Georgia Tech Visits for Senior Day -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Cards Host Georgia Tech for Senior Day

Tonight is Dana Evans night. Well, it's Senior Night, but seeing as Dana is the only senior on the player roster, I found it fitting to alter the name.

Georgia Tech comes to the KFC Yum! Center to face a Louisville team that is itching to increase their hold over the ACC late in the season. A UofL victory would push the Louisville lead over the Yellow Jackets up to three games. Assuming NC State wins tonight then they would remain 2.5 games back. After tonight, Louisville will have four games remaining while Georgia Tech and NC State each having five games left.

The senior recognition will be quite different than past seasons. With the COVID-19 protocol, family and close friends are not allowed to escort the respective student-athlete onto the court this year. Some type of video tribute has been recorded and will be aired with Dana still being recognized on the court before the game.

Here's a look at some of Dana's stats up to this point in her career:

-1504 points (11th at UofL)

-485 assists (7th at UofL)

-264 made free throws (10th at UofL)

-.868 free throw percentage (1st at UofL)

-.933 free throw percentage this season (1st at UofL)

-258 rebounds

-200 made three-pointers (8th at UofL)

-.391 three-point percentage (3rd at UofL)

-150 steals

With five regular season games remaining including tonight, Dana has room to improve on all of these figures.

A victory tonight puts the Cards at 13-1 at home this season, marking the third straight year and fourth overall at the KFC Yum! Center that Louisville had just one loss at home in a season. 

So let's take a look at tonight's opponent- Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets are 11-4 on the year with a 9-3 conference mark. They sit two games back on overall record behind the Cards for second in the ACC, but their .750 conference win percentage puts them at third in the ACC.

Georgia Tech is fresh off a loss at home to Wake Forest, snapping a seven-game win streak. 

Like most teams, Georgia Tech has seen the effects of COVID-19. They had a hiatus the back half of December and then saw a brief break during the middle of January.

Allowing just 60.8 points per game, the Yellow Jackets rank near the top of the conference defensively. OHfH3efensively, they are far from the top, scoring 68.5 points per game. They have a do-it-all player in Lotta-Maj Lahtinen. The junior averages 15.9 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game, 3.4 assists per game, and her 32 steals this year is tied for first in the ACC. Lorela Cubaj has also been a huge factor. The senior is a walking double-double at 13.1 points per game and 12 rebounds per game. Cubaj is also the conference leader in rebounds per game.

The Cards are a perfect 7-0 all-time against Georgia Tech, all happening since the ACC welcomed Louisville. UofL defeated the Yellow Jackets 58-47 in Atlanta on Feb. 20, 2020. 

Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. This one is set for ACCNX, which is odd since it is a battle of some of the top teams in the conference. You can always tune into 790-AM WKRD to catch Nick Curran and AJ on air.

Yesterday's Evans and Walz Teleconference

Here are the links to yesterday's presser: 

DANA EVANS TELECONFERENCE 2-10-21

JEFF WALZ TELECONFERENCE 2-10-21

Around the ACC

DanaEvans1.com

Virginia Tech at Miami gets the 6:00 p.m., slot on ACC Network. Syracuse at Florida State gets the 8:00 p.m., slot.

NC State hosts Clemson with an early 4:00 p.m., game. Pitt visits Wake Forest at 6:00.

There is a Top 25 match-up outside of the ACC when #16 Tennessee visits #20 Kentucky. 

Much of the country is under some type of winter weather advisory currently and here in Louisville we saw the effects from it. Plenty of the city is covered in a thick layer of ice. If you plan on traveling today or even to the game tonight please be extra cautious and add extra time to take things slow.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

#1 Louisville WBB crush the Orange 67-54 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

13-0, 6-0, #1

Is Beth indicating "They went that-a-way?" 

Well Cardnation, your #1 Cards WBB are officially NCAA tournament eligible and remain unbeaten on the season moving to 13-0, 6-0 in the ACC.  The Cards capped off a great night of womens' hoops when the #23 Syracuse came to town Thursday night, adding another tally to the win column with a 67-54 win over the Orange. 

After a slow start for the senior Dana Evans, she finished with 21 points on 9-20 shooting.  Hailey Van Lith had 18 points, shooting better than 50% from 3 to lead Louisville to victory.  

CARDS VS CUSE RECAP

Olivia Cochran got the offense going for Louisville, scoring the first 4 points from the field. The Orange didn't score their first points until the 6:45 mark.  They were able to take their first lead 6-4 with 5:43 left on the clock in the quarter.  UofL went on a 10-0 run after that to regain the 14-6 lead.  HVL and Olivia combined for 12 of the Cards 14 points to start the match.  The Cuse then went on a run for themselves and were able to tie it up 14 all.. All of Syracuse's 14 points were in the paint. 

