Little Miss Muffet,
Sat on her tuffet,
Getting the calls to go her way
Granted, there was much more than poor officiating that led to the outcome of Louisville's 82-68 loss at Notre Dame. The Cards were seemingly fouling Notre Dame every time they went into the paint on offense. Rebounding for UofL was not a pretty thing. The loss, however, ends any hopes of a perfect season for the Cards, now 14-1 with a 2-1 conference record. Notre Dame is 15-1 with a 3-0 conference mark. Believe it or not, NC State is the lone undefeated team in the nation.
For starters, the Cards lost the rebounding battle badly. The final numbers were 48-32. Notre Dame's defensive rebounding numbers (30) nearly matched UofL's total rebounds. Jessica Shepard was nearly unstoppable on the glass with 15 boards.
Missed lay-ups were a problem for the Cards. This didn't just happen overnight seeing that this hasbeen an ongoing issue all season. A lay-up should be one of the easiest buckets a player can make, but the Cards struggle to make them nonetheless. In close games that each position can spark or ruin a run, missing the easy bucket can help build momentum for the other team.
Overall, Louisville shot 38.2% from the field. 26-68 is poor and well below the season average. From three-point range, the Cards were 4-20, 20%, another below-average mark. The free throws were pretty solid with the 75% of 12-16.
The first quarter resulted mostly in the two team trading baskets. Both teams saw their lead as high as four points early in the game. Sam Fuehring and Jaz Jones both found themselves with a pair of fouls before the quarter ended, quickly dwindling the impact they would make on the half. Notre Dame held a 20-19 lead after the first 10 minutes.
At halftime, Durr was already up to 19 points and the Cards only had two turnovers. The 2-11 three-point shooting and the missed layups were holding the Cards back from leading by more than two at the time. Ogunbowale was held to just four points in the first half.
Things changed in the third quarter. Notre Dame won the quarter 24-12, holding to Louisville to one of their worst quarters of the season. Foul trouble became more apparent and Jeff Walz had to be careful not to burn through his players in foul trouble too early in the game. Turnovers and transition defense became worse and the Irish capitalized on fast break points.
Both teams had their highest scoring quarter in the fourth quarter, although Notre Dame used it to adda few extra points down the stretch. Dunham, Carter, and Evans all retired to the bench with their five allotted fouls being used. Fuehring recorded her fourth foul, but managed to stay in the game for the final seconds. The highlight of the final quarter was Mykasa Robinson's in-your-face defense on Ogumbowale. The 2018-19 Finals MVP became frustrated and it allowed the Cards to bring the score within two at the 1:48 mark. Sadly, things went south the rest of the way.
When you lose the "second chance" stat 19-5...it probably isn't your night. That 14-points differential was also the final margin of defeat for the Cards...82-68.
POST GAME WALZ PRESSER: WALZ TALKS SANDERFORD, LOSS TO ND 1/10/19
F-R-E-D Report
 |
| "How many intentional fouls were called on UofL, Fred?" |
R - rebounds: Losing the rebounding battle by 16 is not good. Foul trouble limited some of the post players and kept them off the boards. Notre Dame also had a player in double-digit grabs (Shepard) with 15 and that was more than double UofL's best rebounder on the night. No letter.
E - effort/efficiency: In terms of effort, UofL battled tough in the Purcell Pavilion. They even roared back to trail by two with under two minutes remaining. The true ACC Player of the Year totaled 29 points. Louisville was smart with the ball and only committed eight turnovers. Getting out-shot 44.6% to 38.2% isn't terrible. Louisville also scored 25 points off turnovers. Notre Dame scored 19 second chance points and 23 fast break points. We can award a lowercase "e".
D - defense: Notre Dame shot 44.6% overall and 37.5% from deep. The Irish totaled 82 points and scored at least 20 points in three quarters. Ogunbowale scored 30 points, 26 coming in the second half, and two other Notre Dame players (Brianna Turner 16 and Jackie Young 14) also were in the double-digits. The Irish scored 23 fast break points. Some of those were off a turnover, but many of them came on poor transition defense by the Cards. The one plus side is the Cards forcing 18 turnovers. Still, the second half defensive struggles and the 82 points prevent the Cards from earning a letter here.
FINAL FRED TOTAL: F-_-e-_
F-_-e-_ is not too good of a report. Assuming a capital letter is 2/2, a lowercase letter is 1/2, and no letter is 0/2, the Cards get an ugly 3/8 on the score chart.
The women are back in action Sunday at 2:00. They return to the KFC Yum! Center to host a solidGeorgia Tech squad. The Yellow Jackets are 12-4 and are 2-1 in the ACC. They defeated Boston College in Massachusetts, fell at Notre Dame, and beat Duke at home by six last night. Expect the Cards to come out angry and ready to leave a trail of destruction in their path between now and Jan. 31, and then the same on the path to the ACC Tournament.
