KYLEE SHOOK PUTS UP DOUBLE-DOUBLE IN CARDS WIN
(Apologies to AC/DC for the headline play of words. Not that they'd notice...)
You might even say Evansville was shook and stirred...(sorry James Bond) by Shook and the Cards...who shot 50% against the MVC foe. The Mesa Ridge (CO) freshman was 8 for 10 from the floor in 17 minutes with a couple of threes.
The Cards allowed E'Ville to hang around early...Camery Williams converted a +1 five minutes into the first score to knot this one up at 7-7...but after that, it was all-Cardinals for the next 25 minutes. Two Briahanna Jackson baskets and a Shook three doubled the score on the Purple Aces and after a layup by Shook and basket plus free throw by Ciera Johnson that capped off a 12-0 Cardinal run...it was 19-7 UofL and 2:26 remained in the first quarter. The Cards ended the stanza with a 8-4 stretch featuring three more scores in the paint and a silky, smooth jumper from Jazmine Jones for a 27-11 lead.
Walz had already played nine players and the Cards had a 18-8 scoring advantage in the paint.
If the first period was rough for the visitors from down the Ohio River, the second period was a tumultuous trip down the Falls of the Ohio. Louisville went on a 13-4 run in the first four minutes where Shook added six points and three rebounds and after a Mariya Moore three...Evansville found themselves up the river without a paddle...staring at a 40-15 Cardinal advantage. The Cards continued the dominance in the paint...without Myisha Hines-Allen and Cortnee Walton, who were seated with two fouls each. A J.J. layup with seven seconds on the scoreboard set the halftime total Louisville 50 - Evansville 21.Imagine a first half, if you will, where Louisville's starting "4" and "5" saw just 10 combined minutes and had zero points. That did happen in the first twenty...but the Cards were finding other options. Shook ended the second quarter with 13 points and eight grabs, Moore and Asia Durr were responsible for seven points each and Jackson and Jaz contributed six each. Louisville held a 30-2 bench scoring edge and had 10 assists on 22 made baskets.
The Aces kept getting dealt a bad hand in the third. Another 12-0 run from Louisville started the proceedings and Walton finally in the scoring column with a free throw four minutes into the period. A Hines-Allen jumper for her first points set the total at 68-24 Cards...Shook's final three-pointer increased that to 74-25 and the quarter mercifully ended for the visitors after Johnson rolled in a layup to push the advantage to 78-30.
The Cards held a 14-0 mastery in the paint in the third, 12-0 shut out in points off turnovers and shot 64.7% in the ten minutes.
Joining Shook in double figure scoring was Durr with 15, Moore with 12 and B.J. added 11...which included a three. Everyone played at least eight minutes in the contest and Louisville ended with a 56-12 scoring edge in the paint and 48 of the Cards points came off the bench. The Cards held a 49-point lead late in the third and forced 20 Evansville turnovers...while committing just nine.
The final: 89-47. Cards win. The Cards win!! The win streak is five now.
HOW DID FRED DO?
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| Fred McGriff had a 18 year Major League Baseball career |
Rebounding -- Against the smallish Purple Aces, who started no one over 6'1" and had just one 6'3" player on the roster (who played just 4 minutes) the Cards held a 50-35 edge. Jazmine Jones grabbed eight of those in just 14 minutes...Shook's effort was over the top and Fuehring showed her paint prowess with six in 16 minutes on the court. No problem in handing out a capital "R" in this category.
Effort/Execution -- The Cards looked very centered and efficient for 25 minutes of this one. A bit of a slow start and a forgettable fourth quarter did occur, though, and despite the 11 steals and margin of victory...it wasn't Louisville best effort of the season. 50% is an acceptable shooting mark...so, we'll give out a lower case "e" for the effort and execution.
Defense -- 20 forced turnovers, a 23.6% Evansville shooting percentage and 11 steals all indicate that the Cards were stifling when the visitors had the ball at times...they even held UE to 36.4% shooting in the final ten...we can award a letter here...but it is a small case "d". As mentioned earlier, Louisville had 25 minutes of very good defense and 15 minutes of *meh*.
THE FRED TOTAL: _-R-e-d
THINGS WE LIKED
Jazzing it up...Another very productive 14 minutes for the Tallahassee freshman with six points, eight grabs, and three assists. She's been getting "first off the bench" honors lately and there's a reason for that. She provided a spark and gets her teammates involved in the action. Consistency. We like it.
