Cards and Cats Battle
I take no pleasure in having the closest score prediction for the UofL vs UK WBB game at Memorial Coliseum on yesterday's Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. I picked the Cats winning by ten points, but was just a few points off on the point totals for each squad. I predicted a 75-65 win for Kentucky, and the final score was 71-61 in overtime for the Cats. I will defend myself and say that we were offering predictions, not how we wanted the game to go.
 |
| Alas, this shot probably didn't go in for Olivia Cochran |
The Cards just aren't a solid put-together team, yet. By all accounts, including by Coach Walz, they're a fun team, they all get along great, and that's wonderful to hear and it is conducive to development and improvement as the season goes on, always an plan and expectation of Walz, but at this early season stage, they aren't there, yet.
It was some of the youngsters and otherwise newcomers to the squad that really led the way for UofL last night. The scoring was led by two true freshmen, Imari Berry who scored 14, and Tajianna Roberts who scored 12.
Roberts also had a quartet of rebounds and a pair of steals in her broad contribution. Ja'leah Williams also had balanced contributions across the stat sheet, accounting for nine points, five rebounds, and six assists.
The more familiar faces, well, they didn't have a great night, though they weren't completely bereft of contributions. Olivia Cochran had six rebounds, four assists, and a trio of rebounds, but she only got two points in on the stat that ultimately matters the most. Merissah Russell had seven points, three assists and two rebounds, and Nyla Harris had five points and four rebounds.
So, the returners didn't completely disappear, but they certainly didn't give the output needed to be a good team like Kentucky. Fortunately, this is very early season and this team does look poised to really take some big steps during the season. We'll see if that really happens, but I remain hopeful.
 |
| Sophomore Elif Istanbulluoglu continues to develop and improve. |
The second quarter went the Cards way, 15-11 overall, taking the halftime lead 30-27. UofL then cancelled out the first quarter lead with a 16-15 win of the third quarter, still carrying a four point lead into the final quarter.
The Cats would answer, however, getting the score back to a tie with under five minutes left, and then trading scores with the Cards coming to a 58-58 tie at the end of regulation.
It was in overtime where the wheels really fell off for the Cards. Kentucky would score the first four points of the period on free throws, before Harris would get one from the charity stripe. The teams would trade another pair of free throws, and that would be it for the Cards, reaching their final score of 61. Kentucky would finally score the first field goal of the overtime period with one minutes left and then the late game fouling started adding up, letting the Cats stretch out the lead, even if it didn't really reflect the overall competitiveness of the game.
As is tradition, we'll take a look at the FRED report, though I'm not enthusiastic about it today.
F - 9-15 from the free throw line calculates to a 60%, and that's a big ol' "NOPE" for the F.
R - The Cats outrebounded the Cards 40-28...that's essentially 12 extra possessions for Kentucky, and that pretty clearly doesn't earn an R.
E - In the hustle stats, Kentucky lead in assists and blocks, but Louisville did have the 5-2 edge in steals. Two out of three ain't bad for the Cats, but combine that with our most experienced players mostly disappearing in the game, and I just can't bring myself to award a letter here either.
 | |
| You've got some work to do Coach Walz, but I suspect you know that. |
Overall _-_-_-d...oof, am I the hard grader here? Or were there nuances and subtleties that I missed? Full disclosure, I was at a social event at a friend's house, so could only watch a bit intermittently on my phone, so maybe the Cards' effort was better than what I'm giving them credit for, here.
Louisville continues the in-state competition this Thursday, welcoming Morehead State to the KFC Yum! Center.
Volleyball Senior Day
After a dominant performance, maybe even more than the score suggests, against Duke Friday, the Volleysquad continues the battle against blue hues of North Carolina.
UNC is just on the verge of entering the Top 25 rankings, sitting as the highest point getter in the "Receiving Votes" category.
Louisville won't be able to cruise through this one as easily as they did Friday, but they are definitely the favored team. The Cards are celebrating Senior Day today with festivities after the match honoring Charitie Luper, Sofia Maldonado Diaz, Phekran "PK" Kong, and the pair of hometown heroes, Elena Scott, and Anna DeBeer.
With the Senior Day ceremonies being after the match, hopefully the emotions will remain in check during the match and not affect the quality of play.