The Irish were dancing on January 10th. Louisville needs to put this one behind them and go on, so they can dance in March.
Happy Friday and Go Cards!
- Jared -
I will preface my remarks by saying that I was able to only watch the second half last night. A prior commitment (emceeing an on-campus event with softball's Holly Aprile and baseball's Roget Williams) was a great time, though.
ReplyDeleteHere's the skinny. The refs did not cost the Cards WBB this game last night, although their performance was sub-standard. What lost this one for the Cards was a lack of rebounding and the second chance points stats.
Louisville wasn't able to get into their "run and gun" offense very much and the fouls, although quite lopsided, were a hindrance as well and also played a huge part in the game. This is usually a pretty good collection of refs (Eric, Kevin and Karen) but they weren't on their "A" game last night.
Nevertheless, let's remember the Cards were within two with less than two minutes to go. A learning lesson, perhaps, on how to close out a game. Plenty of teaching examples when this game film is broken down.
So, the Irish win. You have to eventually put this one behind you and go on. A tough Ga. Tech squad visits the YUM Sunday.
One of the few losses I expect UofL to suffer this year. Fouling is not defense. You have to be able to rebound. These are things that, hopefully, the Cards will improve on.
I'm proud of the way UofL battled.
Paulie
Walz on game,
ReplyDeleteThe fouls were so one-sided (28-15) that Louisville coach Jeff Walz joked that he wondered if he’d have to put his 5-year-old daughter in the game.
“I thought we did a really nice job in the first half, but we’ve got to eliminate some silly fouls so I can keep the kids on the floor that can defend (Ogunbowale),” Walz said. “She made some big-time shots. We started to not be as aggressive defensively and we allowed her to get the ball in the scoring area.”
Move on, Cardinal fans. We got plenty of ball to play.
Proud of my team. We'll see the Irish again, most likely on a neutral court. Hopefully with a different ref crew.
Curtis "Intentional?" Franklin
Daggone. The officials must really hate Louisville and Walz. Is there any sport where the refereeing is as horrible as it is in women's basketball? Even the pro-Irish announcers were stunned by some of the calls or lack of calls.
ReplyDeleteRefs are independent contractors and don't make a lot of money in Women's Basketball. The NCAA Committee that watches and "regulates" them, is a joke. Little old ladies and senile old men sitting on the sidelines surfing the internet or falling asleep while supposedly "critiquing" the officials on court. Most of the refs work second jobs out of sports, or ref year around (WNBA, summer leagues, etc.)
ReplyDeleteOne ref told me, not too long ago, 'I do it (ref) to stay in shape, pick up a little spare cash and watch basketball'.
Great.
Maybe the NCAA should take part of the $366 million they put toward championships, services and programs and start a training program for refs and increase their pay.
Plenty of phantom fouls called. Which can influence a game. Not the only reason for the loss, but a factor.
ReplyDeleteWe kinda looked tentative from the beginning. Seemed like they were shooting to not miss instead of just shooting.
Played not our best, yet we're still in it at towards the end of the game. That was due in large part to Mykasa. Much props to the freshman.
Mykasa was a spark and Walz mentioned that she'd see more court time in future games. The foul disparity was ridiculous. I have to wonder if part of that is because of the dislike the WCBB refs have for Walz and punish his team because of it.
DeleteMaybe not, but, something needs to be done about WBB refereeing.
In the end, the Cards didn't reach 70 points, got murdered on the boards and second chance points and that ultimately cost them the game.
For as much as we dislike Arike, she woke up in the second half and you have to acknowledge she hit some huge shots, especially the three at the end of the third quarter...plus the three near the end of the game when Mykasa was guarding her.
I hope we see them again. Maybe in the ACC Tournament. With different refs and a neutral crowd.
Paulie
No doubt Arike is a helluva player, but...as good as she is, I wouldn't want her on my team.
DeleteJust a nasty attitude. Female Grayson Allen. Had her in check, for the most, until the fouls started mounting. Mykasa actually did a helluva job on her, not gonna hold her scoreless, but twice she made her cough up the ball, the steal and the half court double team that she was part of. And Arike was complaining then about a foul. Ugh.
A few thoughts -
ReplyDeleteDurr has made only seven of her last 47 three-point attempts. That's an amazing statistic. Troubling in the short term but you know that she will end that shooting slump. And when she does, the team is so much better.
Adrienne Johnson made a telling post-game comment last night - if the rebounding doesn't improve, there will be more losses.
Walz knew what he was doing when he recruited Diop. I'm convinced that she would be giving us about eight rebounds a game. But that's water under the bridge.
Let's look at the CASE Report and see if it was as bad as the FRED
ReplyDeleteC-Care: The Cards committed only 8 turnovers. That's far fewer than the 18 committed by ND and less than half of ND's average of 16.9. Capital 'C'.