Performing without the top billing...Let there be no doubt...MHA and Cortnee are two very essential cogs in this Cardinal machine. Did Louisville fall apart when they went to the chairs, though? No they didn't. The Cards outscored Evansville 20-4 in the first period while the two sat. Hines-Allen played for less than a minute in the second period and Walton saw no action at all. Louisville won the frame 23-10. Let's face it, there will probably be more games this season when fouls catch up with either or both and they have to watch from the sidelines. Let's hope Louisville can respond as effectively in those potential situations as they did Sunday afternoon.
Atta boy, Joe!...Class move by referee Joe Vaszily (who I call "silly Joe") at the end of the third quarter. While chatting with us on media row, he held out the basketball and motioned to a little boy in the front row. With Dad's assistance, he caught the toss of the orb and a proud papa and son posed for Mom's picture with them holding the ball. Nice stuff, Joe! Or, as Sonja mentioned, maybe he was tired of referring and was looking for someone else to whistle the fourth. We tend to give refs a hard time, sometimes. I've been tough on Joe in the past. This was a nice, fan-friendly gesture, though and Joe created a moment in time that the little guy and his Dad will remember for a long time.
THINGS TO WORK ON
They're free, why not take 'em and make 'em? Maybe I get too frustrated with the Cards rarity in being able to shoot 70% from the line...but Louisville is shooting 65% from the line this season and was 50% Sunday afternoon. This can't be coached (although the coaches have tinkered with a few styles and Sam Fuehring did go 2-2 Sunday). This is getting in the gym and getting comfortable with the process by repetition an getting some numbers in.Closing the deal. As Walz alluded to in the post-game presser, the opportunity was there for players to impress him today with their performances and showing they're worthy of more playing time. Based on Louisville's fourth quarter performance, I don't think anyone that participated in the final act will get any additional stage calls. We may have seen the last of Louisville blow-outs over foes for awhile. I'm guessing that the Cards' regulars will do a better job that the reserves did in the fourth in close games. You have to be ready, though, when your number is called and the Cards final effort Sunday consisted of static on the incoming call.
SO...
It was good to see that Louisville can go deep into their rotation and not lose much at all during "crunch" time. We'll probably see a shorten cast of characters in the next few weeks performing on the hardwood...my best guess is a rotation of nine or ten...depending on the closeness of the games.
Vanderbilt is next (a shame that one has to fall on the same night as the UK v. UofL men's game) and the Commodores are dangerous on their home court...waiting with a 10-1 record and win over Duke on their resume. They did get trounced by Indiana in Bloomington by 33 and their two-point win at UT Martin raises an eyebrow (Louisville beat the Skyhawks by 43).
New head coach Stephanie White...who has had multiple seasons of success as a player and coach in the WNBA...plus veteran ESPN broadcaster and associate coach Carolyn Peck, who had a fine college coaching career, have rejuvenated women's college hoops in Nashville. The Wednesday game won't be easy at all for the Cards...but one has to feel that if the long-stretches of brilliance that UofL has shown in past games shows up, the Cards will get out of Music City with a "W".
POST GAME CHATTER
It was "Paulie...interview the players" time again in the post-game presser Sunday. Kylee Shook and Mariya Moore were the post-game gals on the podium. No deer-in-the-headlights-look for Ms. Shook...she handled the podium like a seasoned upper-classwomen. At least the guy from the Associated Press and a couple of the TV folks chipped in when Walz took the stage...and we got a rare Sonja question offered to Coach. They did cut out my Santa Claus question for the players...for the record...Kylee laughingly said she wouldn't mind seeing a car under the tree and Mariya would just prefer to be surprised. (Wouldn't we all?)
LINK: KYLEE SHOOK AND MARIYA MOORE POST GAME
LINK: COACH WALZ COMMENTS ON THE WIN OVER EVANSVILLE
good morning dear
paulie
xxxxx
Cards had a visitor Sunday. Florida's Elenna Christinaki, recently dismissed from squad. Whatcha know, Paulie?
ReplyDeleteWe can confirm she was in Louisville for a visit and watched the game with Tia Gibbs. She is going to visit other schools also. That's all I know, except that it's cold this morning and it's Monday.
ReplyDeletePaulie
What I am reading is that she and another Florida player were given a first-half suspension before the North Carolina A&T game for "some behavior that is not becoming of a Gator nor part of our culture". The other player accepted the suspension. Christinaki did not, has quit the squad and has been removed from the team roster and her bio is no longer on the Gators WBB website.
DeleteHmmm. What did she do? Refuse to wear suntan lotion on the beach? Refuse to do the Gator Chop at a men's game? Eat olives with pizza? The mystery remains.
