MOORE'S 18, STRONG BENCH PLAY LEADS CARDS PAST PANTHERS
At first, it looked like Pitt might be the stronger of the two teams on the court. The hot-shooting Panthers hit their first five attempts and roared out to a 12-7 lead on UofL in the first three minutes...going on a 10-2 run after Louisville led early 5-2 on a Asia Durr three. A missed Cortnee Walton layup at the 6:40 mark got Jeff Walz active with substitutions and Jazmine Jones and Taylor Johnson entered the game. Louisville needed a spark and their contributions...plus a dominating ball steal by Hines-Allen that sent Pitt's Brenna Wise crashing to the floor in the wrestling match for the orb...motivated the crowd and the Cards to cut the Pitt lead to 14-13 when Jones nailed a mid-range jumper. MHA going WWE had press row talking as the Cards climbed back into the ring.
(As convincing as MHA's power move was...it was eclipsed by the brawl that erupted in the Utah St. v. UNLV WBB game. This is truly frightening stuff.)
LINK: STORMING THE COURT FOR THE WRONG REASON
Jones would sink another jumper in the quarter, tack on a free throw and Louisville took the lead (for good) when Moore sank two charity attempts to make it 19-18 Cards with 33 second on the clock. The first period ended that way...but Pitt was active with 61.5% shooting, a 11-5 rebounding edge and careless as well with 10 first-quarter turnovers. Pitt's Brandi Harvey Carr was making life difficult for Louisville, though, with 10 points in the first ten minutes
Neither team shot the lights out of the facility in the second frame...Louisville going a cold 5-19 (26.3%) and Pitt managing just two baskets in nine attempts...but the Cards gradually started to pull-away from the Panthers...a 11-2 run over the first six minutes. The Cards were going inside and finding success when they could get one to drop through the net and Ciera Johnson, Kylee Shook and Hines-Allen produced all but four of the Cards 15 points in the quarter. Louisville led at the half 34-25...neither team scoring in the final two minutes of action. Louisville still needed a spark offensively from someone beside Hines-Allen, who had nine first-half points. 30.6% shooting isn't going to win a team many games. The defense was still active...Pitt had 17 first-half turnovers, compared to just four for the Cards and the home squad had a 18 to 6 edge in points off those turnovers.
After a BJ turnover, Walz had seen enough and inserted C.J., T.J., Brianna Jones and Sam Fuehring into the game...UofL clinging on to a 38-36 lead with 5:47 left in the quarter.
The gambit paid off.
Jazmine Jones connected on a couple of charity tosses. Mariya Moore banged home a three, Brianna Jones hit four free throws in a row and Louisville's 9-0 run had them back in control 47-38 with 2:13 on the scoreboard. A buzzer-beating three by Mariya set the tally at 52-43 Louisville in a quarter where Cardinal reserves had eight of Louisville's 18 points.
The final session belonged to Louisville 21-9. An opening Moore three made it 55-43. A Moore jumper, free throw and Kylee Shook jumper pushed the edge to 60-43. Harvey-Carr inside was about all the Panthers could muster and UofL was getting production from the bench. Kylee's three made it 65-45 Cards with 4:32 until game end. Ciera Johnson's jumper moved the total to 69-48 Cards. She scored again inside for Louisville's largest lead a 71-48 and also ended the Cards scoring with 31 second left to ice the 73-52 Cards triumph. Durr was diagnosed with "looking very tired" by Coach Walz and he decided to rest her as long as he didn't need her. Jazmine Jones stepped up big in her place with 13 points. The Cards (15-3, 3-1) got key minutes from Jazz, Kylee, Ciera and Sam off the bench and after her strong first half...Hines-Allen finished with 11 points and nine rebounds. Her "take-down" of Pitt forward (and season-leading scorer) Brenna Wise in the first quarter seemed to take the fight out of her...she finished with just four points in 26 minutes.
Walz's Bakery was closed on Sunday...with just six UofL turnovers. Pitt ended with 24 miscues and the Cards had 14 steals from the visitors.
HOW DID FRED DO?
 |
| Fred Savage from the TV show "The Wonder Years" |
REBOUNDS -- The Cards ended up taking the rebounding battle 38-33 after trailing in it 20-19 after a half. Beside Hines-Allen's dominating nine...the rest were pretty evenly spread out...three players (Moore, Fuehring and C.J.) with four each. Pitt did dominate the defense boards, though, 27-20...so we will award a letter to Louisville...but it will only be a small case "r" .
EFFORT/EXECUTION -- A hot-and-cold night in terms of these two categories. The lapses in the first and third quarters were rough to stomach. The dominance of the forth quarter a good thing to see. Buoyed by a strong shooting final period ( 9-15 for 60%) Louisville shot 37.3% for the game. Inconsistency. Since the Cards won, we'll give out the small-case "e" and nothing more.
DEFENSE -- A lot of things to like here...except Pitt's shooting percentage (48.8 for the night). Forcing 24 turnovers, getting 14 steals and holding every Panther pretty much in check offensively except for Harvey-Carr. Pitt scored just 16 points in the final 15 minutes of the game and based on that...we'll be magnanimous and bestow a capital "D" in this category.