End of 1Q    Cards lead 17-14
        FG %
        7-16 43.8% Cards
        7-21 33.3% Cuse 
        Reb.  11-11
        3-pt %
        3-8    38% Cards
        0-5    0% Cuse 

With the second quarter underway, the Cuse regained the lead 18-17 at the 7:35 mark.  The first 22 of Syracuse's points were in the paint.  The Orange were able to do a good job of containing Dana offensively to start this game.  She was 0-6 with 3 minutes left in the half. 

The Cards were 1-9 as a team in the first 6 minutes of the second quarter.  Once Dana was able to find the bottom of the net with 3 minutes left in the half, UofL was able to regain the lead off a 3 pointer by Elizabeth Balogun.  Syracuse responded with their first 3-pointer in the game and then HVL landed her third three of the game to make it 27-26.

Both squads managed 15 points in the second quarter. 24 of Syracuse's 29 first half points were in the paint.  Dana had 7 points 4 rebounds 4 assists at the break.  Only three free throws were attempt in the first half and they were by Syracuse. 

End of 2Q  Cards lead 32-29
        FG %
        10-17 59% Cards
        6-13 46% Cuse 
        Reb. 9-8 Cards  
        3-pt %
        4-7 57% Cards
        1-4 25% Cuse

Our ol' buddy "Q" - Quentin Hillsman dressed casual
  chic and briefly foregoing the "mask up" mandate

Both squads came out firing in the second half... the Cards going 5-6 to start and the visitors going 4-4 on their first attempts. Dana matched her first half scoring with seven more to give her 14 points on 6-16 shooting from the field, 2-7 from 3-point land.  The Cards forced six Syracuse turnovers in the 3Q, managing only two of their own in the third quarter after having six in the first half.  

End of 3Q  Cards lead 52-44
        FG %
        7-13 53.8% Cards
        6-10 60% Cuse 
        Reb. 8-6 Cuse  
        3-pt %
        3-6 50% Cards
        1-3 33.3% Cuse

Let's just call it "the Hailey Hop" 

HVL tried to land another 3-pointer at the 3Q buzzer with the feed from Evans, but that connection would have to wait for the final quarter to get underway.  HVL landed her fifth three of the game to open the fourth quarter, assist from Dana. With 5:00 left in the game HVL hit her sixth three to make it 62-50 Cards.  She finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds on the evening, capping it off with an ESPN interview from commentators Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli. 

End of 4Q  Cards WIN 67-54 
        FG %
        6-12 50% Cards
        4-15 26.7% Cuse 
        Reb. 9-8 Cards  
        3-pt %
        3-5 60% Cards
        0-2 0% Cuse

FINAL 67-54 

FRED REPORT 

I think Freddy Mercury would have agreed...
"We are the champions, my friends."

F- Free Throws - They really let both squads play last night.  Neither team ever in foul trouble, a combined 15 FT attempts between both (Cards 3-4, Cuse only making 6-11).  Kianna Smith made both of her attempts at the line, Olivia going 1-2.  Can't hate on a 3-4 night from the stripe, the Cards were efficient when they got there but it's also hard to reward when the numbers don't stack the stat sheet.  I give it a CAPITAL F...it's 75% and our standard is 70%, no matter how many are attempted. 

R- Rebounds Total on the night... 35-35 for both teams.  Which is actually pretty great considering Syracuse's size.  I thought the Cards started off with great rebounding effort especially at the offensive end and giving themselves second chances.  Mykasa Robinson took advantage of her second start in a row to show off her game management skills with two grabs in a row to start the game. HVL lead the team and finished with eight boards.  The Cards held their own on the glass to match a very good team.  CAPITAL R 

 
E- Effort/Efficiency  - Besides the HVL highlight reel, what I took away from this game the most was the 6'3" Cochran vs. 6'7" Cardoso matchup. Coach Walz said they really practiced that fade away jumper this week because of the size matchup and being able to score underneath.   Olivia displayed excellent shot selection going 5-7 for 11 points from the field in 25 minutes while Cardoso was 6-13 for 13 points in 33 minutes on the floor.  Both bigs are freshman, I have a feeling this will be a matchup to look forward to for years to come.  CAPITAL E

D- Defense -  What was a high scoring Orange offense coming into the night, fizzled into the mighty Ohio River last night.  UofL held Q's bunch to 54 points on the night (39% shooting from the field, 2-13 from 3-point range).  The score was back and forth with 6 lead changes in the first half but the Cards had the lead for more than 30 minutes of this game, a 15 point lead at the most.  UofL forced 13 turnovers, scoring 13 off of those opportunities, which ended up being the difference in the game.  I give this effort another CAPITAL D 

Final FRED Report - F-R-E-D 

I gotta think Haley was thinking about her buddy Kobe Bryant this week as she's helped lead the program to a historic first time #1 ranking this year... It was this time last year that Kobe and his daughter GiGi were visiting Haley in Washington to show support.  He also made a shout-out to UofL WBB saying he couldn't wait to watch her play the following season.  I have a feeling he would've been here to show his support for the women's game for a #1 Cards vs #23 Cuse matchup at Yum! if he were still here today.  Its still a really tough subject for me to this day... 

