WBB to Face UNC -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

So, things have gotten a bit odd. As Paulie wrote yesterday and elaborated in the comments, Cardinal Couple has been suspended from media access by the University. This is the result of a misunderstanding, and Paul is trying to work with UofL on getting the issue resolved. For now, we'll continue writing and covering the teams as we normally would, but without some of the privileges that we had before. To protect Jared's photography access with other organizations, this also means that we'll be without Jared as a writer, and we won't use his photos for the time being. 

We'll do our best to keep bringing you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics until we're told otherwise. 

Cards Battle Heels in Chapel Hill

Some of that excitement is set to get underway today. Louisville is facing another top-25 matchup late this afternoon (or early this evening, whatever your flavor), when they take on the Tarheels of North Carolina at 4PM. Today's game will be in Chapel Hill, where #12/11 UNC is currently undefeated. Somehow, despite having played 11 games this season, UNC is just 4-0 at home. They've played four home games, two away games, and five games in neutral sites. 

The Tarheels are 9-2 overall this year, and today's game will be their first ACC matchup of the season. UNC opened the year with a 91-82 loss to South Carolina in an exhibition game in Atlanta. They beat NC Central and Elon handedly to open their true calendar before going to Las Vegas for the WBCA Challenge and losing 78-60 to UCLA. UNC won six straight after that, including three wins in their Thanksgiving tournament in Cancun, but all six were over relatively mediocre opponents. Kansas State was the only power conference team in the bunch, and the other wins came over Fairfield, NC A&T, UNCG, South Dakota State, and Columbia.

photo by Taris Smith | UofL

After that streak, UNC hit the road and opened December with an incredibly tough matchup against Texas in Austin. They came away from that battle with the #2 Longhorns saddled with a 15-point loss. A get-right game against Boston University followed on Sunday, and they won by 42. All of that is to say, who knows how good UNC truly is? They have played two ranked teams (three if you count SCar), and they have lost all three pretty solidly. That said, all of them came away from home and all three teams were in the top five. 

Louisville will certainly have their hands full. The Cards haven't had a marquee win just yet this season, either, and today's game will mean a lot for both teams in terms of their tournament resume and their conference standing. UNC is beating teams by a whopping 23 points per game. They score 79.6 and hold opponents to 56.9. Remember, though, that their games have come against some lesser competition. Louisville's games haven't all been against world beaters, either, though, so it is what it is. 

The Cards will need to watch out for Indya Nivar on the offensive and defensive ends. Nivar leads the team in points, scoring 12.6 per game, and she is tied for second in rebounds with 5.7. Nivar also has nine blocks on the season and a whopping 43 steals. Next highest on the team is 14. She shoots 50% from the floor this year and is making 31% of her threes. One spot to potentially slow Nivar down is to send her to the free throw line. The senior transfer guard from Stanford is making just 58.1% of her attempts from there. 

photo from opendorse.com

On the inside, Louisville's bigs will need to contend with Ciera Toomey. Toomey leads the team with 16 blocks and pulls down 7 rebounds per game. She's also scoring 11.2 points per game, hitting 62.5% of her field goal attempts and 73.9 of her shots from the free throw line. Louisville fans will be familiar with another of North Carolina's players in the paint, as Nyla Harris still suits up in the baby blue. Harris is scoring 9.9 points per game this season and is tied with Nivar in rebounding average. Harris has struggled with foul trouble a bit, as she is averaging just 17.7 minutes per game, but she is a spark when on the floor. 

Both teams are looking for their first win over a ranked opponent this season, and Louisville is looking to stay at the top of the standings in the young ACC calendar. A win would put Louisville at 2-0, with both games having come on the road. That would be quite an enviable position, especially having beaten a tough Clemson team already. We'll see it all unfold later today as the game gets underway at 4PM. It will be the highlight game in the slot, as the ACC carries it on the true ACC Network.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case