Louisville women's basketball -- Cards falter late against FSU 72-65...FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

12-2 FINAL FSU RUN DOES CARDS IN 

In a game of runs Thursday night in Tallahassee, FSU produced the final one...going on a game-ending 12-2 run over the last 3:54 to give Louisville their fourth loss of the season. The Cards did not score a basket in that stretch...getting just two Mariya Moore free throws with 43 seconds left in the contest. 

The Cards led 63-60 after a Briahanna Jackson under-the-basket scoop shot but fell victim to cold shooting and a back-breaking three by Imani Wright with 1:30 to play that gave the 'Noles a 67-63 lead. FSU would sink five of eight free throws the rest of the way to go to 16-2 on the season and 4-1 in the ACC. 

Louisville started the contest by getting a Myisha Hines-Allen basket 50 seconds into the action. It would be the only bucket of the evening for her. Hines-Allen played 19 minutes for the Cards...going 1-9 from the floor, hitting two free throws, committing five turnovers and grabbing eight rebounds. She saw just four minutes of playing time in the final half. Fouls weren't the issue...she had only one in the game. No injury that we know of. Sometimes, it just isn't your night. 

The Cards had a 14-13 edge after 10 minutes...Jazmine Jones and Cortnee Walton with four points each for Louisville. Walton would finish with five points and two rebounds in 24 minutes of action. Jones totalled eight points in 22 minutes. 

FSU used a 8-2 run starting the second quarter to go up 21-16 on the Cards. An Asia Durr three with 5:20 until the half drew Louisville within two at 19-21 but the 'Noles finished the quarter with a 10-5 run and led Louisville 32-25 after 20 minutes. 

It would get worse for UofL before it got better. FSU led 37-28 after three minutes played in the third stanza. The Cards mounted a rally, though...rolling off a 10-0 run that featured seven points from Durr to regain the advantage 38-37. The final five minutes saw the squads go back and forth on the lead exchange...FSU capitalizing on two easy in-bounds baskets by Shakayla Thomas at the end of the quarter to lead 47-45 after 30 minutes. 

This was anyone's game with 10 to play and the Cards regained the lead 50-49 at the 8:44 mark on a Jazz jumper. Not to be outdone, Florida State responded with a 6-0 run to grab the lead 55-50. Louisville had one final push left in them and countered with a 9-0 run that had them ahead 59-55 after two Durr free throws with 5:08 remaining. Jackson's scoop shot kept the Cards up 63-60...but the remaining 3:54 of the contest belonged to the Seminoles.

Final...72-65 Florida State. Louisville went from four points up to four points down in a little over 3 1/2 minutes and the momentum had swung in FSU's favor. The Cards could not regain it. Wright's three was crucial and the biggest play of the evening. 

Gutty effort in this fight from Louisville for most of it. Not the finish that Cardinal fans wanted to see...with the final run...FSU had 40 second half points and so did the Cards. 


HOW DID FRED DO? 

Politician and actor...the late FRED THOMPSON

Free Throws --  Louisville was 12-14 from the charity stripe for a nice 85.7% The 'Noles were 21-26 for 80.8%. We award a capital "F" for that...but wonder about the discrepancy. 

Rebounding -- 37-34 in favor of FSU. Hines-Allen had eight for UofL in 19 minutes. Moore and Jackson finished with five each. For FSU, guard Brittany Brown led 11. No letter here.

Effort/Execution -- Louisville fought hard for most of the game. The 19 turnovers isn't anything to be proud of...but FSU had 17 miscues. That final 3:53 is where the execution failed and no letter in this category. 

Defense -- FSU shot 11-29 in the first half. They also shot 11-29 in the second half for 37.9%. The Cards did only slightly better 23-59 for 39%. Louisville had no answer for Thomas, though...9 for 14 from the floor and 24 points. Imani Wright was on fire in the first half for Florida State with 11 points. Guarding the in-bounds passes was atrocious at times. 71 points was 12 under FSU's average...but they won...so I'll compromise and give the Cards a small case "d".

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F_-_-d


WHAT WE LIKED

I usually don't like much after a Louisville loss..but

-- Asia Durr had a nice game with her 21 points and three threes

-- Mariya Moore knocked down some clutch threes and had 15 points. 