I thought it was awesome seeing Kobe in a 'Win For Ware' shirt in 2013... Never in my life thought i would see him throw L's Up!  My heart nearly exploded when I first saw this post on Instagram last year. So thank you for this, HVL. 

MSOC News

We don't regularly cover UofL men's sports here but, of note:

Congratulations to the two Cardinal student-athletes who heard their names called in the MLS Super Draft on Thursday afternoon.   Senior midfielders, Elijah Amo and Lamine Conte were both selected in the second round to Real Salt Lake and NY Redbulls respectively.   The pair are the 24th & 25th Cardinals to be selected in the SuperDraft.  Amo would be joining former Cards Andrew Brody and Tate Schmitt at the Real Salt Lake and Conte would join Cherif Dieye in NY should they sign with the teams.  The Cards were 1-6-1 in the fall.  

Some personal news to share.. Earlier this week I got asked back to my first sport related job since the March shut down.  I very much look forward to returning to button pushing in the sport related realm.  Fingers crossed as we look forward to spring sports!! (I'm pretty sure they haven't installed a red "Diet Coke" button in my absence...)  

We will be back on the airwaves tomorrow morning to talk about the games as well as the other miscellaneous topics on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST, I am sure of it.  Cards WBB are on the road for the first time in a couple weeks at Wake Forest (7-5, 4-4 ACC) on Sunday 2PM.

Dana and Kianna doing the "Hailey Hop" 
with HVL

(ANOTHER EXCELLENT ROUND OF PHOTOS FROM JARED ANDERSON TODAY !!) 

Go Cards! 
-Daryl

Walz Named 2019 USA Basketball Coach of the Year -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

What's Going On

There's not much happening in the UofL women's sports world currently, as things slow down around Christmastime.

Women's basketball has two more road games before an extended break.

Volleyball is down to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament and will conclude the weekend before Christmas.

Soccer and Field Hockey have concluded.  Swimming and Diving is on a break until the new year.

It gives us some time to kick back and relax but we still have a few things to report on.


Walz Named 2019 USA Basketball Coach of the Year

Adding to the long list of awards and accomplishments over his tenured career, Jeff Walz was named 2019 USA Basketball Coach of the Year.

Walz led Team USA Basketball to a 7-0 record and earned a gold medal at the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand.

Bruce Weber, coach at Kansas State, split the honors with Walz.  Weber also led his men's U19 team to a 7-0 record and gold medal at the FIBA Championships.

While with Team USA, Walz helped lead his team to an average of 25.2 point differential while also ranking first in points per game field goal percentage, and blocks per game.  Paige Bueckers was named MVP of the FIBA Championships while Rhyne Howard made the all-tournament team.

With Louisville, he guided the Cards to a 32-4 record, a 1-seed, and an NCAA Tournament appearance.  He's also guided the #7 Cards to a 9-1 record to start the year.

Volleyball Presser Today

With Texas around the corner in the Sweet Sixteen for UofL Volleyball, the VolleyCards are holding a presser today at 1 p.m. to discuss the match and field questions. 

Sadly, we'll have no one in attendance but Paulie will muster some type of report on the affair for Wednesday's article, we hope. Jeff is out of town with Sammy the Shark, Case going to Bowling Green to visit Big Red and taunt the WKU Volleyball squad, I'm at the bank all day rolling pennies and denying loans and Paulie had the cryptic "I'm previously engaged" response to our group text about the event. 

They have chosen to hold the presser in the Koeber Center (basketball's home) Media Room instead of their own media room in Cardinal Arena, which I find interesting. Maybe accessibility is the underlying reason here. 1 p.m., if you have a current, valid media pass and would like to go and possibly send us a brief bit on what you hear. Of course, Paulie will deny any knowledge of your credentials if asked.



Other Items To Ponder

-- In other news, Stanford took down North Carolina in a PK shootout to win the Women's College Cup.  The Cards did not face Stanford, but they did fall to UNC 3-0 at home.

-- Go back a couple weeks ago and North Carolina field hockey took down Princeton 6-1 in the championship.  The Cards did not face Princeton but they did lose to the Tar Heels twice this year, 4-1 and 3-1.

-- Volleyball plays 2-seed Texas on Friday and women's basketball travels to Kentucky on Sunday at 1:00.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Strong Second Half sends WBB past Norse 85-57 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

31-9 THIRD QTR. CLOSES DOOR ON NKU 85-57

As Jeff Walz  put it Sunday, it's all on the backs of his players now...this season. Either they want to play hard and win or they don't. And, if they don't, they won't play. 

Louisville showed up to play eventually in the third quarter against Northern Kentucky University Sunday in Highland Heights, KY at the B.B.&T Arena, going on a 12-0 run to begin the second half and continued to augment on a 37-35 halftime lead. After three it was 68-44 Cards and they went on to build the lead to 35 midway through the fourth before the game ended.