A-Assists: Louisville had 14 assists on 26 made baskets, which is a good assist percentage but is just shy of a 2.0 ATO. This is affected by the Cards' inability to score, which likely would have increased assists. Either way, lowercase 'a'.
S-Steals: Louisville picked up 6 steals, which is surprising as it shows that ND had 12 unforced TOs. It's fewer than the 7.5 benchmark, but it's greater than the 4 nabbed by Notre Dame. Lowercase 's'.
E-Efficiency: It's been mentioned numerous time. The Cards shot only 38% from the floor. That won't get it done. They managed to 75% from the line, but didn't get there nearly as often as the opponent. Still, efficiency is efficiency. Lowercase "e".
We end this report with a grammatically correct spelling of my name: C-a-s-e. That's better than the FRED report, but it is all for naught, as the final score of the game matters most. The most unnerving stat from last night was the woeful efficiency from the floor, so hopefully that gets fixed up. On to the next.
Hello, Cardinal Couple!
DeleteI was disappointed to see the Cardinals lose. They fought the good fight but rebounding just has to get better for them. It looked like Louisville was going to do it late but that Ogunbowale woke up again. She's a handful if hot.
Poor Kylee. She needs to improve inside with her shooting.
Fouls eliminated Jaz from it early and that's a shame. She has the dynamics to make a difference.
Where have the Cards been hiding #5 Robinson. That gal really was a spark. She needs more time, for sure.
I agree with FRED report than the CASE report more but the most telling stat was that second chance stat. 19-5. That stat actually includes rebounding, efficiency, shooting and hustle.
Bounce back strong Cards and handle Georgia Tech Sunday.
My Tigers WBB go to Fla. St. In past years, I would have said, well, that's a loss for us. This year, I'm not so sure.
Your friend
#1 Clemson Fan
Arthur
Greer, SC
Good luck to your Paws. If Paws win at Fl St you are for real. Clemson guard Simone Westbrook averages 3.4 thefts a game. That's one of the best in the nation for steals.
DeleteI like your pg Edwards. She has really improved.
Danielle Edwards is right behind her teammate with 3.1 steals a game. Clemson is the only team in the country with two players avging over 3 steals a game. I thought they got after the ball. Wasn't my imagination.
DeleteThe Tigers really have had some key players shine so far but it is quite early in ACC play. Top to bottom, it is a more balanced and tougher conference.
DeleteI'm tired of hearing Jaz has the dynamics to make a difference.
ReplyDeleteJaz is in the middle of her Jr year and is not trending up. She is in mediocre land big time. Who cares about her potential and athletic ability if she is background noise in most games.
Lets face it. Jaz isn't doing much. She is beginning to remind me of Rennia Davis on Tenn. Jaz would fit in at Tenn. That roster is filled with underachievers. It's time for Jaz to become a player. Someone light a fire under or her or something.
ReplyDeleteI agree wade,jaz didn't show up last night.
DeleteShe miss open shot and was out of sync on Offense.
Card win that game if Jaz hits her open shots.
PS I love Jazmine Jones energy and her team spirit she had a bad game it happens Let's lick our wounds and get on track! Go Cards!!!!
DeleteAgain it takes 5 girls on the court to win not just one! It looked like the Asia show... You had Kylee just standing around doing what ever it was she was doing..Bianca right underneath the basket for easy two passing it back out for another missed three instead of making the easy lay up! Refs could of been better but had nothing to do with the lackadaisical effort that I saw! Definitely missing that MHA attitude that's for damn sure! Final four?! Ya better step it up the other team was like a well oiled machine! Us? we were missing 4 players! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWise words Mr. Watson. Here's hoping they will get it together Sunday. Ga Tech is no joke.
ReplyDeleteNotre Dame will be a tough out for anyone this season. That's what makes it even more incredible that Geno and UConn went in the Purcell Pavilion and put it to them. Right now, I think you have to look at Notre Dame, UConn and Baylor as your top three in the nation. Cards will slip to #4 or lower IMHO. Of course, depending on how they respond after getting kicked in the face (OK, bad allegory) in South Bend.
The Real Joe Hill
(This sent to me via e-mail from a friend inDayton, OH. Wanted to share it with the board.
ReplyDeleteYo Paulie tough loss for you guys. Watched and
what i saw is
Watched ND get whatever and where ever they needed.
Push offs an physicality on rebounds and guarding.
Never imagined seeing 3 players with 3 fouls with 5 minutes to go in 1st half.
Robinson is the real deal. She is such a defensive pest.
Durr starts drifting on her jumpers.
We really miss MHA..but Kylee was. Battling.
Dunham continues to be the female version of Enoch. Motivated to score but not rebound at times.
I like your site. I am Dayton Flyers fan but would like to see the Cards win ACC.
Hats
I said I thought it would come down to which team executed better down the stretch.
ReplyDelete