-- The Cards did battle back from a couple of sizable deficits. 

-- Jazmine Jones played pretty good in her home-town and in front of family and friends. 

That's about it...


WHAT WE DIDN'T LIKE

-- Myisha's performance. She wasn't at her best Thursday night. She saw very little action in the second half? Would more playing time have made a difference? We'll never know...but you earn your playing time and her first half wasn't earning much of anything except a seat. 

-- Folding like a lawn chair. Those last three minutes were hard to watch. Five missed shots and three turnovers for the Cards. One rebound (with 36 seconds to go). When baskets were needed, they did not go in. 

-- Consistency. It may be this Louisville team's biggest problem. I'll give them 30 minutes of good basketball tonight and 10 bad. That might be enough to get Louisville past a Virginia or Pitt...but it didn't fly against the 'Noles...and it won't against Miami, Notre Dame or NC State. 


SO...

A tough loss on the road against a very good FSU squad. Chances were there to get the win but capitalization didn't surface. A roller-coaster of a game...but an end to the ride that had me ready for the motion-sickness bag. Louisville will need to snap back into it quickly, with Miami visiting Sunday. 

You have to finish what you started. I hope that lesson was learned tonight. So much talent on the Louisville team but those mental lapses will drive you crazy. 

"We can be a good team when we try hard." A quote from one of the Cards. Is there any reason why you shouldn't try hard all the time? On a night where the Cards did try hard for vast stretches...FSU held the final winning hand and played the best. They arguably tried harder, as well. 

On to the next one...


THEY SAID IT: 

Asia Durr: 

Asia just in the fourth quarter when you had that run, was it a couple breakdowns or…
“It was. We had a few breakdowns where we were supposed to switch and we didn’t. and one of those plays it was my fault so I take the blame. So we just have to watch film and see what we could do to better ourselves. You know you can’t get too down about this loss. We gave another great team on Sunday. You just have to keep fighting hard and you have to make the changes as well.”

Only six turnovers in the last game and 19 tonight, was it their defense?
“(Asia) Mental. They’re a great ball club as well. We have to take care of the ball. Coach Walz tells us every day in practice, turnovers - you will not win with those. So we just have to do a better job with taking care of the ball and we just have to focus more as well.”

Jeff Walz: 

Jeff it seemed like Asia really brought you back in the third quarter, plus she got some time to make threes at a great time.
“She played well. I thought she played within herself. She had four assists tonight. Coming into the game I think she had 24 or 25 for the entire season and I just kept challenging her. To be as good as you are you just have to get some assist during games. You‘ve got to be able to draw some defenders and make your teammates better. And I thought she did that tonight. And when she does that it’s pretty hard to guard because she is very explosive, she’s able to put the ball into the basket. She’s a very talented player. But we’re going to continue to need that from her.”

You talk about mental toughness and you guys played a very good non-conference schedule. In a conference with six ranked teams, there’s no nights off.
“No there’s not and that’s okay. Flight home tonight, you’ve got Friday, Saturday and you play on Sunday. And that’s plenty of time. And you’re playing good teams and that’s what you want to do. That’s why they came to Louisville. To play in the ACC. We’ve got the best conference in women’s basketball top to bottom. There’s no question about it. You look at what Virginia Tech is doing. Look what Miami’s doing. You look what NC State’s doing. I mean they beat Notre Dame and then came down here and won. That’s pretty darn impressive. If you don’t show up you are going to lose. There’s no question about it. It does not matter who you play.”

😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶😶


PAULIE'S PICKS

I had four winners and two losers Thursday night. Winning predictions were Duke beating UNC 80-75, Wake Forest over Clemson 68-56, Notre Dame pummeling Pitt 86-54. I also picked FSU over Louisville.

Losses for me were Syracuse coming back to beat NC State 85-75 and Georgia Tech over Boston College 71-67. With Miami beating Va. Tech Wednesday... I went 5-2 over the two-day stretch. Overall, I sit at 25-6...80.6%. I'll take it.

hiya, Friday!
Paulie
xxxxx