The game started out with a bit of an interesting twist. The starting Cardinal five consisted of Bionca Dunham, Dana Evans, Liz Dixon, Yacine Diop and Jess Laemmle. The first two in the sequence are starters we've grown accustom to. Liz did see some early season starts. Jess was a bit of a surprise. Speculation filtered through the media (basically me, Sonya and TCZ's Tom Farmer), plus on Twitter about this. Was it a disciplinary move? Turns out Walz picked out the five players he thought worked the hardest in the practices following the Oregon loss and put them out there. 

It was a slow beginning for the Cardinal starting five. NKU jumped out to a 7-1 lead. Eventually Louisville rallied, a few players entered from the bench and the Cards went on a 9-0 run at the end of the first to hold a 22-16 lead. 

NKU wasn't done battling, though. 


The Norse fought back to tale a 25-24 lead after three minutes of the second session on a  Carissa Garcia three. They led 30-26 halfway through thee second period after Ally Niece knocked in a jumper in the paint. Louisville picked up the defense , though, and reclaimed a 35-32 lead with 1:26 until halftime on a "E" three. The half ended with the Cards clinging to a 37-35 edge. 

The Cards had 12 from the resurgent Jaz Jones. Nine turnovers were costly but Louisville was holding a 12-0 fast-break for points edge. Molly Glick and Garcia combined for 20 for the Norse and NKU had made six threes. 

According to Jaz (who went 9 for 10 on the afternoon and scored 21 points), the halftime discussion centered around defense and getting the transition game going. Coach Walz gave a slightly different answer. Coach impressed upon the squad that the focus on things should be about what they want instead of what he wants. Walz reminded everyone he had six years left on his contract. If they wanted to have a disappointing season, he reminded them his goals were still to reach a Final Four and National Championship but he couldn't do it, they had to do it. That dialogue eventually morphed into a dialogue about the new players and the past. 

Coach got  ball from NKU celebrating his
return. before the game. He didn't shoot it. 

Whatever actually transpired in the locker room seemed to have an immediate effect on the Cards. Louisville roared out to a 10-0 start and never looked back. The defense was creating stops and the transition game was rolling. A steal and layup by "E" sent the Cards up 57-37, capping a 20-2 run to start the second half. After three, Louisville led 68-44 and Norse effort had turned into a worse effort. 

The Cards were never seriously challenged in the fourth, Walz played all 11 eligible and Molly Lockhart got in seven good minutes and responded with three points. Final: 85-57

Paulie and Barry Johnson, who was my fraternity
"little brother" 30+ years ago at UofL 

Jaz's 21 led the way, Dana had three threes as part of her 16 points and "E" added 12, with a couple of trifectas included. Everyone who played scored. Norika Konno sat out, she tweaked a knee after Oregon and could have gone but Walz wanted to rest her. 

Points off turnovers went 31-17 Louisville's way. The Cards did have 17 miscues but NKU topped that with 21. UofL won the points-in-paint battle 44-20, swept the fast break for points stat 23-0 and second chance points 14-5.

A tale of two halves, it was. 8 for 20 from the deep, with five players hitting threes, is nice and Jess even nailed one when she was on the court as a starter. Louisville eventually put away a Horizon League team picked to finish sixth in their conference but winners of their previous four by eventually adhering to two major important factors: 

Playing defense and creating off that defensive effort. Defense leads to potential points. 

I loved that second half version of the UofL WBB team. I hope Walz left the first half version in Highland Heights by the Skyline Chili parlor. 


THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- 11 for 14 is 78.6% and that passes our standard of 70%. Equally distributed among the seven Cards who attempted them. Yacine Diop goes to the head of the class by hitting all three of hers. We can award a Capital "F" for Sunday's effort at the stripe. 

REBOUNDS -- Louisville all the way with a huge 42-20 edge. When you consider NKU went 8 for 28 (28.5%) in the final half, Louisville corralled a lot of those misses. Kylee Shook had seven grabs in 18 minutes and Bionca had six in 21 minutes, those rebounding numbers look even more impressive. And, each Cardinal that played gathered at least one. Yes, we award a Capital "R" for the UofL rebounding effort. 

EXECUTION/EFFICIENCY --  Once again, a tale of two halves. Only seven second half turnovers and the transition game was working with the whitewash in fast break points. But, we look at the whole contest and the first half wasn't pretty in terms of getting things done with the ball. 38.9% shooting in the second quarter hurt the 53.2% shooting for the entire game. We'll compromise and award a lower case "e" for this stat. 

DEFENSE --  The defensive effort really picked up in the final 20 minutes, especially in holding the Norse to that 28.5% shooting, compared to 50% in the first half. Nine steals (Diop and Kasa with three each) and 21 turnovers committed by the Norse. For fairness, we'll split the difference, Louisville played a half of great defensive and a so-so half of guarding. We'll assign a lower case "d" for Sunday's overall defense.  

