Cards WBB faces Duke tonight in the KFC YUM! Center -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 11-0 IN ACC SQUADS DUEL FOR CONFERENCE LEAD

(photo by Clarissa Li) 

it's the highlight game of the ACC schedule so far this year, when Kara Lawson brings her Duke squad to Louisville for a nationally televised game on ESPN tonight at 7 p.m. 

Duke comes in on a 13 game win streak and the Cards have a 14 game win streak. Duke has one of the best player in the league in forward Toby Fournier, a Canadian, and the Cards have an incredibly balanced team that plays as a unit so well and efficiently. Taj Roberts recently was named to the mid-season Anne Meyers Drysdale Award List for best guard in DI basketbal. she's one of 10 named as mid-season finalists. l 

Jeff Walz talks about the upcoming game Here .

The Cards are 9-6 against Duke all time but lost the matchup in Durham last year 61-48. Mac Randolph (13 pts..) and Olivia Cochran (11 points) led Louisville in scoring...Duke was led by four players in double figures...Oluchi Okananwa (3 points) Reigan Richardson (12 points). Ashton Jackson (11 points) and Fournier (10 points). Jackson and Fournier are still on the squad...Okananwa transferred to Maryland and Richardson was waived by the Minnesota Lynx in training camp.

UofL has a $7 ticket promotion for the game. Tickets available at box office. 

The Cards are #6 in the nation and Duke is #17, according to AP Poll. Seven out of ten Duke writers pick the Cards to win this one (Read here)

We'll cover it and Daryl will have the recap Friday.

pauiie

Cards fly by the Eagles 107-70 -- VolleyCARDS at Virginia -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Good morning readers!  We're in a nose dive into the holiday season and the good news is that the Cards WBB squad is over .500 again and back on the quest for a national championship.  

Speaking of national championships... a reminder that the city of Louisville will host the NCAA Volleyball Championship next month and tickets are available for all sessions on Ticketmaster.    If I'm not drowning in wedding prep by then, I would seriously like to make it down there for the matches, even if the Cards don't make it (but, of course, we seriously hope they do!!!!!)


WBB

Photos: Jared Anderson

The Cardinals topped in state foe, the Morehead State Eagles 107 to 70 on a snowy Thursday evening down at the Yum! Center.  14 players scored for the Cardinals against Morehead State as UofL was lead by freshman Imari Berry who had 21 points on 8-12 shooting, 5-8 from 3-point range.   As a team, the Cards shot 63% from the field and pulled away from the Eagles with two dominating 2nd and 4th quarters  where they outscored the Eagles 59-23.   72 points came off the bench for UofL.  Ja'Leah Williams had 8 assists and the Cards had 25 assists on 39 made buckets.   

End of 1Q Cards 28 - 27
FG %
9-12 75% Cards
11-17 65% Eagles
Reb. 6 - 4 Cards
3-pt %
3-5 60% Cards
5-8 63% MSU


Mackenly Randolph hit the game's first jumper after the Cards used the entire possession before finally being able to convert.  Nyla Harris scored next to keep the offense rolling before a 1-2 trip to the free throw line in the first couple of minutes.  Merissah Russell entered 2 min. into the match for Randolph... before making her first appearance this season, Jada Cedurry enters 7:30 on the clock in the first quarter and 30 seconds later nailed the three pointer.  The Cards are looking hot on offense when Olivia finds a way to squeeze through the defense underneath to put it up and in and the Cards up 11-4 on the Eagles. 

The Eagles then went on a 6-0 run over a minute to tie it up 13 all just before the first quarter media timeout.  Imari Berry came in and nailed back to back threes for the Cards, But Morehead State would not be intimidated as they had just as many .weapons loaded to shoot and score as well.  With 2 min left in the first quarter, the Eagles took the lead again 23-22 before the Cards re-establish the lead for good.  


End of 2Q 31-10 Cards

FG %
11-16 68.8% Cards
3-9 33.3% MSU
Reb. 8-5 Cards
3-pt %
7-11 63.6% Cards
1-3 33.3% MSU


Ja'Leah Williams hit her first bucket of the game... a 3... to put the Cards up 31-28.  Berry gets the nice bounce on a floater before MSU turns it over and Williams hit another from three point land and the Eagles call a timeout.  

Berry had 5 threes and went 6-9 in the half for the Cardinals.  As a team the Cards went 11-16 for 69% in the quarter. 


HALF 59-37 Cards


End of 3Q 20-20 

FG %
9-16 56.3% Cards
8-16 50% Eagles
Reb. 9-8 Eagles
3-pt %
1-4 25% Cards
3-3 100% Eagles


Olivia got the scoring going for the Cardinals in the second half for her 8th points.  With so much production coming from the newcomers for the Cardinals, I'm sure it's nice for Olivia not to feel so much pressure to score so much in order to win games.  

End of 4Q 28-13 Cards

FG %
10-18 55.6% Cards
5-16 31.3% Eagles
Reb. 16-6 Cards
3-pt %
5-7 71.4% Cards
1-6 16.7% Eagles


Curry hits her second three and ninth point of the game to make it 93-65.   All 14 scorers for the Cardinals scored when Arenas hit a three pointer and the team wrapped up the game scoring 6 points in the final minute of play.  