FINAL FRED TOTAL: _-r-e-D
WHAT WE LIKED
- Basketball Jones. Borrowing the title from the 70's Cheech and Chong hit and 90' SPACE JAM movie...the Cards had a basketball Jones on the court last night with Jazz's performance. One could even extend that to Brianna "Jonesy" Jones' solid minutes as well. J.J.'s smooth mid-range jumper is a delight to watch when it's falling and her 5 for 8 performance last night was delightful. Whether hers or Mariya Moore's is better remains a debatable subject (especially between the two) but last night J.J. was connecting and we could "hear her now".
*Clip of the slightly-questionable and dated but entertaining Basketball Jones below:
LINK: BASKETBALL JONES
- Sealing the deal. We wanted to see the Cards close the door in the fourth last night and they did. Even with 12 players seeing action in the final frame. True, Pitt isn't any ACC-title contender, but only two Panthers scored in the final ten minutes and Louisville had nine baskets on six assists. We approve. -- Moore for the money. Encouraging to see Mariya's shot rolling back around into form. She hit three big 3's in the second half...featuring one to end the third quarter and another to start the fourth. On a night where Asia was mis-firing, it was good to see another player step-up from the deep.
THINGS TO WORK ON
-- Asia? I started getting the texts and message inquiring about Asia Durr at halftime and they continued through-out the game. Where is Asia? Injury? Bad night? I knew not the answer...maybe it was her 1-9 shooting night and 1-6 trifecta results? I ventured the question to Coach Walz in the post-game presser and he responded with this:
"She looked really tired. So, I guess...you know...if I didn't have to play her in the second half I wasn't going to. I was just trying to give her a break. And tomorrow's a day off of practice. These kids...you know...they're college kids. They don't do a good job of taking care of themselves. They all want to stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning then try and sleep during the day. It's not the way it works. If you want to be an elite athlete, you've got to make sure you're getting to bed at a decent hour and getting a good night's sleep...because your body takes a toll. It's a war out there."
SO...
Wins are wins, they add up and the Cards did accomplish that Sunday with a win that wasn't close to their best effort of the year but got the job done. It was good to see so many Cards contributing to the victory...but Walz put four different players on Harvey-Carr and couldn't slow her down in the paint. The stoppage of post-players has needed and still continues to be something Louisville must get better at. Yesterday's game was one of the rare ACC matches that Louisville has had or will have where they're pretty much expected to win. The question in my mind was how effectively and by how much? Pitt gave the Cards all they wanted for three quarters yesterday and, although the killer instinct slightly surfaced in the final ten...Louisville had a golden opportunity to make this a blow-out at the start of the second half and didn't respond.
Florida State won't be as forgiving. They put a 24-point "whomping" on visiting Duke yesterday and held the high-scoring Blue Devils to just 15 first half points. They'll be laying in wait for the Cards Thursday.
PAULIE PICKS
VOICES
In the post-game press conference Sunday...Coach Walz points out jersey recognition...plus proper passing techniques to Paulie, discusses equal opportunity in a basketball setting and reveals his thoughts on the life of college students and their habits in his remarks. J.J. and Mariya recap their performances and remain divided on who the best mid-range shooter is on the squad.
Audio from the post-game presser:
MARIYA AND JAZMINE POST-GAME PITT
WALZ CLOSES BAKERY...PROMOTES BENCH
Monday muddling...
paulie
xxxxx
It's a win. We're going to need to get some stability and make a statement with our game at some point before the tourney seedings. Haven't done anything close to that yet. This one should have been a walk over. Instead we get drama and crushed in the post.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see Moore getting her offensive roundball grove back. We're going to need her if we want to make a serious run. Jones looked great. She's a baller.
" I need someone to set a pick for me at the free-throw line of life"...classic and true. Waiting for the PC police to come down on the post / video. Shows some balls tho Paulie. Good for you.
If you are referring to the " held vall" situation with Hines Allen... I watched again at home.
DeleteReferee created the incident as she held her whistle until the Pitt player was spun completely around on a parallel path with no choice but to then hit the ground.
Other choice was for M to let go of the ball and give it to them as nothing really happened that a more timely whistle would have prevented. Made HA look bad for no reason.
Good Comment...but I was referring to Paulie's "Basketball Jones" Link. Probably only old Cheech and Chong fans like us woulda caught it. It's all good.
DeleteMHA is our Hero Baller. We'll go as far as she can carry us.
MHA is a true power forward.
DeleteAgree with some comments today but I think the post players did a decent job since Cortnee really couldn't handle there graduate 5th Year post player so both ciera and Kylee did decent job especially ciera Johnson slowing her down,she could have had a 40 point game.