FINAL FRED REPORT:  F-R-e-d


THEY SAID IT

Coach Walz and Dana shared the post-game interview. Their words are worth hearing and you can access these words at the link below. They didn't pass the microphone around to the media for this one so I hope the questions asked aren't too hard to hear. The guys from the AP and some local Northern KY writer must have been under the delusions that they were the only ones in the room, so you won't hear Paulie on here except once. We left before the NKU interviews, sorry bout that, y'all. 

JEFF WALZ AND JAZMINE JONES


SO...


Sonya and I hoped for a blowout win, and we got one. Eventually. Hoped to see the Louisville vs Oregon team instead of the Louisville vs Ohio State squad and we got that for a half. 

Give NKU a lot of credit for sticking around that first half. Glick, Garcia and former Mercer County star Emmy Souder took the fight to the Cards and should probably make the All-Horizon Conference All-Star teams. 

I'm not sure this was the type of contest leading up to UK I wanted to see, though. I hope that Walz finally impressed upon his players that going full strength and hard all the time you are on the court, in practice or in a game, is what will get you playing time. 

He's Norse, of course. 

It was good to see Jaz come out of the three game slumber she had been in and I hope that emergence stays around. Walz teased that she was prone to picking up fouls even in the pre-game warm up and gathering just two in 20 minutes is a start in the right direction. The Cards WBB squad, now 9-1, has to realize they are going to get everyone's best shot from here on out and must be ready to come out and take on the fight for 40 minutes. Regardless of who Walz starts or ends with. 

I hope they take his words to heart over the week between games. I hope they work on the "jelling" and remember that defense leads to the opportunity for offense. I hope they can play two halves in Lexington like they played the final half against the Norse. 

Time will tell. 


paulie
xxxxx

WBB Dips Chips 76-63 -- WSOC and FH start NCAA Tournament Today -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

JONES, EVANS AND SHOOK COMBINE FOR 64 IN 76-63 WIN

Sometimes the old is the best. 

IT WAS SEVENTIES NIGHT...BUT I
DRESS THIS WAY EVERY DAY

Louisville WBB looked to veterans Jazmine Jones, Dana Evans and Kylee Shook last night to win their third game of the season, and the trio combined for 85% of Louisville's points in a 76-63 win over scrappy Central Michigan last night in the KFC YUM! Center. 

Maybe it's fitting on seventies night that the Cards tallied 76 points in a contest where the Cards had their woes in a struggling first half but eventually put CMU away. 

Louisville didn't gain the lead until five minutes played in the first quarter. A driving Jazmine Jones layup put UofL up 10-9. It was part of a six-point run in the quarter where Jones had eight of her career high 25 points and, despite shooting only 38.9%, Louisville forged to a 22-15 lead after 10 minutes. 

The going was treacherous and tricky in the first and, at times, not very pretty...UofL had a battle on their hands

The Chippewas were being the Matt Bevin's of women's college hoops and refusing to secede.  CMU guard Micaela Kelly responded with nine of her team-high 23 points in the next ten minutes and the visitors chopped the Louisville lead to three on several occasions, ending the half with a Kelly jumper at the buzzer. The second quarter for Louisville belonged to Kylee Shook and Jones -- they went five for eight and had 11 of Louisville's 17 points in the second quarter.

Your halftime score = Louisville 39- CMU 36.

Caption This Picture in the comments section

The Cards were having trouble stopping Chips guards Kelly and Maddy Watters on their drives to the basket and CMU forward Kyra Bussell was giving the Louisville front line all they wanted. Walz wasn't happy and had to inspire his guards to get into the game with more passion and hustle.

Out of the break, Dana Evans took heed of those words and took over. 

She owed the third quarter, with 11 points, while Shook took  over on the board with six grabs and four points as the Cards went on a 5-0 run to start the third session and closed it out with an 8-2 run to hold a 59-46 lead. 

Jeff Walz and the 7605 Louisville fans were getting increasing annoyed with the calls from "Godzilla and King Kong" -- refs Joe Vaszily and Carla Fountai... some inexplicable and unexplainable whistles, but the Cards appeared out of danger. Despite Bionca Dunham, "E" Balogun and Jones being in foul trouble.

Wrong. 

Central Michigan opened the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run. It was two-and-a-half minutes of Cardinal frustration until Jaz connected on the first of her eight points of the final quarter. She and Evans had 14 of Louisville 17 points in the fourth and the Cards methodically built the lead back to double digits. Seven free throws -- six from Dana and one from Jessica Laemmle closed out the Cards scoring in the final minute. A minute that seemed to take 10 minutes to play

I can understand CMU's strategy there -- foul and hope for misses -- but when you are down by 11 and 28 seconds remain on the clock...do you really need to commit a foul? Especially on someone (Dana) who was eight-for-nine in the game. 

