo courtesy of GoCards

Louisville wraps up their three-game homestand with a game against Syracuse tonight at the KFC Yum! Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00pm between the #16 Cards and #21 Orange (AP Poll). The game is slated for ACCNX. This is a stretch of four straight games where Louisville will play ranked opponents.

The Cards improved to 18-3 with a win over Pitt last weekend. The win also propelled them back to first in the ACC with a 7-1 mark. UofL has won two straight after falling to North Carolina prior to that.

Syracuse is half a game back in the standings with a 7-2 conference mark. The Orange are 17-3 overall and most recently lost to Virginia Tech by 13. Prior to that, Syracuse had won six straight.

Photo courtesy of GoCards

The Orange have three ranked wins this season, sweeping Notre Dame 79-65 and 86-81 and defeating Florida State 79-73. Their three losses have come from a combined 39 points: two-point loss to Maryland, 13-point loss to Virginia Tech, and 24-point loss to North Carolina.

Offensive scoring and offensive rebounding have been strengths for the Orange. They average 77.6 points per game on 43% shooting. They shoot 32.4% from three-point range and 74% at the free throw line. A whopping 38.5% of Syracuse's rebounds have come on the offensive glass, nearly 100 more than their opponents. 

Dyaisha Fair is averaging 20.5 points per game and has made 72 three-pointers. The graduate student avoids foul trouble, having committed just 11 fouls this season, according to Syracuse Athletics. Georgia Woolley (13.6 ppg) and Alaina Rice (11.7 ppg) also score in double figures for the Orange. Kyra Wood (7.8 rpg) and Alyssa Latham (7.4 rpg) have been the top rebounders with nearly 50% of those being offensive rebounds.

Syracuse was the ACC team most overlooked this season but second year coach Felisha Legette-Jack has the program on an upward trajectory. While Cuse may not be NC State or Notre Dame, Louisville's next two opponents, they do face the Cards in two of the next four games and are not a team to be overlooked. I expect this game to be close despite the 19-7 series advantage for UofL.

Daryl and I will be in attendance for this one.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared