ASIA DURR'S 25 LEADS CARDS TO SEVENTH WIN OF SEASON.
Durr was one of four Cards that hit double figures in a close game for three quarters that eventually became the Cards seventh win of the year...thanks to strong start to the final quarter. The Cards stretched a 12-point lead into a 24-point advantage in the first six minutes of the fourth. A spectacular lob to Jazmine Jones from Durr with 9:47 to go led to a basket that got the crowd roaring and was the first step in finally shaking off a very pesky and resilient Cornhusker squad. At the 3:45 mark, Arica Carter buried a soft jumper generated from a fast break that set the totals at 81-57 Cardinals. A 19-7 run. The Cards had a 8-0 run in the quarter, but a 9-0 run from Nebraska was coming.
Then, things got a little weird. Asia was called for a foul, her first of the night. Walz went to the bench and brought in the freshmen. Seconds later, the refereeing crew of Dee Kanter, Eric Brewton and Mark Resch called a technical foul on Durr for bouncing the basketball too hard. Fueled by the displeasure of the crowd and the ridiculousness of the whistle, Jeff Walz began a tirade from the sidelines that eventually led to a technical against him. Two more free throws for designated Nebraska shooter Hannah Whitish, who sank a total of four of them without the clock moving. With possession, the Huskers got the ball to 6'5" center Kait Cain, who connected in the paint. All of a sudden, the Big Ten visitors were on a 6-0 run, in a mere two seconds.
The Cards did go on to preserve the victory, with Lindsey Duvall, Segan Robins, Jess Laemmle, Mykasa Robinson and Kylee Shook on the hardwood for the final minutes. This was a Nebraska team that caught Louisville napping several times throughout the game, especially early on, with the old "back door" cut. The first ten Nebraska points came from this strategy. They led the Cards 11-10 with 4:51 remaining in the first quarter by employing the technique to counter the over-lapping aggressive Cardinal defense. After the media timeout, where Walz addressed the defensive efforts of his squad, Louisville rallied with a 11-4 run...fueled by strong interior play by Kylee Shook and Sam Fuehring and a timely three from "Nite-nite" to take a 21-14 first quarter lead.
The second quarter was a fairly even effort from both squads. Louisville was getting offense from Durr, Fuehring and Bionca Dunham...but the Nebraska squad hung in there with impressive guard play from Nicea Ellery and Sam Halby, plus interior help from Maddie Simon. The Cards 40-31 halftime lead was augmented by forcing the Huskers into 13 first half turnovers and the Cards getting 13 points off these. A Durr "3" early in the third quarter pushed the lead to ten. Although Nebraska was able to trim that to eight several times in the quarter, Louisville won the quarter after halftime 22-19 and had weathered Nebraska best punch.
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| Dee "T" on Coach. |
THE FRED REPORT
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| This "Fred" -- Fred McGriff -- would appreciate UofL's power-in-the-paint |
REBOUNDING -- Sam and Kylee combined for 19 grabs and held the towering Cain to 10. Only one from Durr...anytime you out-rebound a taller team and win the "second chance" battle (9-3) it's a mark of effort and grit and I'LL AWARD THE CAPITAL "R' HERE
EFFORT/EXECUTION -- The Cards came out wanting to run and they did all night, something that eventually wore down the foe. Creating 23 turnovers, scoring 26 points off them and winning all four quarters...while only committing 15 turnover are good. The fourth quarter "door closing" included...I'M GOOD WITH A CAPITAL "E" FOR THIS CATEGORY.
DEFENSE -- Early success by Nebraska and good shooting show that there is still work to be done when UofL doesn't have the ball. Walz pointed out it's easier to teach defense than scoring with a team...Louisville did hold Nebraska to under 70 and forced the 23 miscues...but I'll only offer a lower case "d" for the sum of the night's work.
FRED TOTAL: -_R-E-d
At 7-0... Louisville moves on to a Sunday match up against Tennessee State. With these Thursday to Sunday type turnarounds, there isn't a great deal of time to study, breakdown and review film or work on flaws...but I'd think that coaches and staff will work on trying to creating a little more consistency, shoring up opponent's "in paint" scoring and continue to fine-tune what won this one today for the Cards. Quickness. It's how you overcome height.Let's give a lot of credit to the Cards paint-prowlers, though. The trio of Shook, Dunham and Fuehring are getting the job done and holding their own with taller teams. Dunham's continuing improvement and fine-tuning is a joy to behold. Fuehring continues to be the hardworking, blue collar, let's-get-down-and-do-it warrior and Shook is getting more and more aggressive and become a paint pugilist every game. That will be needed more and more as the schedule grows tougher.
This is Asia's squad, make no doubt about it...but, as a unit, the Cards are setting up and creating the successes she has. Louisville got to 7-0 by employing teamwork and sacrificing so that the overall success outweighs the individual numbers. Let's continue to see that grow. A lively Thursday night in the YUM! with Louisville exhibiting their penchant for quickness, spectacular efforts...like the JJ "alley oop" score pictured here and "TV Dee" putting on a oscar-worthy performance. Ah, the thrill and excitement of Louisville WBB...
Post game comments below:
POST GAME ASIA AND SAM
POST GAME WALZ
(photos by Jared Anderson, when he wasn't busy eating cookies)
VOLLEYBALL TO FACE DAYTON IN CHAMPAIGN
A tough first round match, yes, and I can't help be a bit envious of Cincinnati's seeding in the Marquette quadrant. Still, in tournament time, you go to your strengths and the Cards have plenty of those.
The front line attack of Melanie McHenry, Amanda Green and Jasmine Bennett will need to be on their "A" game and force the issue. Wilma Rivera's ACC Setter of the Year accolades have to be a strong presence and guiding force. Molly Sauer's libero and serving skills will be very essential in securing the win today and getting the Cards to the round of 32. Any other contributions will be of prime importance from Dani's squad for Louisville to get a shot against what certainly appears to be a showdown with Illinois on Sunday.
Illini Volleyball website saying that the Louisville vs. Dayton and the Illinois matches will be available (free) on line at: BTN2Go.com on the BTN Plus format.
DONATION MONTH
We come to the end of Donation Month here at Cardinal Couple. Honestly, it wasn't quite what I hoped for, but it wasn't a total disaster. A heartfelt "THANK YOU!" to all who helped out in our drive to fund the site for 2019. It's not too late to be a part of it. We will carry on, as best we can, in 2019. I'll reach heavily into my own pocket, again...to keep this site up, running and providing the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics.
If you'd like to help:
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I'll renew and double my efforts to get corporate sponsors for 2019. It is still my hopes and dreams to make this a fully corporate-advertising sponsored site. I want to thank those of you again who provided donations to help sustain us, until that happens, in the months ahead.
CAPTION THE PICTURE
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| CAPTION ME! |
Keep it clean, in good taste and let's have some fun with Coach and his movements during a contest.
No prizes or awards, but we'll make mention the following day of ones we thought were pretty clever and creative captions. Leave those captions in the comments section, along with your dirty laundry and bus vouchers...or e-mail them to Paulie at cardinalcouple@twc.com or text them to @cardinalcouple
paulie
xxxxx
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Great win for the Cards but the technicals? Dee at her dramatic best. She always plays to a big crowd. Undefeated, baby!
ReplyDeleteCaption comment is "Dee, do u think Paulie can grow ponytail like yours?
Curtis "No ponytail, no dramatics" Franklin
how bout caption walz sayin i prefer makers to shooters and dee sayin are u askin me out for a drink.
ReplyDeletecards were a bit off early but they finished well against the farm girls nebraska could make some noise in big ten but they would be a second level acc squad.
Caption:
ReplyDeleteDee: Do you think this outfit makes me look fat?
Walz: Nah, TV adds 10 pounds.
Dee: Technical !!!
All in all, what was expected happened. Cards got a win most thought they would. That Jazzy sky and shot was incredible. Keep winnin' Cards.
Nick O.
How about a CASE Report? As normal, a couple of stats overlap, but let's look at them anyway.
ReplyDeleteC - The Cards coughed the ball up 15 times, compared to 23 for the Huskers. That's half a point. However, Nebraska shows up all the way at 290th in the country, forcing only 14.5 turnovers per game. So definitely no point awarded for Louisville increasing the opponent's average. Lowercase 'c'
A- 17 assists on 33 made baskets is over 50% which means the Cards shared the ball pretty well. 17 assists to 15 turnovers, though, shows that their passing could have been better. I really believe in the ATO stat as a general indicator of a team's passing overall. Sure, travels and offensive fouls and steals count as turnovers, not just bad passes, but in those situations, passing would probably be a better option. Either way, 17/15 is not 2. Lowercase 'a'.
S - 11 steals is higher than the desired 7.5 and it skunks Nebraska's 4. Capital 'S'
E - Louisville struggled from the line last night but they were, again, very strong from the floor. Another night over 50% shooting. Lowercase 'e'.
c-a-S-e
When you win by 17, you expect that the stats will turn out pretty nice. That was so last night. Another chance to improve the peripheral stats against Tenn. St.
Thank you, sir, for the worthy addition. I'd argue the "a" assignment, a lot of baskets came on the transition aspect of offense, and Asia did have a season high eight assists...but, well done otherwise.
DeleteJoin Case and I on The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour when we'll have favorites Paige Sherrard and Daryl "Gimme a hot dog or picture of one" Foust in studio with us live to discuss this game and whatever they want besides that.
No comment on the photo, sir? A great opportunity for your rapidly developing skill for "Worldwide" quality snark present itself..
Paulie
The Cards are winning and that's job #1 right now. Defense is secondary right now, scoring is primary. Asia looks in mid-season form and I was really impressed with the post play by the Cards last night against a pretty formidable foe in Cain.
ReplyDeleteIf they can get a little better control and accuracy on these blitzkrieg attacks they go off on, this could be a very special squad come tournament time.
A am Sam, too !!
On the caption, how about?
Jeff -- Put your hand on your hips and gimme a little dance
Dee -- This isn't a fashion runaway, pal. It's basketball.
-- The Real Joe Hill --
Walz is saying Trump. Dee is saying impeach.
ReplyDeleteWalt Sent Me Here
A win. Nothing to see here except the asinine attempt by Kanter to showboat at the end. Someone put her on a soap opera or something. The Cards did what they had to do. Asia is the #1 player in the country and played like it again last night. The UofL defense needs to improve quickly, though, or UK is going to come into our place and beat us.
ReplyDeleteWalz is singing the immortal Little Victor lyrics "Put your hands on your hips and let your backbone slip." The ref Kanter is complying.
The lyrics can also be applied to the song "Land of a 1000 Dances and Slim Harpo.
Blue Lou
The immortal Wilson Pickett! Dig it. Link to "LAnd of a 100 Dances" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mz_EXHKGHs
DeleteAh, yeah!!
Paulie