SHARP SHOOTING MIAMI GIVES LOUISVILLE SECOND LOSS OF SEASON
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| Me and the dynamic duo at Miami game |
The Canes came and conquered the Cards late on breast cancer awareness day. Stunning, yes. But, earned by the visitors from the bottom of Florida.
This was a game where Louisville (23-2) started out hot early, climbing to a 22-13 first quarter lead, behind 10 first quarter points from Bionca Dunham. The Cards would push the margin to 14 early in the second quarter when Kylee Shook nailed a three with eight minutes until halftime but Miami refused to go away. The Katie Meyer coached squad would trim the UofL lead to five before the quarter ended but a four-point run by Jazmine Jones late and a key Asia Durr jumped boosted Louisville to a 37-29 advantage.
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| Cardinal Couple favorite Robbie Bartlett nailed the National Anthem |
Louisville was getting good looks and shots but the ball simply wasn't going through the net. The Cards missed their first eight shots of the third quarter, shot 31% for the quarter (5 for 16) but went from a 39-39 tie to push to a 51-47 lead by the end of the third quarter, thanks to a couple of Shook threes to close out the third session.
Miami would not go away. The offense really picked up for the Canes (32 points for UM, compared to 22 points for the Cards) and Hof, plus senior guard Laura Cornelius were leading the way...shooting a combined 10 for 12 in the final ten minutes. Dana Evans' three gave the Cards a 63-59 lead with six minutes left but Miami tied the affair at 70-68 on a Hof jumper with four minutes left and the Utrecht,Netherlands post put the Hurricanes ahead to stay after two Cardinal turnovers with 1:27 remaining. The Canes hit their free throws the rest of the way and (going 9 for 10) and Louisville walked off the court with their first loss in the YUM! since Florida State won 50-49 back on 1/21/18.
Sometimes you run into a buzz-saw and can't turn the power off. Miami was the Hurricane yesterday and also hit their free throws late (19 for 25 for the game) to secure the upset.
i'm not the guy to EVER question any decision Jeff Walz makes, but, several people asked me why "B" sat the entire fourth quarter. Injury? (we found out "no"). OK, we'll get to that in a bit.
An excellent coach job by Katie Meyer and a eye-popping performance from her Hurricane squad to stay close to, catch up with and eventually down UofL. Walz will tell you that offense wins games and, although the Cards did put four in double figures (Durr 16, Evans 14 and Dunham and Shook with 12 each), it was Miami who scored the most points when needed, in the final quarter and created a three way tie (for now) atop the ACC with a Monday night match-up between NC State and UND directly affecting the logjam.
My question on why Bionca Dunham sat the entire fourth quarter was addressed by Walz
in the presser as well. She is not injured, just a coach's decision.
(GAME PHOTOS BY THE INCREDIBLE JARED ANDERSON)
LISTEN UP !
LINK: POST GAME ASIA DURR AND KYLEE SHOOK
LINK: POST GAME JEFF WALZ
LINK: POST GAME WITH MIAMI'S KATIE MEYER AND EMESE HOF. (AUDIO ONLY)
THE FRED REPORT
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| Fred, whaddya mean UofL lost in the YUM? |
REBOUNDING: -- After a even first half in board grabbing, Miami eventually won the boards battle 34-30. Dunham led the Cards with eight. Not the boards blowout that I expected, with Miami being the taller squad, but, still -- no letter earned.
EFFORT/EXECUTION -- The Cards battled well, committed just eight turnovers and really only fell short in one area -- making shots. The effort was there, the results just weren't happening. Kylee played one of her best games of the year, with four made threes. I normally don't award a letter after a loss, but I'll offer a lowercase "e" here.
DEFENSE -- Miami could miss and the Cards couldn't stop Hof in the paint or Cornelius' drives in the fourth. 30-18 there. Louisville did force 13 Cane turnovers, but 32 points is way too many to allow in one quarter. They did stop Mompremier. I see no letter assigned here.