ReplyDeleteNo disrespect intended but not really, in my opinion. Harvey-Carr was a three-year bench rider at DePaul who rarely saw more than 10 minutes a game and career high was 14 pts. against Chicago State before transferring to Pitt. She ends up on a team without a true center but her and builds her stats against lesser competition and then, 16 games into her final year, she has a first-ever 20 point + performance against a team that has been getting killed by post players all season in Louisville. Finally Walz decided to match "big" against "big" and Ciera goes up against her for about 14 minutes total. Whitney-Carr is tall and that's about all.. She had just four rebounds in her 34 minutes and in the clutch time of the fourth quarter disappears with just 1 for 2 shooting, no boards and a foul and turnover.
DeleteCall me unconvinced that Harvey-Carr is that awesome. SHe just ran into a UofL team that blew the assignment on guarding her most of the game and let her get inside for easy, close in shots. Five of her 25 came from the stripe and 6 from putbacks. On her seven other baskets, all were the paint.
Curtis "Big and slow ain't no way to go" Franklin
I think the Cards just decided to let big gal have hers and shut down Wise, Gibbs and Bugg instead. It seemed to work. They totalled just 14 points in the game and came into the game averaging 25 between the three of them. Pitt was also just 2 for 10 from three which was in line with their ranking of last in the ACC in threes.
DeleteBoth good comments. We've got a fifth year senior in Walton who should be ready, willing and able to do war but she got schooled by Harvey-Carr, who I also agree didn't exist in the WCBB universe until we made her look like a potential All American.
DeleteSomeone mentioned it in an earlier comment this week...I just think Courtney is That NICE. It will serve her well in life but she's got about as much killer instinct as Gina's cat. Gotta love her though. I find it totally impossible to get pissed at Courtney. My Bad.
My bad love cortnee great person works hard,but she must take her open shots.
ReplyDeleteI think the lady cards have a leaders the M&M GALS.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's going to be plenty of M&M's the rest of the way...if Asia can't go 20-25 and be effective. I am encouraged by JJ's play and think Kylee, Ciera and Sam need to provide quality minutes. Cortnee? She's needs to keep rebounding and work on that close, inside putback.
ReplyDeleteFlorida State lies in wait and they have dignificent talent and game.
Paulie
Cortnee is a warrior. We missed her when she was out at the beginning of the season. Sure, she is not a great offensive player. But IMO is great on defense and rebounding, especially for a player her size, usually going up against players bigger than her on the better teams. But the reason Harvey-Carr was scoring so much was blown defensive assignments, this is a team game and team defense is essential. Which, when everyone is on the same page, we are very good at. Let up off Cortnee.
ReplyDeleteAlso would like to add that I had a talk with coach about using the bench more...
ReplyDeleteI think Courtney is a very nice young lady.....But a fact is a fact....She can't score. It's actually unbelievable to me that she gets that many minutes. A fifth year player should be better then that. IMO of course.....
ReplyDeleteI can remember moves to the basket and finishing with the left hand, 6-8 foot jumpers in the lane, assorted other baskets, not sure how many points she averages, but that is NOT her role to be a go to scorer. Who else saw her physically push Kylee into the correct defensive spot? Let up off Cortnee.
DeleteI think Walz trusts her above anybody else on the roster, with Asia and Mariya coming in second. He knows she's not going to score. He doesn't run a play for her, and the way the guards willfully ignore her in the post and never past her the ball, I almost think there's a mandate not to pass it to her. I know this is a high standard, but I watch South Carolina play and think wow, if we had someone in the post that had a fraction of the athleticism that they have, we'd be set in that position. But we have who we have, and she hustles like no one's business. If she can convert a few of those opportunities she gets on offensive rebounds into points, that would be awesome
DeleteI'd rather she dies what she does, passes it back out, than force up a bad or crazy shot. She works hard to get those, and not always in a go back up with position. Usually surrounding by opposing players. I myself am totally a fan.
DeleteWas just thinking about Courtnee and remembering that she was in the game in the Tourney against Baylor when Shoni dropped the circus shot over Griner.
ReplyDeleteShe must have only been a freshman. Remember her getting between Shoni and Griner after the shot dropped and their verbal exchange. At the time I thought it was a classy move given the situation for an underclassman.
She's a kid that is going to be successful regardless of what she decides to do and she'll always have a place in ULWBB history for being a part of that shot.
https://youtu.be/ZFQu47A9UQU
Agreed she is not a scorer but geez how many missed layups?.... And they don't pass the ball to her because unfortunately the chances are slim it will be made. I guess I expect someone over 6ft. Should make those easy shots. We could use the help...When the opportunity knocks!
ReplyDeleteWe all Love Cortnee...she's just not a meat eater. She's going to be solid and will rarely hurt the club but she is what she is...and that's OK. Hopefully she'll lead a stronger post defensive effort if we run into a similar situation in the future.
ReplyDeleteLike most everyone else has said, she needs to finish at the rim more effectively.
Cortnee has her role on the squad and I'm gonna just suggest that Jeff Walz probably knows it better than all of us combined. Yes, her missing shots is aggravating at times and defenses overlook her as a scoring threat occasionally...but she has the heart of a lion and will battle for any missed shot or loose ball. Walz can pretty much expect that out of her each night.
DeletePaulie