Cards Travel to Boston College
The pressure is off. Coming off their first speed bump of the season, Louisville women's basketball travels to Chestnut Hill tonight to take on Boston College. Louisville is fresh off a 74-60 loss to #4 NC State on Monday night. It ended the Cards' 16-game winning streak to start the season.
Boston College hasn't been able to say the same with their successes this year. The Eagles sit below the .500 mark with a 5-7 record. All seven of those losses came in conference play while their sole conference victory was a three-point victory against Notre Dame.
Louisville took the previous match this season 89-70 in the KFC YUM! Center back on Jan 14th. If you'll remember, Dana Evans had 24 points for the Cards and Louisville was 11-13 from the charity stripe.
For Boston College, since that victory over Notre Dame, the Eagles lost to Wake Forest, Louisville, and then Notre Dame got their revenge on Jan. 17. The games against Clemson, Pitt, and Florida State were postponed/cancelled due to COVID-19 protocol. This is the first game for the Eagles in 18 days.
All five of the wins for Boston College have come at home at Conte Forum.
The Eagles rank nearly dead last in the ACC in points per game (69.6, 11th) and points allowed per game (69.3, 12th). Taylor Soule has been their top scorer at 15.3 points per game. Cameron Swartz and Makayla Dickens both average 12.4 ppg for their other top scorers.
Boston College averages 37 rebounds per game. 40% of their rebounds have been on the offensive end.
Surprisingly, the Eagles lead the conference in opponent turnovers per game with 19.6. They also lead the conference with 9.83 steals per game and a +3.25 turnover margin.
If Louisville can avoid costly turnovers, they have the upper leg in this game. With the pressure of an undefeated season gone and the likely chance of the #1 ranking being held by someone else come Monday, the Cards can get back to playing Louisville basketball.
We haven't seen Louisville play a true full four quarters since first earning the top spot in the polls. Three of the four wins came down to the final minute. The Cards looked panicked and out of sorts at times during their five games as the #1 team.
The target is gone. The stress is gone. I fully expect to see UofL look like they did early in the season. Hopefully, this game can be out of reach by halftime. We didn't do Cardinal Couple predictions for this game but I'll throw out an 82-60 score for this.
You can catch this 8:00 p.m., tip-off on ACC Network. As always, Nick Curran and AJ call an excellent game on 790-AM WKRD.
NGWSD
National Girls and Women in Sports Day was yesterday. This was the 35th annual NGWSD. UofL has been a huge advocate for the presence of women and those who identify as women in their athletics program. They have spared no expense for the women's teams with top notch facilities and support. I think we are all proud to be a part of a school that leads the way in women's athletics.
We here at Cardinal Couple strive to bring you the Joy and Excitement of UofL Women's Sports. Instead of celebrating this wonderful holiday one day per year we try to bring it to you 365 days per year (366 every four years).
Happy Thursday and Go Cards!
Jared
Kianna really needs to find her range again, that alone would help tremendously.
ReplyDeleteI agree!
ReplyDelete