Cards Are in Middle of Three-Game Homestand
 |
| Photo by Jared |
Louisville women's basketball has a prime opportunity to earn a ranked win when they host #21 California tonight. The Cards and Bears are slated for a later-than-normal tip-off time of 8:00pm and will be aired on tv on the ACC Network.
Last week, Louisville fell at home to #3 Notre Dame after having a first half lead. It snapped a two-game win streak that featured wins over Virginia and SMU. The Cards now carry a 15-7 record and sit in fifth place in the ACC at 8-3.
California, in their first year in the ACC, has been red hot this year. The Bears are 19-4 on the year highlighted by ranked wins over NC State and Alabama. They did suffer an early season loss to Michigan State, but their other three losses came to ACC foes Clemson, Duke, and North Carolina.
 |
| Photo by Jared |
In their last outing, Cal defeated Pitt 84-53. Their offense is averaging 74.4 points per game while their defense has been stifling and has limited opponents to 61.8 ppg. Part of the offensive success comes from the Bears shooting .461 from the field and .707 from the free throw line. They are turnover prone at just over 18 turnovers per game. Defensively, Cal limits opponents to shooting .376 and forcing 16 turnovers per game.
Five Cal players are scoring in double figures: Ioanna Krimili (15.4 ppg), Lulu Twidale (13.3 ppg), Marta Suarez (13.0 ppg), Kayla Williams (11.0 ppg), and Ugonne Michelle Onyiah (10.5 ppg). Eight different players average over three rebounds per game. Onyiah has logged 29 blocks. William and Krimili have combined for 58 steals.
Louisville leads the current series 2-1. The Bears earned a 75-71 in Louisville back in 2015 while the Cards took a win in Berkeley the season before 70-57. Most famously, Louisville used a monstrous second half rally to defeat Cal 64-57 in the 2013 Final Four in New Orleans. The Cards' final five points of that game came at the free throw line.
 |
| Photo by USA Today / 2013 |
Paulie and Daryl will be in attendance to cover this game. By the time this post goes live, I will already be on a plane to Florida and will be enjoying some warm weather for a few days. Our friend Mike DeZarn has kindly offered to send some pictures in my absence.
Happy Thursday and Go Cards!
Jared
California's win over NCST looks impressive, but they got slaughtered by Duke. i fear they are going to come inhere and have on their mind that they want to remain in the top 25 and put a beating on us. Don't we have someone on our squad who transferred out of Cal to here?
ReplyDeleteNick O
You'd be thinking of Jayda Curry...who spent two years playing for Cal...
ReplyDeleteThis UofL team has gotten a lot better since the NCST embarrassment, but they are playing a California team that beat NCST. It'll be a good test tonight to see how much better Louisville is.
ReplyDelete