CMU employs and illegal double team with coach and player
to guard Ya Ya. 

Still wondering here why Ya-Ya Diop isn't seeing more court time. Somehow, they have to find more than eight minutes for her, unless it a case of not working hard in practice or an ailment. 

Seygan Robins did not play -- her foot in a boot -- Walz explains the reason (her heel) in the post-game interview we have for you. 

Nevertheless, Cards win 76-63 !!




THE FRED REPORT

Today's Fred is Fredrick Douglass

FREE THROWS -- Nothing to worry about here. Louisville was 23-27 from the line (Dana 10-11) for 85.2%. They get a capital "F" for that. I'll even award a complimentary "F" to CMU...their 23-28 wasn't too shabby either.

REBOUNDING -- The Cards got tough when they absolutely needed to on the boards, but, the 42-34 edge against a considerably smaller squad wasn't what I expected. With Liz Dixon seeing just 14 minutes, the rebounding title went to Kylee with 12. A double-double for the "Rocky Mountain Rebounder". Good, but not great for UofL overall. I'll award a small case "r" 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Louisville was playing hard -- no doubt about it -- but something has to be done about the Cards close-in shooting. Liz, Kylee and Bionca were a combined 8-25 and that's not going to win you a lot of games in the ACC. Still, the brilliant efforts from Dana and "J.J." were spectacular to watch. Dana, with a career high 24 points had NO assists, though. Liz was 1-7 from the floor. I'll grudgingly hand out a small case "e" here...and, in my opinion, CMU out-hustled the Cards for a great portion of the contest.

DEFENSE -- Holding an opponent to 38% shooting is good. Forcing them into 19 turnovers gets a thumbs up. The Cards allowed just 49 shots, compared to taking 67 of their own. Winning the points-off-turnovers 21-18 and the second chance points 15-6 is a plus for UofL. They couldn't stop CMU guards Kelly, Watters or Davis for most of the game, though, and that has to get better. I'll give a small case "d" here, because CMU tallied just 63 points. 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-r-e-d

All in all, an exciting contest where a visiting team came in swinging and the Cards survived the punches. Walz has a lot to work on, between now and next Thursday, when UofL brings in UT Chattanooga...granted....but he can point to Jazz, Dana and Kylee and tell the rest of the squad "Give me efforts like this if you want court minutes." 


THEY SAID IT

-- Link to post-game presser with CMU head coach Heather Oesterle (a delightful person, actually)...  HEATHER HAS HER SAY 

--Dana and Jazz had the podium for players' post-game. Insightful words out of those two for sure and a bit of humor... JAZZING IT UP WITH DANA AND JJ 

-- Coach Walz had calmed down considerably from the contest and was as eloquent as I've heard/seen him. You could tell he was still a bit frustrated, but, for once...didn't call me out about anything. Maybe it was the blood pressure medication... WALZ WORDS 


FIELD HOCKEY AND WOMEN'S SOCCER BEGIN THE NCAA


A wild day on Floyd Street today, beginning with Louisville Field Hockey vs.Michigan at noon, in first-round NCAA Tournament action  more NCAA first-round action at Trager with Northwestern vs. Boston College after that. Then, to Lynn Stadium we go for NCAA first-round action for WSOC...taking on Lipscomb at 6 p.m.

There's also Volleyball at the LNFCU tonight with UofL looking to avenge their earlier road loss to Syracuse in a rematch against the Orange at 7 p.m. We'll have reports on all three Saturday here at the website and on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR at 11 a.m. on 100.9 FM and Facebook Live. 

C'mon down to the campus and "get some"! Leave work with a "headache" at 10:30 a.m. , grab some food and head to Floyd for fun on Friday ! 

Have a fantastic Friday! Be kind to people on Twitter and Facebook. Not everyone is as "brilliant" as you and, what do you gain by making fun of someone's struggles? 

(GAME PHOTOS FROM JARED ANDERSON..WHO WASN"T AROUND IN THE "SEVENTIES")


paulie
xxxxx

WBB to Play USA Women's National Team -- FH in ACC Tournament -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville WBB Set to Play USA Women's National Team

Included in their national tour the USA Women's Basketball Team will make a pit stop in Louisville to play Louisville women's basketball in an exhibition.  Team USA will be competing in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo later in the year.

Currently, the team is highlighted by Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Elena Delle Donne, A'ja Wilson, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Sylvia Fowles, Chelsea Gray, and Nneka Ogwumike.

Although an exhibition doesn't always seem like the greatest idea less than a month before NCAA postseason Coach Jeff Walz seemed more than thrilled with the opportunity

"What an unbelievable opportunity for our program and our fans to host the USA National Team," said Jeff Walz.  "They have had so much success, they are an inspiration to women and girls everywhere.  It's an honor to play them on our home court and I'm looking forward to our fans packing the KFC Yum! Center."

