Hear the Saturday Cardinal Couple podcast at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-GoJ5n8xf8&feature=youtu.be at 11 a.m. Saturday !
EARLY START, DEFENSE MAKES MIAMI MISERABLE IN 46 POINT WIN
One could say Miami never showed up at all, as UofL roared out to a 9-0 lead, kept Miami from making a basket for the first 13 minutes of the action and had no trouble with the Hurricanes in a demolishing 87-41 romp.
The moon over Miami shone brightly on at least one squad last night, the Cards shot 55.6% from the floor (a season high), committed just 11 turnovers and owned the points-in-the paint 44-14 (it was 22-0 in paint-scoring by half-time)...as Miami felt the effects of having preseason ACC POY Beatrice Mompremier on the bench nursing a injured foot.
Louisville (or shall we say Kylee Shook) roared out of the gate and it was Kylee 7 - Miami 0 after 3 1/2 minutes. Taking advantage of the shorter Canes line-up with Mompremere and freshman forward Moulayna Johnson Sidi Baba (ankle injury) confined to just watching, Louisville was attacking the basket and controlling the boards.Miami got their first point on a free throw with 4:25 left in the first quarter and only managed three more points the rest of the period (all free throws). After Shook sizzling start, Jaz, Ya-Ya, Liz and Dana all found ways to get involved offensively and the defense held the Canes to 0-14 shooting.
15-4 at the end of the first and Miami was falling victim to the Cards domination on both ends of the court.
Miami offered just 3-26 shooting (11.5%) and three Cardinals (Shook, Diop and Evans) had nine points each. By then, Walz had gone deep in the lineup, with Robinson, Dixon, Diop and Konno all seeing significant action and the only real question was how much the Cards would win by.
Shook started the third quarter with a three (her only of the game) and a 8-2 Cardinal run had pushed the score to 44-18 UofL. Bionca Dunham was playing a whale of a game that the stats weren't showing and she got into the scoring action with two straight buckets to make it 48-24 with six minutes left in the third. Shook picked up the final of her 14 points on the night on a fast break layup to set the tally at 53-26. Diop's jumper made it 61-28 and the quarter ended 61-30 Louisville. The Cards had outscored Miami 24-14 in the third and the Canes launched nine three-pointers in those ten minutes, making just two. After Jaz started the final period with two straight buckets and Louisville had amassed a 67-32 lead, the rest of the way featured Jess Laemmle, Lindsey Duvall, Norika Konno, Molly Lockhart and Liz Dixon getting valuable minutes. The scoring didn't stop...Duvall knocked back two threes, Konno contributed seven of her nine points in the quarter and Dixon was facilitating the reserve's efforts with strong defense and rebounding. It was a 26-11 quarter for the visitors from Derby City, Dixon's free throw with 30 seconds left topped off the 87-41 win.
Freshman Brianna Jackson (I know what you're thinking and, no, the former Bull and Cardinal hasn't found four more years of eligibility) drew the start in Mompremier's absence and led Miami with 13 points.
Kasa Robinson showed that she's starting to "get it" last night. A wonderful all-around effort with a team-high seven assists, four-points, three steals and five rebounds in 16 minutes. She's been spending extra time in the gym and it shows.
All tongue-wagging aside (but a great cameo from Jaz after the game), Louisville kept the drama out of the contest by taking control early and increasing the lead. No "Cardiac Cards" last night. Instead, a "Consistent Cards" squad conquered Coral Gables.
THE FRED REPORT
 |
| The late, great Fred Wiche would have been proud of the way UofL planted the Canes. |
REBOUNDS -- The Cards were chairwomen of the board, out-grabbing the Canes 49-33. No one in double figures but Louisville held Miami to a lot of "one shot and done" efforts and just 11 second chance points on the night. All 12 Cards who saw action had at least one, Kylee's eight led the way and we see no problem with awarding the CAPTIAL "R" here.
EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Looking down the roster, no one had a rough night for the Cards. Just 11 turnovers, 44 point-in-the paint, a 16-4 edge in fast break points, 43 bench points and 25 assists on 3 made baskets. A definite CAPITAL "E" for the way they played.
DEFENSE -- Maybe Louisville's best defensive effort on the season. Miami was 13-64 (20.3%) from the floor, the Cards got seven steals and six blocked shots and made the Canes work hard for any positive offensive efforts. Miami went 4-27 from three-point range the Cards shutdown starters Banks, Gray, Marshall (1-20 from the floor). No doubt about the award here, a CAPITAL "D" closes out the FRED report.
FINAL FRED TALLY: F-R-E-D
SO...
 |
| Canes fans must have been busy bowling. Less than 1000 showed up last night. |
Let there be no doubt, this Miami team really missed Mompremier, but...they managed to give FSU all they wanted in a 73-62 loss without her in the game before. No one volunteered for the "next one up" role in her absence. And, Louisville followed Walz's game plan, albeit...he prepared the team expecting her to play. The Cards rebounded, played defense, shot well and held the foe to under 50 points.
When you do those type of things, you're going to win. Mission accomplished and, now a return to Louisville...where a surprisingly good Wake Forest squad (10-5 and 3-1 in ACC play) comes in for a sunday 2 p.m. game. The Cards, now 15-1 and atop the ACC with a 4-0 record (after NC State stumbled to UNC 66-60) havd their destiny totally in their hands. A lot of ACC games to go, sure, but one game at a time is the Louisville WBB philosophy and with seven straight wins now, it appears to be the right course to travel.
paulie
xxxxx
I was ready for this one today...
ReplyDeleteC-Care: 11 turnovers for UofL compared to 11 for the Hurricanes. I don’t remember having a push in this area before, so I’m going to go to points off of the turnovers as a tiebreaker. Louisville won that category 12-5. Miami is not a good turnover forcing team, though, ranking 214th in the country with 16.07 per game. Louisville had a pretty good game from a turnover perspective but needed a couple fewer to get to 60%. Lowercase ‘c’.
A-Assists: Louisville had 25 assists. That’s a really big number. Mykasa Robinson led that number with seven. She also had three steals and just two turnovers and two fouls in 16 minutes. Nice game for ‘Kasa. The Cards made 35 field goals so the 25 assists is well above 50%. Add that to the low turnover number and we’ve got a capital ‘A’.
S-Steals: With Louisville forcing just 11 turnovers, the high steal number was unlikely. They got seven, which is a half point below the benchmark but they did outsteal Miami. Lowercase ‘s’.
E-Efficency: 35-63. Wow. That’s 55.6% from the floor, including 62% from two point land. They also shot 83.3% from the free throw line. Capital ‘E’.
Hard to imagine that Louisville wouldn’t have a good statistical night when they won a road game by 40+ and a c-A-s-E is a very good night. Here’s hoping the Cards can keep it up in the future.
Was rooting for Mompremier to be available, but don't think she would have been enough to stop us from winning.
ReplyDeleteAs expected, Kylee bounced back with close to a double double, and Mykasa showed just how valuable she can be, I actually thanked her for putting in the work on her shot that was obvious. Never saw her free throws look as good as they did last night.
And, as expected, the team showed how dangerously good they can/will be with EVERYONE contributing.
Now they need to stay consistent and the sky is the limit.
Last, I remember stating before the season that Konno had a helluva eurostep, saw her do it many times in some clips I saw, and boy that was one helluva eurostep last night. Loved how Bianca imitated her on the sideline after. Imagine she has used it in practice multiple times 😁
I loved the eurostep. Konno is sneaky good.
DeleteI think Diop will prove to be a key if this team moves from a "very good" team to a "great" team. She has really stepped up her game and it will be hard to keep her off the follor.
Make that "off the floor"
DeleteLOL. B has moves...Just a feel-good "W" that was overdue.
DeletePaulie
xxxxx
A solid conference win ,Cards take care of business , no let down playing a limited Miami team.PS glad to see Molly & Lindsay get some PT.
ReplyDeleteLindsey always makes the most of her minutes on the floor. She'd be starting for most of the other ACC teams.
Deletepaulie
xxxxx
Boom, boom ! Out went the lights last night. Beside Oregon, the Cards best game of the year. I hope they bottled this one and can bring it back out the rest of the season. so many good efforts, but, I'm proudest of the team defense.
ReplyDeleteShow that tongue, Jaz !!
Curtis "saw the Miami massacre" Franklin
I have to wonder which UofL WBB team will show up to play a much better than last year Wake Forest team on Sunday. The one that struggled at UT Martin or the one that blew out Miami?
ReplyDeleteCase. Walz said he wanted 10 turnovers or less against Miami. They committed 11 and several of those were late in the game when the reserves were in. Your "c" is incorrect. Should be a capital C.
As far as the rest of your letter assignments. OK, they're OK. Paulie's all-capital letter awards for his FRED report is valid. Louisville hit their free throws, rebounded well, executed beautifully and played shut down defense.
I do like the analysis you guys do. Much better that "little dumplin' Jody Demling's trivial bullshit and trying to dig his nose up Walz's derriere as far as he can. Demling does get committed recruit interviews, though, and you guys haven't in a while. What's up with that?
That was fun-to-watch and effective win Thursday. Kylee won't have nearly as much success inside early against WFU as she did against a depleted Canes lineup.
Jen Hoover's WFU team will bore you to death with their patient, ball-control, work for the good shot offense. That style keeps them in games, though, and they are very aggressive on the boards which Louisville isn't.
I'm calling a close one Sunday. We get a 3-5 point win. Led by Dana and Jaz.
Nick O
Nick, I won't "bash" anyone who covers UofL wBB. More the merrier, as far as i am concerned.
DeleteAs for signee interviews, no comment.
paulie
xxxxx