The big offensive threat for UNC is Mabrey Shaffmaster, though none of the offensive producers hit with a huge efficiency. UNC overall tends to get outblocked by their opponents, and with the high quality blocking game that the Cards sport, this could be a fun block party today.
The match is at 1pm in the L&N Arena and this will be the last match of the year for the Cards in the cozy confines. The Cards hit the road next week, before returning downtown to the KFC Yum! Center for one of the most anticipated matches of the season against Pitt the day before Thanksgiving before finishing out the season in Palo Alto playing Stanford on their home floor.
Streaming is available on ACC Network Extra for today's match.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
We almost got a full house, with Case, Jared, Paulie, and myself on the call for the CCRHP yesterday. We had a good time talking quite a bit about volleyball, including some fun hypotheticals! And then we talked about the WBB game against Kentucky, including giving our result predictions.
It was a great show, and you can hear it at your favorite podcast directory, or by following the link below:
--
JMcA
Yeah, it was a good game! The young Cards were impressive, but unfortunately, our upperclassmen didn't show up as expected. Still, progress! We've got a young team this year, and we need our upperclassmen to guide the younger players.
ReplyDeleteGo Cards L1C4
O, this game, looked like she was trying to do TOO much.
ReplyDeleteTeam as a whole, and not sure if that was Walz or not, kept trying to go to the rim and KEPT getting rejected.
Gotta develop pull up and 10-12 foot jump shots, IMO.
Still think the future is bright, we have some VERY talented freshmen, Berry and Roberts are NOT scared.
GO CARDS👍
What a disasterous trip. I will never attend another UofL game in Lexington, even if they offer me seats on the bench and let me coach the team in the third quarter. UK has no respect for the visiting fan. The wife and I drove up and searched 30 minutes for a place to park...and this was two hours before the game. We finally found a spot and were charged $40 for it. But, we were so far from Memorial Coliseum, we figured we better take it.
ReplyDeleteIt took us 20 minutew to walk to the facility and when we got there, they were just beginning to let people in. Yes, we stood out in line in our red, and got a few disparinging remarks...but the one thar i remember the most was some big, college kid...obviously full of alcohol, told me "he'd pay me $50 a tcket just to keep "F****** UofL d**** out of a UK facility." i declined. Then a college girl, by the looks of her, told me that "old folks should just stay home and watch on TV." I didnt have the heart to tell her it wasn't a TV game...
We finally got in and decided to get food to take to our seats...$32 for two cold hamburgers, soggy fries and bottled water.
They had the Louisville contingentmostly jammed in the upper reaches of the arnea in the corner and my wife was near tears even before the game started , due to the norrible treatment from UK fans.
It was a tough loss, and the walk back to the car wasnt any bettr. people yelling out the winddow at us to "go home with your s***** team" and some stiuff so hprrible i dont repeat it here. We finaally got to the car, and i did my customary habit of walking around it aftrer i let my wife in and turned it on to warm up, the walk back to the car was cold, mid 40's i figured, and she was shivering. And, in my walk aroind the car, I found beer bottles stuck under two tires...these probaly would have caused flats if had run over them. the lot attendant was gone.
Fortunaely the drive back was uneventful
What a horrible experience and I will never go back as a Cardinal fan to any UK athletic event ever...
Nick O
Sorry tohear about your rough trip, ick.
DeleteSonya and I went up with our photorapher Jared, and becaause of my kidney condition an poor knee, he dropped me and Sonya off in front of Memorial an went to park. But...the media entrance to the FACILITY ISNT OUT FRONT, Is is on the side, cleverly hidden behind construction. We ued to be able to park next to it in previous years, but a parking lot atendant told us "it was full" even with cars leaving ...
This team did not get the leadership it needed from Harris and Cochran Saturday, an we still hung in there because of the freshmen, Berry got hot and kept us in it but we simply could not put the ball in the basket at the end orin overtime, and that cost us the win, plus anothe dismal free throw performance.
It's a long season, and we have had some tough opponents in UK and UCLA. 2-2 isnt a death sentence, but if we continue to get substandard out of Cochran, Russel and Harris, I'd be fine witth Walz letting the freshmen and Elif run the show...
paulie
Good observation I agree with you let the youngins run the show.
Delete