WBB in Women's Champions Classic Today
Louisville women's basketball will face Tennessee in a day full of quality women's basketball in Brooklyn. The Cards will take on the Volunteers as part of the Women's Champions Classic at the Barclays Center. It's a battle between a pair of closely matched teams, with Louisville coming in ranked 16/17 and Tennessee slotting in one spot behind the Cards in both polls. Louisville and Tennessee will get underway at 11am, with Iowa vs UConn to follow. Both games will air on FOX.
Tennessee is 7-2 so far this season, with one of their two losses coming on the road and the other in their only neutral site game this season. In fairness to the Vols, both of their losses are more or less road games, as the "neutral" loss came against NC State in Greensboro. That matchup, which came in the opener, was a tight one with an 80-77 final score. The Vols scored 77 in their other loss as well, but that one was a little more lopsided as the home team UCLA scored 99. UT's only other game against a power conference opponent came on December 3rd, when the Vols beat Stanford 65-62 in Palo Alto. Tennessee is well rested, as they've played just one other game since then, a home romp against Winthrop on December 14th.
Tennessee is led by forward Janiah Barker. Barker scores 16.2 points per game, followed closely by 15.4 from guard Talaysia Cooper. Barker and Cooper are also two of three Volunteers averaging at least six rebounds per game, as they snag 6.1 and 6.7, respectively. The two are joined by forward Zee Spearman, who leads the team with 7 rebounds per game.
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| Janiah Barker |
Tennessee is a team that likes to shoot the three, as they have taken 306 so far this season. Fortunately for Louisville, Tennessee is a team that only kind of likes to make the three. They shoot just 29.7% from distance, which isn't great, but a volume shooting team making that many can still pose a threat. That could be even more of an issue if they get hot, like EKU did the other night, and stay hot, like EKU did not do the other night.
It's still early in the season, but Louisville could desperately use a statement nonconference win. Losses to UConn, UK, and South Carolina don't hurt you that much, but you still need something to help you when it comes time for the committee to make their decisions. A win today would boost Louisville's standing overall in the national conversation as well as help their confidence in showing that they can match up outside the ACC and win important games.
Until next time, Go Cards!
Case
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