Louisville Visits South Bend to Face Notre Dame
Louisville women's basketball hits the road again with a trip to South Bend for a 7:00 p.m. game against #10 Notre Dame. The Cards and Irish will command the spotlight as they will be aired on ESPN.
Notre Dame comes into the game 20-4 on the season while their 11-3 ACC record places them second in the conference, one game ahead of the Cards.
The Irish are riding a two-game win streak with victories over Syracuse and Pitt, both by single digits, after losing two of three prior to that.
Dara Mabrey is out for the year due to an injury, but plenty of other players still pose a major threat to Louisville. The name that tends to draw the most fear in opposing teams is Olivia Miles. She leads the team in scoring (14.9 ppg), rebounds (7.1 rpg), and assists (7.2 apg).
Sonia Citron (14.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg), Maddy Westbeld (11.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg), and Lauren Ebo (9.9 ppg, 7.0 rpg) have all played crucial parts for the Irish this season. While Citron and Westbeld both regularly find themselves in the starting lineup, Ebo is a player who comes off the bench and then have an immediate impact in the flow and pace of the game.
Notre Dame and Louisville have both been lethal on offense with the two teams shooting .464 and .459, respectively. Despite the high number of turnovers this season, Louisville ranks second in the conference with 15.4 assists per game. The only team ahead of them? Well, they'll be on the other side of the ball, putting their 15.8 assists per game on the line.
The Cards and Irish have built themselves a bit of a rivalry that dates back to the Big East days. Notre Dame currently leads the series 16-12, but Louisville has won six straight and eight of the last 10, going back to the 100-67 game where a certain "that other player" dropped 36 points.
The Cards are 4-0 with their "new" stating lineup, following the win over Clemson Sunday. In that Clemson win, Norika Konno had a career high 12 points and Olivia Cochran had a career high 12 rebounds. Louisville has also increased their assist rate in the last four games, with 75 (or 18.8 a game) on 99 made baskets.
Niele Ivey, Irish WBB head coach, sees it this way:
"It's an opportunity to bounce back from the two losses last year. We both get up for this game, it's a battle. They have a different lineup this year, but they always have a great inside and outside presence.".
The next installment of the rivalry happens in the spotlight tonight and we are ready for it.
HE SAID IT:
JEFF WALZ PRE NOTRE DAME PRESSER 2/15/23
(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON AND OTHER SOURCES)
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
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| (Remember Dennis Hopper's nickname in Hoosiers?) |
Slowly but surely we're catching up on some of the player's nicknames on the WBB squad. Here's what we've got, if you have any to add, just drop them in the comments system!
Merissah Russell -- RIZ (rhymes with 'fizz')
Norika Konno -- REEK (rhymes with 'seek')
Kasa Robinson -- KOS (rhymes with pause)
Olivia Cochran -- O
Chrislyn Carr -- CC
Alexia Mobley -- (I've heard 'LEX' but not sure how widely it's used)
Happy Thursday and Go Cards!
Jared
OK, OK OK !!! Game day !! Gotta take it to Notre Dame tonight I Can't think of a conference foe I like beating more (NCST would be close). Beat down that Irish tradition, shut them up in South Bend and slam that leprechaun into a fifth row seat.
ReplyDeleteCurtis "Bee Kind" Franklin
Due to years of "Stuffy Muffy" looking down her nose🤣🤣🤣
DeleteWalz said it and I'll repeat it. You win this game tonight by not doing stupid things with the ball.
ReplyDeleteNick O.
Slow down Miles and slow down the Irish.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this would be a good game for Hailey to go off👍
DeleteYes I agree ,and the cards also have to shut down #11 Sonia Citron
Hello Friends !
ReplyDeleteArthur Here !
I hope your women come out gang busters and duplicate the first half effort you put up against us for 40 minutes against the Irish.
Not having Mabrey is a plus for you, but Citron really looks like she's shown up to play lately, Miles is always dangerous. Maddy Westbeld and Kylee Watson can really hurt an opponent. If Ebo is ready to go for them, that's just another headache to deal with.
I'll back the words of your coach...that if you take care of the ball, you have a good chance of beating them. The crowd, of course, up there will be crazy but nothing like you all can put in the KFC YUM! Center.
We got Miami tonight, down in Coral Gables. I hope Amari Robinson shows up to play and not sulk. Right now, we're destined to be one of the six teams that plays Wednesday in the ACC Tournament, which is never good...unless Syracuse self-implodes.
Speaking of the tournament, we're going and will probably stay the whole time. My son, who has moved back here and will be moving his family here after school reaches the summer break, will be going with Bea and I. He hasn't been to the ACC Tournament since they played it in Charlotte... since he was a little boy. Cardinal Couple crew going this year?
Win tonight !
Your Friend
#1 Clemson Fan
Arthur
Greer, SC
Why that's ol Shooter in the Hoosiers picture and the Cards will be best served by taking the air out of the ball and controlling the tempo. You don't want a run out against the Irish.
ReplyDelete