Cards take sting out of Yellow Jackets 61-44 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DURR, FUEHRING LEAD LOUISVILLE TO 17-POINT WIN

They say the best way to avoid being stung is to avoid the source. Georgia Tech didn't bother the Cards offensively, never let Georgia Tech get close to them, thanks to a strong Cardinal defense, and UofL goes to 15-1 on the season with the 61-44 win Sunday afternoon in the KFC YUM! Center. 

Tech managed just 26.2% shooting (17-65) on a cold and cloudy day by the Ohio River and couldn't pester Louisville from the the free throw line either with just nine attempts and six makes. The Cards drove the swarm away early, with an opening 15-2 salvo in the first
4 -1/2 minutes and was never seriously bother the entire game by the 12-5 Jackets. 

That early UofL run featured Asia Durr, who led all scorers with 21 points, 10 of those in the first session of the afternoon, and "#Nite-nite" went 8-16 from the floor -- including three threes in her body of work in the Cards fourth ACC contest of the season. 

Showing her strength and skills, as well for Louisville, was Sam Fuehring. Her 13 points and 14 rebounds gave her a double-double for the afternoon. The feat was the sixth  of her career and first of the season. On an afternoon where Louisville lost the rebounding battle for the second straight time 46-32...almost the same numbers we saw in the Notre Dame game  (48-32), Sam and her sleeveless arm had the most time on the quarter for the Cards (37:20) and 44% of the Cards grabs. 

The future...my girls Duv and Kasa

Arica Carter with another steady performance, 10 points that included two threes and 50% shooting. She also, maybe for the first time in her career, led Louisville in blocks with two.  A strong 14 minutes off the bench for Kylee Shook yesterday as well, getting six of her eight points in the fourth quarter to keep a Georgia Tech team,that had trimmed the lead to 11, at bay. 

The Cards took that 24-14 first quarter lead and turned it into a 36-23 halftime advantage. Jazmine Jones and Dana Evans took their turns at dismantling the Rambling Wreck with five points each in a 12-point quarter for Louisville...the Cards getting eight of those off turnovers. 

Georgia Tech would pare that Cardinal lead down to 44-33 at the end of the third quarter. Freshmen point guard Lotta-Maj Lahtinen (from Helsinki, Finland) sparking Buzz's Ballers with four of her eight points in the ten-minute segment. 

Kylee Shook took over the offense for Louisville early in the fourth quarter, though and made the Cards first two baskets to create a 48-33 advantage that had Cardinal fans breathing a bit easier and Louisville actually won a fourth quarter for once, outscoring the Atlanta school 17-11. 

"Gimme that s--t" 

105-point games aren't exactly as exciting as they get. But, a win is a win and Louisville's defense was a thing of beauty. Coach Walz will tell you he wants his team to get up shots but it was the Techsters who held the 65-53 shot attempt edge. Fortunately, the Cards led in "makes" (23-17) and that's the stat that makes the biggest difference. 

The Ramblin' Wreck never could get started against UofL WBB yesterday. Call AAA. 


THE FRED REPORT

The late, great Fred Wiche would have
approved of this elimination of a
pollinator. 

F- Free Throws. Louisville didn't take many (10) but converted eight of those. Just three players had the privilege of toeing the line (Fuehring 4-4, Shook  2-2 and Durr 2-4). We universally accept 80% as capital letter material here at Cardinal Couple...we bestow the capital "F" for the job done.  

R - Rebounding. Besides Sam, the Cards sent in a few absentee ballots on the boards Sunday afternoon. Jaz had the misfortune of being in the wrong place all night with zero grabs in 21 minutes. The offensive grabs were particularly embarrassing for UofL, Tech taking that stat 21-4. No letter awarded

E - Effort/Execution. Points off turnovers was a bright spot, 23-24 in favor of the Ville. Fast break points solidly in the Cardinal camp at 10-0. Nineteen assists on 23 made hoops shows a bit of team unity and effectiveness as well. Unfortunately, the hustle involved in getting second chance points wasn't present...GT taking that category 15-2. I'll offer the lower case "e" here. IT was a win, UofL didn't stink the place up and the hustle was there

D- Defense. The Cards came out hawkish, hungry and harassed the Tech squad into 21 turnovers. Credit the Cards for six steals, too. Holding an opponent to 26.2% shooting can mean two things...an excellent defensive presence or an opponent that isn't very good at shooting. Besides three-time freshman of the week Elizabeth Balogun's 13 points,t here weren't many offensive threats in yellow and white uniforms. Hand out the capital "D". 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-_-e-D

SOOOO...

On a day where there was one surprising result in ACC play (Clemson taking down #22 Florida State 57-45) the Cards did what was expected and what they needed to do with the win over Georgia Tech. You need to pile up the wins in the ACC when you're expected to, even if they aren't exactly masterpieces, and the Cards added another one to their resume. 

Virginia comes in Thursday night, sufficiently humbled by still-undefeated NC State 66-38 yesterday. The Cards feature the Jeff Walz bobble-head as a promo, so get there early to grab yours...even though we got several reports that fans were getting "bobble-heads" yesterday afternoon.

On "spirit" and Speed School Day, yesterday....Louisville exhibited plenty of "get up and go" early on Sunday afternoon and constructed a needed and earned win over "a hell of an engineer" school. 

"I've got spirit, how about you, Tom?" 

The defense rests. They deserve that rest, after a strong performance on National Rubber Ducky Day...the Cards put the squeeze on Georgia Tech. 

Links for Walz's, Asia's and Sam's post game presser below. 


LINK: WALZ POST-GAME GEORGIA TECH

LINK: ASIA AND SAM POST-GAME GEORGIA TECH

(Photos by Jared Anderson, except for Fred. Check out his other photography work at https://www.instagram.com/jdaphotography1994/  or www.jdaphotos.com ) 


paulie
xxxxx