She was the leading scorer at 17.6 ppg per game and was an All-SEC freshman team member last year. Leading in minutes played and a big part of the reason that Florida IS RECEIVING VOTES IN THE NATIONAL POLLS.
I know a guy associated with the Gators athletic department. I've reached out to him but gotten no reply. Amanda Butler has run off several talented players since taking the job at Florida nine years ago. She's never gotten the squad past the second round in the NCAA Tournament.
I'm not a huge Gators fan. I prefer the Bulls of South Florida much more. My second favorite team behind UofL WBB. This one is puzzling, Paulie. I'm glad she made the visit to Louisville but my guess is she'll head back to Greece and play professionally.
Nice win yesterday for the Cards. I missed the broadcast but plan on trying to find the replay this morning on the ACC Network Extra. I'll take 11-2 at this point of the year. It's time to go walk the beach. 73 degrees this morning. A bit cloudy. Hang in there with the cold, guys and gals.
-- The Real Joe Hill --
Great stuff, Joe. What the heck has happened to our Vikings? Are they wandering the beach with you? What's up with Watson? I thought he was trying to get up here to Louisville over weekend? He's not answering e-mails. Did you whup him so bad on the links that he's gone into hiding?
DeletePaulie
Dave told me when we played golf last week that his wife couldn't get off work and he was going to pick up his son from college and get him moved back to Bradenton. He's transferring to another school (presumably in Florida) and sitting out the spring semester. Good for him. I think he missed not being able to play golf all year.
Delete-- The Real Joe Hill --
Nice to get the W. Lots of talented freshmen. Unless the wheels fall off for Jones she's our #6 for the season and it looks like she'll be a big difference maker. Will be interesting to see who Walz lands on for #7 thru #9/10 during ACC play. At least everyone has had a chance to show what they can do. Glad we're going to be moving into stronger opponents now. Vanderbilt is totally capable of taking it to us if we don't show up to play.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that BJ finally hit a tre. Hope that's the start of something good. We're going to need her to be a legit outside threat during ACC play. It would also be cool is some of our kids, particularly BJ would get more under control during their drives so they can take paint shots that at least look like they have a chance of going in. They don't give extra points for "degree of difficulty".
Free Throws...Assuming that the kids have all settled on their mechanics and have enough reps in free throw shooting is primarily mental. Lots of ways to help kids on that part of their game. Visualization and confidence are the keys. Practice under pressure...A good way is for the coach to pick one or two kids and put them on the line at the end of practice. If they miss their free throws everybody runs, if they make them practice is over. Nobody likes to run, particularly at the end of practice when they're already tired but it's a good simulation of game fatigue. Seems to me that particularly in WBB that might be effective as I think women are a bit more concerned about their teammates having to run due to their misses than your average dude would be.
Things are going to get interesting now...
Yes they are going to get interesting, Burn. I'm a little wary of this Vanderbilt game. I think J.J. has secured her spot as the "6th". After that, I think it'll be situational. We marvel at the fact that our girls rarely use the box above the basket when shooting inside except for Kylee and occasionally Myisha. It's there for a reason.
DeletePaulie
The box will set you free lol. Also I think the girls need more arc on there shots.PS Ciera johnson needs to take her time and not rush her shot.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you're wrong, but I'll go easy on #40 right now as, in the past few games, she's started to show the level of effort and aggressiveness that was sorely missing at the beginning of the year.
DeleteI'll take a moment to show some appreciation for the improvement before pushing on to the next thing to work on.
I agree #40 Could be a big time scoring post player.but i think she's rushing things,
Deleteshe vary talented.She was the #1 post player coming out of high school.Go Cards!
Walz will narrow this rotation down beginning with Vandy and I'll suggest after the starters Hines-Allen, Moore, Walton, Jackson and Durr, you'll see Jazmine Jones, Kylee Shook, Taylor Johnson and Ciera Johnson as the prime players off the bench. I think Sam Fuehring is a prime transfer candidate and I'd love to see him add Sydney Zambrotta to the rotation as the Cards "zone-buster" but I don't see it. Yet.
ReplyDeleteCurtis "Yes! The box will set you free!" Franklin
I do, occasionally get a bu=it tired of Walz gloom and doom pressers. As a retired (30 year) high school and college teachers, I always tried to have as much positive to say as I can. I hope that is not what Walz is doing or we are really in trouble. :)
ReplyDeleteThe bank is always open.
ReplyDelete