FINAL FRED TALLY: F-_-e-_
SOFTBALL FALLS TO NORTHWESTERN
Rebecca Chung's RBI double in the sixth scored Caitlin Ferguson to get the Cards to a two-run deficit and UofL did have two base runners on in the seventh with the go-ahead run at the plate...but couldn't push the runners across the plate.
Louisville returns home after going 1-3 in Chapel Hill and is 4-5 overall. They'll face Virginia next, in the Tennessee Classic on Feburary 22nd.
Have a marvelous Monday!
Paulie
Paulie, as usual your analysis is spot on. No excuses here - Miami was the better team yesterday. Hard to win when your best player goes 5-17 and 1-10. But even with that, and with the poor post defense that made Hof look like an All American, the real killers were the turnover on the drive into the lane by Evans followed by Durr's turnover. Those are mistakes that you just can't make.
ReplyDeleteGood point on the late game turnovers and soft defense. Miami, the their credit, played better and earned it. So impressed with Hof and the 4 guards came through on both ends. They hit shots and that's the best defense I've ever seen on Asia Durr. I saw the graphic that showed Asia's history playing Miami and boy do they have her number. She was averaging single figures in points against them. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteStunned and sad but Miami never quit and proved to be the best when it mattered --at the end of the game. Great crowd and fun time until that disappointing end.
ReplyDeleteI took another "first timer" to the game -- the girl I've been seeing lately, and she loved it. LOL. Screaming for both teams -- we'll work on that.
UofL will be fine. One loss doesn't define the year and championships are won in April, not February.
Curtis "Wore Pink, looked great, I think" Franklin
Poor defense in that last quarter. But...had they went to Kylee more, set up plays for her, she found her range, think that could have offset Miami's scoring. No shot attempts in the fourth quarter, and the reason she was in was to stretch the defense, per Walz.
ReplyDeleteA loss is a loss, though, and much as I hate seeing them lose, I'm sure the players feel worse than me.
Regroup, refocus, come back and finish the season strong.
Always a ride or die fan😁
Paulie, I just listened to the Walz presser. I'm glad that you asked the question about Dunham - several of us in Section 106 Rows AA and BB were asking the same question.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Walz gave an honest answer, especially as regards playing Fuehring over Dunham.
I agree.
DeletePaulie
As much as I understand Walz’s decision to play Kylee and Sam over Bionca in late game I think it ended up hurting more than anything. Sam was having an off game and struggled inside against Hof. Kylee was knocking down big shots but kept getting beat off the dribble on defense. That, plus the turnovers down the stretch really hurt the Cards.
ReplyDeleteA loss to a top team like that doesn’t hurt much, and it’s better it happened in mid-February as opposed to late-March or April.
It’s a good chance for the coaching staff to go back and break things down to the basics again- turnovers, rebounding, smart passes, shot selection
Yep. No two were stopping Hof, whichever combo, so to me, let Kylee bomb away from three to offset. She was shooting it well.
DeleteAnd Sam tweeted how disappointed she was in herself. Look for her to come back on a mission!
ReplyDeleteGood for Sam. Hope she comes back strong.
DeleteI agree with most comments however Kylee was on Dana was hitting the 3... Stop passing to Asia..who was off to say the least....that's why you have other capable players to go to! Good grief!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. If you have Kylee in the game set her up for more 3 pointers. Asia wasn't hitting and Kylee was saving the team earlier in the quarter. Easy to call the plays after the game is over though lol.
DeleteEntering this season did anyone actually think Dunham would progress to the point people would be saying put Dunham in at the end of the game for Sam? I hope this isn't as good as Dunham gets. If she continues to improve next year could be fun too.
ReplyDeleteAgree with the comment,but Jazmine Jones was to show up in big game especially if Asia & AC are not shoting the ball well.
ReplyDeletePS Captain Shook was hot from the three point line.
The bottom line the Seniors didn't play well.
Go Card's beat Virginia.
Oops has to type o.
ReplyDelete