The game, which is set for Sunday Feb. 2, at 2:00 p.m., is not included in the season tickets.  They can be purchased as soon as this Friday at 10:00 a.m., for $10.

Field Hockey Prepares for ACC Tournament


After a rough stretch to end the regular season Louisville field hockey found itself sitting at the 5-
seed in the ACC Tournament.  Their opponent, 4-seed Syracuse, came to Trager Stadium last week and stole a win in overtime on Senior Day.

The foes will square off again today at noon at the Boston College Field Hockey complex.  The winner will face 1-seed North Carolina on Friday.

6th ranked Louisville is 14-4 on the year but sits at 3-3 in conference play.  Louisville has outscored opponents 44-21 this year and have had 12 different players record a goal.

The Cards have played matches on every day of the week this year with their only losses coming on Thursday, Friday, Saturday.  They're undefeated (9-0) the rest of the week.

The Cards need to pick up the scoring in order to win this one. Sowry's squad has managed only one goal each in their last three matches, losing two of the three

The NCAA Selection Show is set for Sunday, Nov. 10 at 10:00 p.m.


HOOPS ON TAP

Don't forget about the rare Friday night game for Louisville women's basketball this week.  We hope to see you there! Murray State is the foe for this Friday night under the lights at 7 p.m. It'll also be on ACC Network Extra if you can;t get to the YUM!

It'll be the season opener for Rechelle Turner's squad. She has seven players from the commonwealth of Kentucky on her roster. including three from Murray, KY.  Murray went 13-17 last year and did not face Louisville. They compete in the Ohio Valley Conference and are one of two teams UofL WBB will face from the OVC -- UT Martin being the other.

Check back tomorrow for Paulie's preview of the contest.

LIGHT 'EM UP! 

Strange bedfellows in Charlotte

You may have noticed all the cell phones blinking during the Cards pre-game introduction at the WKU game. You can get in on the fun, too, while there !

To get in on the light show with the rest of the fans download the CardsMobile app for free and have your phone out ready to go.  Many thanks to Tom and Karen Nolan for showing me this cool trick at the bank.

The photo (featuring Tom and Karen on the far right) and Paulie (far left -- holding the Festivus Stick...don't ask) comes from a night in Charlotte for a UofL Football bowl game several years ago.



Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

WBB Opens 2019-20 Campaign with 75-56 win over WKU -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

BALOGUN, EVANS LEAD LOUISVILLE IN WIN

It was a wonderful night for the Cards guards Tuesday Night in the KFC YUM! CENTER but rebounding wasn't quite where Walz expected it to be in the 75-56 win for UofL. Junior Dana Evans exploded for 19 points on seven for 14 shooting and sophomore Elizabeth Balogun nailed the first five three-pointers she attempted for her 15 points. This was a game that Louisville was in control of from the start. Worried about three-point shooting? I think "E" has alleviated those fears.  

After allowing an early basket to the Hilltoppers, UofL eventually went on a opening quarter 9-0 run to establish a 17-8 lead on a Bionca Dunham jumper. WKU would get no closer that six points the rest of the way. Four Cardinals ended up in double figures -- Liz Dixon and Bionca Dunham with 10 points each for Louisville.  

Louisville won each quarter and started out with excellent shooting, hitting their first 9 out of 11 shots. Walz played all eleven that were dressed for action, no one played more that 32 minutes and Coach Jeff Walz tried a variety of combinations in the win. The 31-63 shooting checks in at 49.2%, WKU went 19-57 from the floor - 33%. 

Kasa Robinson did not play -- shoulder injury -- and Molly Lockhart remained on the side lines with her foot in a boot, No details yet on whether the two would be ready for Murray State on Friday yet. 

Freshman Norika Konno entered the game for the first time with 3:03 left in the first quarter -- along with Yacine Diop. Ya-Ya scored on a jumper inside the paint less than a minute after entering and Konno got the crowd of 8304 enthused with a winding, driving layup early in the second quarter through the lane that earned her a basket and free throw attempt. 

The first half ended with the Cards comfortably ahead 34-25. 

Louisville push the advantage to 41-25 to start the second half. with a Jazmine Jones layup, Evans three-pointer and a Dunham jumper off a feed from Jones. The Cards had pushed the advantage to 55-43 after three quarters and went on to outscore the school from Bowling Green 20-13 in the final quarter.

Walz was pleased for the most part with the starters and rotation. For Kylee Shook, it was a night to forget, though. The senior forward saw just 12 minutes, went 1-6 from the floor -- missing several wide open chances near the rim and picking up two fouls in just 32 seconds in the first quarter. 

Louisville barely out-rebounded the smaller Toppers 40-37 and the majority of the Cardinal grabs came from Dixon (13) and Jones (8). 

A serviceable win over a WKU squad that is experience, has excellent leadership and looks to be stronger than last year.  It's probably unfair to do a realistic recap and review of either team so early in the season -- and Louisville does have some definite things to work on. A win is a win, though. Evans was steady at the point, Jones almost had a triple-double with eight points, eight rebounds and an incredible 10 assists.

