CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDINAL COUPLE
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Sunday, January 8, 2023

Basketball Separated by a Decade - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Pitt Preview




Round two vs the Pitt Panthers today, this time here in Louisville.

The Panthers are oh-fer in conference so far, 0-4, with one of those coming at the hands of the Cardinals (77-53) as mentioned.  They've also lost to Syracuse and Miami, both of which are in the 2-2 traffic jam in the middle of the conference right now, as well as Wake Forest, with a conference record of 1-4.

Outside of conference, they're 7-4, but the competition hasn't been great.  The best opponents, and the four loses, are to DePaul, Maryland, Illinois, and Ball State.  Pitt wins have come against the likes of George Mason, Towson, and Loyola (MD).




Of course we have some familiarity with the names already.  Liatu King, Amber Brown, Dayshanette Harris, and Maliyah Johnson are the leading scorers, ranging from 11.4 to 8.5 points per game.  The biggest threat in our previous matchup was Taisha Exanor, off the bench with 12 points and a trio of steals.

Pitt isn't particularly well regarded in the ACC conference for Women's Basketball, and yes I do find the contrast with Volleyball somewhat amusing, where a Final Four bound team lost to Towson.  In any case, if there was a day of competition in the ACC where you could maybe sit back and take it easy, this would be it, but those days just don't exist.




Coach Walz has said rather pointedly that you can't take any teams for granted in this conference.  UNC is currently 0-3 in conference, and they're a nationally ranked team.  NC State is 2-2 in conference, and they're a top 10 ranked team.  You just can't let your guard down, regardless of how unimpressive the competition looks.

The Cards will count on Hailey Van Lith a lot, per usual:

Hailey Van Lith led the Cards last time out ( vs GT) with 24 points marking the third-straight game she has scored 20 points or more and the 10th time this season.
She is the first player to have 20 or more points in the first four conference games of the season since Angel McCoughtry in the 2006-07 season. She scored 20 or more in each of the first five BIG EAST games that season.
She is averaging 22.8 points in conference games.
Van Lith shot 50 percent from the floor after going 10-for-20. It was her third-straight game shooting 50 percent or better and the seventh time she has done it this season.
It is the second time in her career she has shot 50 percent or more in three-straight games.
She led the team with four assists, the fourth time in the last five games she has led the team in assists
.

Tip is a 2pm, and the game is on ACCN on your tuner in addition to streaming.  And, of course, you always have the option of catching Nick Curran along with one of the alumnae of the 2013 Final Four team, Cortnee Walton on 93.9FM for the radio call.

2013 Celebration


Speaking of that 2013 with a freshman Cortnee Walton, they will be honored during today's game.  The surprise team of the tournament that year, knocking off Baylor, headlined by Brittany Griner on the way to a national championship game matchup with UConn in New Orleans.

What was that 2013 team doing on January 8th of that year?  Beating Rutgers 66-57 in overtime.  Shoni Schimmel had 21 points, which to that point was a season high.  Monique Reed had 18 points, with Nita Slaughter and Bria Smith both adding 10.  And we gotta give a shout out to one of the best names ever in college basketball, playing for Rutgers was Precious Person.

It appears that nearly all of the 2013 team is in town for the celebration, including a gathering last night at the men's game.  Kim Pemberton, who was Sports Information director for the squad back then, posted a picture of them on Twitter.


Who was your favorite player from that squad?  The Schimmels, Jude and Shoni, of course were big crowd favorites, but the local players also had quite a following, Nita Slaughter, Mo Reid, Shelby Harper, Sara Hammond, and Tia Gibbs, all from Kentucky.  And, of course, Asia Taylor has long been a Cardinal Couple favorite.

Sound off in the comments and then get down to the game today against Pitt to cheer on both our current team and this 2013 squad.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast




It was a good crew, and a good discussion on the CCRHP yesterday as we kicked off the 2023 podcasts.  Case was out, but Paulie, Jared, Daryl and Jeff held fort. We spent most of the time on basketball, because it's that time of year.  We recapped some of the Georgia Tech win, and we talk about what's still needed for this team to put together the quality of play that we hope for from a UofL squad.

We got a quick bit of Volleyball news in towards the end, plus a rundown of what's going on with Cards in the Pros in both Soccer and Volleyball.  Some good news and a little bit of tough news in there.

Find it at anchor.fm:
and at any other significant podcast directory.

-- JMcA

2 comments:

  1. The year that wbb became the team I cheer for most, bypassing the men even though they won the championship. And it hasn't changed since👍

    ReplyDelete
  2. Go Cards beat Pitt!!!
    Waiting for Liz Dixon to have a break out game, and
    Nyla Harris first Double double.

    ReplyDelete

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