Basketball Mauled by UConn
I doubt too many people will find this surprising, but Louisville went up to New York City to play UConn in the Shark Beauty Women's Champions Classic, and...
well, let's just say it didn't go well for the Cards. Most of the tale is told just with the final score, 85-52.
Only one Cardinal made it into double digit points, Imari Berry, and with overall shooting of just over 25%, you're not going to win too many games.
Let's not dwell too much on this one, and just jump into the FRED Report:
THE FRED REPORT
F - 70% free throw shooting percentage overall, is, of course, just on the cusp of our acceptable percentage. As I explained last week, I use a lower case "f" for 70-75%, while I believe the rest of the Cardinal Couple crew consider this an all or nothing for "F".
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| (I rushed home from Volleyball to watch this?) |
F - 70% free throw shooting percentage overall, is, of course, just on the cusp of our acceptable percentage. As I explained last week, I use a lower case "f" for 70-75%, while I believe the rest of the Cardinal Couple crew consider this an all or nothing for "F".
R - UConn out-rebounded Louisville 52-28, almost double. That's not even in the same state of getting that letter.
E - I didn't put eyes on the telecast, but it's pretty clear that the Cards fell far short in effort and execution. No letter here.
D - A bit of a bright spot here? No, let's call it a dim glimmer, but it is at least something. Louisville had seven steals to UConn's five, and a similarly slim margin in turnovers, only committing 11 compared to the Huskies' 13. The blocks margin went to the New Englanders by a similar margin. That's not much of an overall margin in either of those categories, and is woefully insufficient on it's own to win a game, but I do believe the lowercase "d" is warranted, here.
Overall, a f-_-_-d. Again, that's not going to win games.
Head coach Jeff Walz was his usual "to the point" self about the loss in post game and some of his terse comments may not be suitable for the kiddos. You have beem warned.
UofL will return to the friendly confines of the KFC Yum! Center for a Thursday game against Grambling State with a 7pm start time. That will make scheduling pretty tight if you want to do the double-header with Volleyball, but it might be doable. More on Volleyball scheduling below.
Volleyball Wins an Instant Classic
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| Finally able to celebrate after a 22-20 fifth set |
The Cards won what may have been the most exciting volleyball across the NCAA in years. Let's just let the set scores build the framework of the action. 26-28, 25-22, 23-25, 25-13, 22-20.
First off, let's give credit to the University of Northern Iowa team and their coach Bobbi Petersen. That is a very well coached team, that played quite well, and pushed the Cards to the very breaking point before succumbing. After the match was over and friends, families, and some die-hard fans were waiting for players to emerge from the locker rooms, the UNI team came first and had to walk the length of the court to where the UNI crowd was waiting. The folks in red and black all gave them a very deserved round of applause for a game well played and as a demonstration of the great respect they held for the UNI team.
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| Elena Scott flying through the air |
Now, with that said, and to take away nothing from UNI, Louisville did not play their best. Digging and passing was not as sharp as it typically is. "Serve and pass" (or some rewording of that concept) is an evergreen entry to every "Keys to the game" segment for every team and match out there, and the Cards were a bit sloppy there. Some of that is, again, credit to UNI for good passing and hitting, but not all of it.
Louisville also lives and dies by their blocking, and it showed last night. That 25-13 4th set score? The Cards outblocked UNI significantly in that set, while the rest of the sets were closer. Again, however, some credit to UNI for influencing that stat. Many blocks that Louisville put up at the net didn't get counted in the stats because UNI's blocking coverage was so incredible that they were able to keep the ball alive and transition (a block is only counted in the stats if it goes down and results in a point). Nonetheless, Louisville had a whopping 25 blocks total in the match, at a rate of 5 blocks/set.
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| A big time block by Cara Cresse and Reese Robins |
The NCAA statistics site has Louisville listed in 2nd place in blocks per set, just behind Wisconsin, at a rate of 3.02 blocks/set (Wisc has 3.1/set). When this match gets added into those stats, I suspect Louisville will pop up to the top of the list again. UNI's 17 blocks in the match would, if sustained, put them right at the top of that list as well, so again, respect for the Panthers.
For individual stats, Anna DeBeer and Charitie Luper led the Cards in kills with 19 each, though DeBeer was a bit more efficient hitting .280 to Luper's .175 (remember, both teams were blocking monsters...all hitting percentages will be lower as a result). Cara Cresse and Sofia Maldonado Diaz both had seven.
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| 6'6 Cara Cresse stretches as high as she can |
Cresse was a monster at the net with three solo blocks and 11 shares. Maldonado also had a solo and six shares for an impressive night at the net.
Elena Scott dug 26 shots, Luper 14, and DeBeer 11. UNI chose to serve at Scott for much of the evening, which is a dubious decision, while, as mentioned, our passing wasn't as sharp as it should be, Scott is still going to put the ball on target the vast majority of the time.
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| Oh look, Cresse with another block |
The other deciding factor of the match was service errors. Louisville held theirs mostly in check at seven for the match, while UNI committed 15, including four almost consecutively starting with UNI's first match point at 14-13.
But with all that, and with every bit of energy completely wrung out from every single person in the KFC Yum! Center, the Cards advance to the Sweet 16.
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| Flying, levitating, floating... Elena Scott does it all |
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| Celebratory hug |
(WE HAVE NOT FOUND ANY VIDEO YET OF THE POST GAME PRESSER, BUT WILL CONTINUE TO SEARCH AND WILL UPDATE HERE WHEN IT IS DISCOVERED)
(Volleyball photos by Jared Anderson )
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| ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?!?! |
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
Jared, Paulie, and I gathered for the CCRHP yesterday. We did some fairly quick coverage of the basketball loss to Oklahoma and preview of the UConn game, before shifting to more extensive coverage of volleyball.
Check out the show from Spotify at:
(Jared checking in this afternoon to add a few more volleyball photos. You can take a lot of pictures in a match that goes 2 hours 45 minutes)
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| Anna DeBeer |
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| Charitie Luper |
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| Elle Glock (right) sets Cara Cresse (left) |
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| Elle Glock saves the ball after an Anna DeBeer dig |
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| Victory celebration |
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JMcA
The cards could not keep pace with
ReplyDeleteUconn, once you fall behind you're done.
Sometimes you just have an off night where your shots aren't falling; the ball wasn't going in for the Cards, and their young team got discouraged early, but it's okay - growing pains, the year of the freshman, shake it off, we got more games to play.
Only thing is discouraging is that the upper classmen are not stepping up in the spotlight that's my take so far this year.
Go Cards L1C4