You can't say enough about "J.J." airlines. 

Final individual numbers: 

Evans -- 32 minutes, 19 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists
Balogun -- 29 minutes, 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists
Dixon -- 28 minutes,10 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists
Jones -- 25 minutes, 8 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists
Dunham -- 18 minutes, 10 points, 3 rebounds and no assists
Konno -- 26 minutes, 9 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists
Diop -- 15 minutes, 2 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist
Shook -- 12 minutes, 2 points, 4 rebounds and no assists
Robins -- 8 minutes, no points, 1 rebound and no assists
Duvall -- 5 minutes, no points, no rebounds and no assists
Laemmle -- 2 minutes, no points, no rebounds and no assists.

For WKU, three in double figures (Porter with 15, Givens 12 and Creech 10). 

The potential of the 2019-20 Louisville WBB squad is a work in progress, with so much talent and high-profile players...but I liked what I saw in the opening effort for the most part. The Georgia Tech transfers showed why they were ACC Freshman of the Year last year (Balogun) and All ACC Freshman Firsst team (Dixon). 

It takes time for a roster this huge and relatively new to each other to jell. I do believe the "jelling" will continue to improve as the games go on and I expect we'll see a even better effort in that regard Friday when Murray State comes to town.

Another great recap can be found from our buddy Sam Draut from Sports Illustrated at the link below: 

Sports.Illustrated's. Sam's Synopsis






THE FRED REPORT

If you are new to the site, we do a FRED (Free throws, Rebounds, Effort/Execution and Defensive analysis) after each game. We assign a "capital letter, small case letter on no letter at all". Case Hoskins does his own CASE report when he has the write-up.

FREE THROWS -- Not many chances for Louisville at the charity stripe, with just three Cards attempting then, but 5-9 is just 55.6% and Louisville can certainly do better than that. Konno was 3-4, Evans 2-3 and Jones 0-2. 

NO letter awarded.

REBOUNDS -- Beside Dixon and Jones' big board efforts, not much else to brag about here. Louisville barely won the board battle 40-37. 

NO letter awarded.

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Louisville played all 11 that were dressed and, for the most part, did what they had to do. 16 turnovers isn't too bad for their first game and 40 points in the paint a fairly decent number. Loved Jaz's energy, Evans direction of the offense and Balogun's three-point excellence. 20 fouls are way too many, though, even with the extended rotation. So are 16 turnovers. 

 small case "e" awarded. 

DEFENSE -- Louisville held WKU to 56 points and created seven steals. I was very impressed with the low second-chance numbers allowed WKU...second chance points (16) and points off turnovers (15). The squad looked a little better than I expected on defense and Walz never employed a press, which may be been wise...considering WKU's talented guards Creech and Porter. A definite poor job on the officiating, whistling Louisville for 20 fouls and EKU just 14. You win by 19 and hold the foe to 33% and you get a:  

Large Case "D" awarded.


FINAL FRED TALLY:  -_-_e-D


THEY SAID IT: 

First off, a poor job by UofL staff in checking the microphones for audible accuracy in the media room and getting post-game stats to the media in a timely matter. They also couldn't produce a post-game "full" book. A printer jam was the supposed reason for no post-game "big" book, but we were also told their aare two printers in the production room. If they were in the FRED REPORT, I would award NO letter. Very disappointing.  Rant over, but i expect a better game from them Friday. You're supposed to be providing information. 

LINKS below: 

POST GAME WITH "E" AND DANA

POST GAME WITH COACH WALZ


POST GAME WITH WKU's GREG COLLINS



FINAL THOUGHTS

So...one in the books for #9 ranked UofL WBB and a contest that was a solid one, entertaining but not overly spectacular.

Remember that  WKU is even better than last year, it would appear... and has a very solid guard combo in Porter and Creech, outstanding boards specialist in Raneem Elgedawy, probable CUSA player of the year in Dee Givins and strong bench, who got 16 pf their 56 points.

Louisville needs to toughen up inside. Dunham and Dixon had OK efforts but the Cards need to block out better and "go to" missed shots. One would think free throw shooting would be a lot better after a summer and fall of practice. 

Let's take the "W' over a team that I think will make NCAA Tournament and move on. LOUISVILLE will improve as the season goes on and the players become more comfortable with each other. 

Caption this picture///

We're out of the gates and running with the 2019-20 season. Sit down, buckle up and enjoy the ride. Or..stand up, yell your lungs out and act like a puppy in a room full of treats. This is going to be a fun season. The Cards are deep, talented, have precise shooting and a lot of speed. 

Give them a little time to continue jelling and I think you have a Final Four squad. 

( THANKS TO THE INCREDIBLE JATED ANDERSON FOR THE PHOTO WORK! WE'LL GIVE HIM A CAPITAL "J" FOR HIS EFFORTS !) 


paulie
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