BIRDS SUFFER 30-POINT BEATDOWN FROM NCST
There are some games you wish you would have missed... in afterthought...and the Sunday debacle in the KFC Yum! Center was certainly one of those. .
Wes Moore's Wolfpack jumped out to a 10-0 in the first 4-1/2 minutes of the first quarter and were never seriously challenged in the Cards 72-42 loss. Louisville shot 15% (3 for 20) in the first quarter and trailed 19-6 after the first ten minutes of play. and, it got worse.
Louisville managed to break into double figures 2-1/2 minutes into the second quarter, on a Jayda Curry three, to make it 28-11, but Louisville would get no closer than 17 points iafter that in the second frame and trailed 41-21 after the first half.
It was not a thing of beauty, the halftime stat sheet...the Cards were 8-35 from the floor and a "palm-to-the-forehead" 1-10 from three point range. The ball simply wasn't going in the basket for the home team.. You can attribute part of that to the good play from the NCST guards... Aziaha James, Madison Hayes, Saniya Rivers and Zoe Brooks were part of a Tar Heels attack that shot over 50% in the first half and held Louisville to a paltry 21% from the floor. The Cards were lucky to just be down 41-21...they were able to outscore NCST 8-1 in the final six minutes of the second quarter.
Would the Cards keep up the slight rally in the third period?
One might surmise that Jeff Walz used the blowout loss to give a lot of his young bench some extended playing time against a quality opponent...no UofL starter played more than 27 minutes and Walz played 13 players in the blowout loss.
These things are going to happen to young teams, and Louisville is certainly young. I looked out on the court at one juncture and saw four freshmen and a junior on the floor. Grad center Olivia Cochran saw a scant 20 minutes. 11 of the 13 Cards scored, Nyla Harris and Cochran leading the way with eight points...but it was a rough Sunday afternoon down on 2nd and Main...all in all.
THE FRED REPORT
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| "Lamont...this is the big one, turn the game off and call EMS" |
Free throws -- Louisville shot a pedestrian 8-16 from the charity stripe. That's 50% and no where near the 70% we like to see to award a letter, so NO LETTER
Rebounds-- Louisville was outrebounded 53-40 by NCST . Nyla Harris led the Cards with eight. You don't win the boards battle, you don't get a letter.. NO LETTER
Effort/Execution -- Louisville shot the worst they have all season, scored a season low in points and was a eye-popping-in-disbeliving 2-23 from three point range. They actually shot one more shot in the 40 minutes than NCST overall but made 13 less...sorry, NO LETTER
Defense -- The Cards actually forced NCST into 23 turnovers, got 12 steals and allowed NCST just 15 second chance points... I'll allow a small case "d"
Final fred Tally: _-_-_-d
The Cards get six days off from opponents, taking on Memphis next, on the road on Saturday, December 21st. It's a 5:00 p.m. game...on ESPNU. Maybe it's a good time to re-introduce Ms. Basketball to the foreign aspect of going through the rim 10 feet above... the St. Albert the Great grade school team shot better in the halftime exhibition than UofL did Sunday...
WBB PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON
CAPTION THIS
Caption this picture of Coach Jeff Walz in the game vs NC State.
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| "I hope the Steelers don't lose too." |
paulie
ReplyDeleteAnother poor shooting performance. The Cards need an Alpha who can shoot the ball when the team struggles to score. I think Imani Berry can be that player, but Jeff needs to keep her on the floor.
Side note: I recall a season with Rick Pitino's squad struggling to score, and then Russ Smith took over.
I think Jeff needs to give the Freshman more time on the floor we know what the upper classmen are capable of,they had five years to prove. It's time for the freshman to get more PT.
I think the coaching staff seems to be lacking in developing post players, unlike other teams.
Year of the Freshman L1C4 Go Cards
I'm not, and I don't think the players and staff are ready to just give up on the season yet because of these last two MAJOR blowouts.
ReplyDeleteHistorically, and this includes teams that didn't have as many new faces, Walz's teams usually make the biggest move as far as everyone getting on the same page during the Xmas break.
We'll see how this year's team goes.
I disagree, Hey play the Freshman I trust the Freshman over the fifth year graduate players are not producing like Merissah Russell been there for 5 years come on.
DeleteI still question the hiring of Amanda Butler. Not that she caused the poor shooting but I never understood hiring her.
ReplyDelete