WBB Prepare for Ohio State -- VBall Begins NCAA Tournament -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WBB Prepares to Face Ohio State

#2 Louisville WBB is set to face Ohio State in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge tonight in Columbus.  Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m., on the Big Ten Network.

The Buckeyes enter the game with a 4-3 record. Recently, they went 1-1 in the Southpoint Shootout in Las Vegas.  They took down Northern Iowa 64-46.  Their loss came to a tough South Dakota team, 68-53.  The Coyotes made the NCAA Tournament last year.

Ohio State also played UConn this year at home.  The Huskies came out on top 73-62 in a contested match-up.  The other loss came to Ohio.

Ohio State's three other wins outside of Northern Iowa included Kent State, Valparaiso, and an overtime over Cincinnati.

The Buckeyes are averaging 69.9 points per game.  They have shot .438 from the floor on the year with a .307 mark from three-point range.  Free throws have been a weakness for Ohio State, shooting just .565 from the line- something the Cards would be smart to take advantage of that.

Another weakness of Ohio State is ball control.  The Buckeyes have turned the ball over 119 times this year for an average of 17 per game.  They have dominated down low, out-blocking opponents 35-13. A young team for head coach Kevin McGuff, 10 of his 13 players are freshmen or sophomores. According to some sources, Ohio State has had the toughest schedule in the country through their first seven game, and bringing in the #2 Cards only augments that difficulty of opponents.

The OSU defense holds opponents to .346 from the field and a sub-.300 mark from deep.  Their free throw defense has been atrocious as opposing teams knock down roughly 73% of their free throws.  Ohio State's defense is allowing 62.4 points per game, a mark UofL's offense has been way above.

Dorka Juhasz. Not only does she rebound and score
but she takes a pretty nice photo as well.  

Dorka Juhasz (10.2 ppg) and Kierstan Bell (10.0 ppg) are the sole players averaging scoring in double-figures.  Juhasz has also led the team in rebounds through their first seven games, averaging 8.5 per game.  Janai Crooms and Braxtin Miller have carried the team in assists with 38 and 22, respectively.

Louisville is 2-0 all-time against Ohio State.  Both meetings came in Columbus.  The most recent was in November of 2017 when the Cards prevailed 95-90 in overtime.  Asia Durr set a school record with 47 points and tied a school record with nine three-pointers in the game.

Paulie and Sonya will be in attendance as well as a photographer friend of mine, who will take my place for the game.  You'll get plenty of live coverage from our women's basketball guru and he'll have some postgame footage to add to it.

If you can't attend, the Big Ten Network will be televising the event. It is available on most cable providers in our Metro Louisville area and ll you who have "cut the cord" can probably figure out a way to watch on-line. And, you can always go to the dependable Nick Curran and A.J. for the radio feed, on 790 WKRD AM

Matt Andrews, radio voice for Buckeye women's basketball, held the same position for Louisville before he left for Columbus. Like Nick, who also calls Louisville Bats games during their season, he also does minor league baseball broadcast for the Columbus Clippers. Reports are he's already gotten word to Paulie via sources that the media buffet in the Value City Arena doesn't rival the one in the KFC YUM! Center.

On a side women's basketball note, you can check out Paulie's interviews with Jeff Walz and Dana Evans at the top of yesterday's post.  Just click on the link and it'll redirect you right to an audio recording or follow the two interviews at these audio/video links below.

JEFF WALZ 12-4-19

DANA EVANS 12-4-19



Volleyball Faces Samford in NCAA First Round

Just down the road from Louisville in Bowling Green, KY will be another Cardinal team in action.

UofL Volleyball prepares for a first round match-up against Samford today at 6:00 p.m. ET.  Make note that Bowling Green is an hour behind so the game will be 5:00 p.m., their time.

Louisville, who is 19-9 on the year, is making its 28th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.  The Cards earned an at-large bid and are one of four ACC teams to make the tournament.

Samford is in its second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance after going 24-5 on the year, finishing 15-1 in the Southern Conference, and winning the SoCon Tournament 3-2 over ETSU.  This is the Bulldogs' fifth tournament appearance, all coming in the last eight years.

Kelsi Hobbs has been the leader for Samford this year.  She was recently named the Sports Imports/AVCA Player of the Week.  She was also named Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.

The Cards, who were 14-3 to start the year, finished 5-6 after Melanie McHenry went down with an injury.  They did, however, go 4-2 to close out the year.  As they continue to adjust without their senior leader the Cards will have their hands full.

Host Western Kentucky will face Kennesaw State in the second match of the day.  The two winners will square off on Friday. The second round is schedule for 8 p.m. Louisville time.

A unique viewing opportunity for those unable to attend. Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network - HSSN on Facebook will stream the match. Link for that is:  

https://www.facebook.com/pg/GOHSSN/videos/

"Mr. Worldwide" Jeff McAdams will be present for the game, and I think it's safe to assume his mom, Ms. Vivian will accompany him.  I cannot guarantee you'll see a lot of  tweets out of  his @CardCoupleRadio Twitter account, but Jeff will split the writing duties with Paulie tomorrow.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared