Sunday Cardinal Couple - WBB Gameday and More

WBB Gameday vs Wake Forest

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons come to the KFC Yum! Center to play today at 2pm.  The Deacs come in on a three game win streak, and a mixed strength of schedule.

Of those last three, the best win probably was over Georgia Tech (12-3, 3-1), with Duke and Clemson both sitting at 1-3 in conference.  The loss in conference was a close one against Miami.  In the non-conference part of the schedule, wins over Dayton and Florida are certainly respectable, but a loss to East Tennessee State is a little concerning.

Wake Forest has already developed a feel for tight conference games in this young conference season with all four of those decisions being by five points or less.  Give the Deacs credit for grit and not giving up.

The high scorers for the Deacons are Ivana Raca (6'2" F) at 16.3 per game, Alex Sharp (6'1" G) with
12.7, Gina Conti (5'10" G) with 11.3, and Christina Morra (6'2" F) checking in with 8.2.  Wake has no one listed on their roster as a center.  They do have 6'4" Maya Banks listed as a Forward, but she doesn't see a huge amount of playing time.  The rebounding threat, and Wake statistically outrebounds their opponents, comes from Raca and Sharp.  Una Udoh (6'1" F) is the biggest blocking threat, but with only 12 on the season, that doesn't look to be a major consideration.  Raca, Sharp, and Conti can all hit threes with reasonable efficiency, but Sharp is the best sharpshooter on the squad, draining over 40% of her shots from distance.

How would I game plan for this game?  Well, I haven't been able to catch any of their games yet, but I would be looking to get touches by either or both of Bionca Dunham and Kylee Shook down in the paint on every trip down the court.  Wake doesn't seem to have size that can deal with them.  I wouldn't expect the four guard lineup from Louisville today, unless we see Wake start to punish the Cards from three range.

The game will be streamed on the ACC Network Extra with tip-off at 2pm.  Take your pick of game promotions as they seem to be a bit overloaded today.  Disney Day, Spirit Day, Faculty Appreciation Day, and the $10 Family Meal Deal are all on the calendar for today. We always recommend that you check out Nick Curran and Adrienne Johnson and their descriptive account of the Cards WBB squad on Cards Radio 790 AM WKRD.

Head downtown this afternoon to see the best sports squad
on the Belknap Campus do work against a challenging ACC foe. The WBB squad won't be back in the YUM! for 11 days after this afternoon's contest, so catch them today!

Track and Field

Track and Field took to the indoor track at Purdue in the inaugural Gene Edmonds Memorial Invitational and saw quite a few successes with eight wins on the second and final day.

Gabriela Leon took wins in both Pole Vault and Long Jump with the Cards also picking up 3rd and 4th place in both of those events.

Rashida Harris took first in Shot Put on the women's side, with Christian Buckley getting the win on the guy's side.

Kayla Alexander took the victory in the 60 Meter Hurdles, and Sharnae Alston broke the tape in the 60 Meter Dash.

Guys wins to round out the eight victories went to Trey Allen in the High Jump, Sterling Warner in the 60 Meter Dash, and Cameron Stephens in the 3000m.

(Photos today from Jared, Paulie, godeacs.com and gocards.com) 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We continue to work on the new format for the CCRH.  Digital Audio recording and streaming is really hard and fiddly to get right.  We were at the NorthEast Regional Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library yesterday, and while the equipment was a little limited, and the space was...cozy...for three of us, we were able to stream a show.  The audio starts out...not great, though it does improve some later in the show.  In general, we liked the space and I'll be working with the staff at LFPL to bring other improvements to our show and their overall setup.

I've done a bit editing work on the following audio-only link, that should be a bit easier to listen to:
https://ccrh.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/podcast-audio/2020-01-11%2011-00-16.mp3

If you want to see the slideshow of Jared's photos from the Duke game, the video with them in it is below.  The slideshow starts at just over 18 minutes into the video.

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JMcA