Cards Host Miami -- Other WBB News -- Tennis -- Lax Schedule -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Louisville WBB Hosts Miami

In their third game as the #1 team in the country, Louisville women's basketball prepares to host Miami on Tuesday afternoon. The Cards are fresh off a last second victory over Wake Forest and have entered their second straight week in the top spot of NCAA DI WBB rankings

UofL is 14-0 on the year, matching the 14-0 start in 2018-2019. They started 15-0 in 2006-2007. The best start in program history was 20-0 in 2017-2018.

Miami enters the game at 7-5 on the year with a 4-5 conference mark. The Hurricanes are wrapping up a five-game road trip today at the KFC Yum! Center. At 67.1 points per game, Miami ranks last in the ACC in scoring. Their 66.6 points allowed per game doesn't rank much better. Although, having attempted 291 threes on the year, Miami is only shooting 28.9%.

One promising sign for Miami this year is their turnover margin: +2. That is good enough to rank third in the conference behind Boston College and Louisville. While averaging 14.9 turnovers per game themselves, the Hurricanes are forcing nearly 17.

There's a new "Marshall" in town this afternoon

Senior Kelsey Marshall leads the team in scoring at 14.9 points per game. She has also made 33% of the team's made three-point shots with 17. Three other players average between 8.70 and 9.80 points per game.

Rebounding has been by committee for Miami, who has eight players hauling in 3.13 and 5.90 boards per game.

At 65%, Miami has not been a great free throw shooting team. Or at least by the F-R-E-D Report standards, we would not be satisfied with 65% shooting.

Katie Meier is the head coach of Miami WBB 

The Cards are 5-2 all-time against Miami. The Hurricanes came to the KFC Yum! Center back on Feb. 17, 2019 and pulled off the 79-83 upset. Since then, Louisville crushed the Canes 87-41 back on Jan. 9, 2020 down in Coral Gables.

This game is a bit earlier than normal at 4:00 p.m. You can catch it on ACC Network as well as online. You also have the option to 790-AM WKRD to hear Nick Curran and AJ.

Other WBB News

-- Dana Evans was named ACC Player of the Week. Is there any real debate? Evans has straight ice in her veins and should be everyone's top contender for Player of the Year. The senior averaged 23.0 points per game in the wins against Syracuse and Wake Forest while playing every minute of both games. She also averaged 5.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.5 steals over that stretch.

-- Louisville remained #1 in the latest AP Poll with 739 points. NC State is close behind at 710 points for the #2 spot. Pending no upsets for either team in the next few days we will have one Hell of a game next Monday.

-- UConn and South Carolina remained at #3 and #4, respectfully. After a match-up that the Bruins came out on top, UCLA and Stanford switched spots with UCLA taking #5. Syracuse dropped out of the rankings and into the receiving votes category. They are joined by Georgia Tech.

Women's Tennis Opens Season With Sweep

Louisville women's tennis head coach
is Mark Beckham 

It was a solid way to start the season as women's tennis as they swept Ball State 7-0 The Cards three doubles groups all won with scores of 6-2, 6-3, and 6-4.

Nikolina Jovic starts season as #1 seed

Nikolina Jovic played in the #1 role, winning 6-3, 7-5. Andrea Di Palma was in the #2 spot and won 6-3, 6-3. Raven Neely was in the #3 hole and defeated her opponent 7-6, 6-0. Chelsea Sawyer was #4 on the chart and claimed a victory 6-2, 6-3. Rhea Verma lined up #5 and won 6-4, 6-3. Dina Chaika was in the final spot and won 6-3, 6-2.

The Cards start the year 1-0 and return home on Saturday against Miami (OH).

Lacrosse Schedule Released

Another spring schedule was announced yesterday as we saw the lacrosse schedule released. The LAX Cards have 15 games on the schedule, eight at home and seven on the road.

Louisville starts the season with four straight home games, hosting Florida (Feb. 13), Colorado (Feb. 18), Notre Dame (Feb. 28), and Cincinnati (March 3).

They then hit the road for a three game stretch. The Cards will visit Virginia (March 6), Central Michigan (March 12), and Marquette (March 14) before returning home briefly to host North Carolina (March 20).

Scott Teeter is the Louisville LAX head coach

Some later ACC games will feature double headers over the weekend. Louisville travels to Boston College for a two-game series (March 26 and 28) before a visit to Virginia Tech (April 3). Louisville's home season ends with three straight home games. They host Duke (April 10) and close with Syracuse for a double header (April 16 and 18).

The Cards conclude the regular and conference season on the road at Notre Dame (April 24)/. After that, the ACC Tournament, although we haven't got a firm "Yes, that will happen" yet. 

This is a top-flight, challenging schedule for Scott Teeter's squad. The LAX Cards will play 11 of the 15 contests against squads that were ranked in the top 25 last season. They face #1 UNC, #2 Norte Dame twice, #4 Syracuse twice, #8 Florida, #15 Virginia, #18 Duke, #19 Boston College twice and #24 Virginia Tech. In the power-packed ACC, the Cards are the lone squad that wasn't ranked in the top 25 last season. The Cards do return their top two scorers of the shortened 2020 fall season in Hannah Morris and Ally Hall. 

We'll still be without any nighttime games at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium, but the Cards do have an evening game at Syracuse. The home schedule features a game on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday plus three games on Saturday and two on Sunday.

In-person media coverage of lacrosse this year is still uncertain, although we will provide plenty of lacrosse news and coverage both near and afar here at Cardinal Couple.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared