Louisville Travels to Pitt
Louisville women's basketball begins their final road trip with a trip to Pittsburgh tonight. Having already earned a double-bye in the ACC Tournament, the Cards can clench the 2-seed with a win tonight.
Teams: #4 Louisville vs Pittsburgh
Records: Louisville (23-3, 14-2 ACC), Pittsburgh (11-16, 2-14 ACC)
Where: "The Pete" Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.
When: 6:00 p.m. ET
TV: ACC Network Extra (online)
Radio: 790-AM WKRD
Head-to-Head Record: Louisville leads 22-2
Coaches: Jeff Walz (15th season as Louisville head coach)
Lance White (4th season as Pittsburgh head coach)
Key Players: Louisville: Hailey Van Lith (13.6 ppg, .355 3-pt pct), Kianna Smith (11.8 ppg, 3.0 assists per game .388 3-pt pct), Emily Engstler (11.2 ppg, 8.9 rpg, .426 3-pt pt), Olivia Cochran (8.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg)
Pittsburgh: Dayshanette Harris (10.0 ppg, 2.88 assists per game), .326 3-pt pct), Amber Brown (9.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg), Liatu King (6.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
Pitt is riding near the bottom of the ACC and their NCAA Tournament chances ride solely on winning the ACC Tournament. Louisville throttled Pitt 89-31 earlier this season. The Panthers' two wins in conference play came against Wake Forest at home and at Clemson in overtime.
One big change in the Pitt lineup is that leading scorer Jayla Everett was dismissed from the Panthers squad on Sunday, for unspecified reasons. She was Pitt's leading scorer.
Since the thumping earlier this year, Pitt has shown signs of improvement (if you can call losing by 15 or less each game improvement). Overall, on the year, the Panthers have just a -3.1 scoring margin.
The one good thing Pitt is good at is drawing fouls to shoot free throws. However, they aren't good at making free throws. The Panthers rank 14th in the conference with a 64.1 free throw percentage. With Louisville's poor luck with fouls, there is reason for concern in terms of players getting in foul trouble.
Tonight's biggest concern is the mentality and attitude Louisville has going into the game. With the 1-seed in the ACC Tournament no longer possible and a tie for the ACC regular season title highly unlikely, a game against a bottom dweller can be tough to get motivated for. Still, with Jeff Walz and Co, the Cards should be more than prepared for tonight's game.
Four Cards Earn Postgraduate Scholarship Awards
UofL prides itself on academic success in its athletics and four Cards just received postgraduate scholarship awards.
Alli Bitting, Michaela Dukes, and Gabriela Leon were among 54 recipients of the 2022 Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship Award while Kianna Smith was named an honorary recipient by the ACC.
All four Cards have been on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll and have been named to their respective All-ACC Academic Teams.
There's certainly plenty of reason to congratulate all four of them.
Weekend Events + Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
Yes, our normal Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast is still on as usual this weekend. The crew on air might be a little slim as we see spring sports clashing with our normal time slot. Both lacrosse and softball are known to have early games on Saturday. Softball is down south in the Wooo Pig Clasic in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Scott Teeter's LAX squad is set for a noon start this Saturday, opening ACC play by hosting Va. Tech. Paulie is debating on whether he will hop on air or head out to the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. I will be out there taking pics in the Cards' ACC opener.
Tune in Saturday to see just who is on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast at 11 a.m. Check out the CCRHP You Tube site at THIS link.
Happy Thursday and Go Cards!
Jared
What was Pitt thinking? You get rid of your leading scorer with two games left in the season and probably just one ACC game? Cards by as many as they want tonight.
ReplyDeleteNick O.
Why is this one on Internet only? The other 6 p.m. games are GT at FSU ---which is on the ACC Network and Miami at VT --- which is on Bally (RSN). These are going to draw more than Louisville? STUPID DECISION ACC and Bally.
ReplyDeleteCurtis "Be Kind" Franklin
Miami could play a spoiler role in preventing VT a top 4 lot in ACC Tournamenr. GT is hanging in there for a top four spot. Only reason I can think of, Curtis.
DeletePaulie
Both of those games should be competitive while we should win by 30+. Easy decision for the broadcasters.
DeleteI am assuming that games on the ACCN are planned in advance with an equal showing for ALL the teams.
DeleteI'm quite happy with the game being on the streaming instead of Bally.
DeleteThe RSNs can't die soon enough for me.
Only variable is how long they stay focused.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's hoping the reserves get half the minutes.
ACC usually has their network games lined up before conference play starts, unless there is a team on a COVID pause or can't find an airplane to take them to a particular city. Miami vs Virginia Tech could be a good one, may have that on while watching Cards on ACCNX or listening to Nick and AJ.
ReplyDeleteWill Konno see playing time?
Blue Lou