Good morning readers! We're in a nose dive into the holiday season and the good news is that the Cards WBB squad is over .500 again and back on the quest for a national championship.
Speaking of national championships... a reminder that the city of Louisville will host the NCAA Volleyball Championship next month and tickets are available for all sessions on Ticketmaster. If I'm not drowning in wedding prep by then, I would seriously like to make it down there for the matches, even if the Cards don't make it (but, of course, we seriously hope they do!!!!!)
WBB
WBB
Photos: Jared Anderson
The Cardinals topped in state foe, the Morehead State Eagles 107 to 70 on a snowy Thursday evening down at the Yum! Center. 14 players scored for the Cardinals against Morehead State as UofL was lead by freshman Imari Berry who had 21 points on 8-12 shooting, 5-8 from 3-point range. As a team, the Cards shot 63% from the field and pulled away from the Eagles with two dominating 2nd and 4th quarters where they outscored the Eagles 59-23. 72 points came off the bench for UofL. Ja'Leah Williams had 8 assists and the Cards had 25 assists on 39 made buckets.
End of 1Q Cards 28 - 27
FG %
9-12 75% Cards
11-17 65% Eagles
Reb. 6 - 4 Cards
3-pt %
3-5 60% Cards
5-8 63% MSU
Mackenly Randolph hit the game's first jumper after the Cards used the entire possession before finally being able to convert. Nyla Harris scored next to keep the offense rolling before a 1-2 trip to the free throw line in the first couple of minutes. Merissah Russell entered 2 min. into the match for Randolph... before making her first appearance this season, Jada Cedurry enters 7:30 on the clock in the first quarter and 30 seconds later nailed the three pointer. The Cards are looking hot on offense when Olivia finds a way to squeeze through the defense underneath to put it up and in and the Cards up 11-4 on the Eagles.
The Eagles then went on a 6-0 run over a minute to tie it up 13 all just before the first quarter media timeout. Imari Berry came in and nailed back to back threes for the Cards, But Morehead State would not be intimidated as they had just as many .weapons loaded to shoot and score as well. With 2 min left in the first quarter, the Eagles took the lead again 23-22 before the Cards re-establish the lead for good.
End of 2Q 31-10 Cards
FG %
11-16 68.8% Cards
3-9 33.3% MSU
Reb. 8-5 Cards
3-pt %
7-11 63.6% Cards
1-3 33.3% MSU
Ja'Leah Williams hit her first bucket of the game... a 3... to put the Cards up 31-28. Berry gets the nice bounce on a floater before MSU turns it over and Williams hit another from three point land and the Eagles call a timeout.
Berry had 5 threes and went 6-9 in the half for the Cardinals. As a team the Cards went 11-16 for 69% in the quarter.
HALF 59-37 Cards
End of 3Q 20-20
FG %
9-16 56.3% Cards
8-16 50% Eagles
Reb. 9-8 Eagles
3-pt %
1-4 25% Cards
3-3 100% Eagles
Olivia got the scoring going for the Cardinals in the second half for her 8th points. With so much production coming from the newcomers for the Cardinals, I'm sure it's nice for Olivia not to feel so much pressure to score so much in order to win games.
End of 4Q 28-13 Cards
FG %
10-18 55.6% Cards
5-16 31.3% Eagles
Reb. 16-6 Cards
3-pt %
5-7 71.4% Cards
1-6 16.7% Eagles
Curry hits her second three and ninth point of the game to make it 93-65. All 14 scorers for the Cardinals scored when Arenas hit a three pointer and the team wrapped up the game scoring 6 points in the final minute of play.
UP NEXT
Louisville vs South Florida
Sunday 1pm
FRED REPORT
Fred Couples
FREE THROWS -- I actually gasped when I looked at the final stat line at the free throw line for the Cards. As a team, UofL went 13-24 in the game which is good for 54% and definitely not good for a letter in the category by our standards. This area must improve moving forward as it could be a difference maker against tougher opponents. no letter
REBOUNDING -- The Cards outrebounded the Eagles 38-24 with Cochran and Imafidon both pulling down 6 each. I definitely noticed some energy from Imafidon as she got some more minutes towards the end of the game. I look forward to seeing the duo work together on rebounding duties to give the Cards some more offensive opportunities. Capital R
EFFORT/EXECUTION -- This squad is still learning who they are and who they can be but they did manage to get back in the win column in a stunning 107 fashion despite the bad night at the free throw line. The defense also looked a little lost sometimes so I will give it a Capital letter E for the overall win and a really impressive 2nd and 4th quarter.
DEFENSE -- I don't think any of us at Cardinal Couple thought this one would be a close one and I don't think the Cardinals looked like a bad team but I do think that when the Eagles were scoring, they were pretty open shots and they were going in. The squad did have 5 blocks and steals which I believe came more towards the end of the game when Imafidon had 3 blocks in the 4th. lower case d
FINAL FRED TALLY: _R_E_d
CAPTION THIS:
Our illustrious photographer Jared has offered us a chance to add the caption to the photo below. Ypou know what thet say..you're nobody until Jared takes a picture of you. Fele free to leave you comment in..duh..the comments section.
Volleyball
Louisville at Virginia
7:00 P.M.
ACCNX
The Hoos are coming off a 1-1 weekend on the road after being swept by #7 Stanford before taking a 3-1 win over Cal.
The Cavs and the Cards have met 13 times dating back to 1995. Louisville has taken the last seven matches between the two squads including the lone 2023 meeting which was a sweep (16-25, 16-25, 17-25). The last time the Cards lost a set was October 27th at Southern Methodist.
As always
Go Cards!
~Daryl
For caption this...maybe Walz is thinking "I get to sit down for a game once...whooopie!!!!
ReplyDeleteNick O"
"we'll be done in time to watch hogan's heroes!"
ReplyDelete--paulie--