UP NEXT

Louisville vs South Florida

Sunday 1pm

FRED REPORT

Fred Couples 

FREE THROWS --  I actually gasped when I looked at the final stat line at the free throw line for the Cards.  As a team, UofL went 13-24 in the game which is good for 54% and definitely not good for a letter in the category by our standards.   This area must improve moving forward as it could be a difference maker against tougher opponents.  no letter

REBOUNDING --  The Cards outrebounded the Eagles 38-24 with Cochran and Imafidon both pulling down 6 each.  I definitely noticed some energy from Imafidon as she got some more minutes towards the end of the game.  I look forward to seeing the duo work together on rebounding duties to give the Cards some more offensive opportunities.  Capital R

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  This squad is still learning who they are and who they can be but they did manage to get back in the win column in a stunning 107 fashion despite the bad night at the free throw line.  The defense also looked a little lost sometimes so I will give it a Capital letter E for the overall win and a really impressive 2nd and 4th quarter. 

DEFENSE --  I don't think any of us at Cardinal Couple thought this one would be a close one and I don't think the Cardinals looked like a bad team but I do think that when the Eagles were scoring, they were pretty open shots and they were going in.   The squad did have 5 blocks and steals which I believe came more towards the end of the game when Imafidon had 3 blocks in the 4th.  lower case d



FINAL FRED TALLY:      _R_E_d

CAPTION THIS:

Our illustrious photographer Jared has offered us a chance to add the caption to the photo below. Ypou know what thet say..you're nobody until Jared takes a picture of you. Fele free to leave you comment in..duh..the comments section.

 




Volleyball

Louisville at Virginia 

7:00 P.M.

ACCNX

Virginia currently sits at 20-7 on the year, including a 10-6 record against ACC opponents. These 20 wins for the Cavaliers are the most in a single season since 2006.

The Hoos are coming off a 1-1 weekend on the road after being swept by #7 Stanford before taking a 3-1 win over Cal.   


The Cavs and the Cards have met 13 times dating back to 1995. Louisville has taken the last seven matches between the two squads including the lone 2023 meeting which was a sweep (16-25, 16-25, 17-25).   The last time the Cards lost a set was October 27th at Southern Methodist.  

As always
Go Cards!
~Daryl

Cougars on tap at YUM

With the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament looming in a little more than a month away, seeding for that tournament is all the talk of message boards and basketball fans alike. 

Before we get too carried away, there are still some very important conference games remaining to be played.   One such game tips off on Wednesday, February  19 at 7:00 p.m. at the  KFC Yum Center.   The Cardinals will be hosting the Cougars of Houston for the final time in the regular season of the American Athletic Conference. 

Houston is anchoring last place in The American and is 5-20 overall, and 1-13 in conference play.  The lone win in conference match ups comes against Cincinnati.    The Cardinals pummeled the Cougars in Houston with a 93-52 win in mid January.   That being said, you can never overlook an opponent.  Upsets happen and if Houston is looking for a hook to hang their hat on, it would be an upset win over the #3 team in the country.  While that scenario is unlikely, you play the games for a reason. 

That being said, the Cardinals will need to be focused and take care of business on the hardwood Wednesday night.   In their last meeting the Cougars had 3 players scoring in double digits.  Center Yasmeen Thompson, guard Demetria Foreman and forward Marche Amerson all notched 10 points against the Cardinals.   Te’onna Campbell leads the Cougars in scoring averaging 9.7 ppg, though the Cards held her to 6 points on the day.  Look for Yasmeen Thompson to be crashing the boards for the Cougars, averaging 8.1 per game. 

On paper this looks to be another blow out of our one-year conference mate.  In these types of games you could expect the team be focused on certain areas of the game that needs shoring up.   What excactly the mad scientist will have his team focusing on is any fans best guess.  As a regular sideline observer, I would expect to see several things as a point of focus:

-rebounding and battling on the boards

-limiting and controlling turnovers

-free throw shooting

-defense, defense, defense

We will be there to cover the game and will report back on Thursday. 

In the meantime, the Cardinals need to remain focused as the season winds down.  Wednesday’s game is one of 3 remaining home games in the regular season, and a lone road game remaining at Cincinnati.   While our specific seeding in the tournament at this point primarily depends upon what other teams do, taking care of our own business is paramount.   It begins Wednesday night.  #unfinishedbusiness

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looks like our very own Worldwide Jeff McAdams missed out on a paycheck.  In yesterdays edition of the Cardinal Couple he speculated on weekly honors for Lacrosse. 

As speculated, senior Nikki Boltja was named Big East Lacrosse Offensive Player of the Week.   With a combined 8 goals in the first two games of the season, 5 of which came against #6 Duke in the opening game of the season.  She followed up on that with a hat-trick at home, facing Detroit.  Congratulations Nikki! 

Sophomore Kaylin Morissette was named to the 5-member honor roll scoring a career best 6 goals against Detroit at home.  Congratulations Kaylin!

It’s a strong start for these young ladies and bodes well for a successful season for our lacrosse team.  

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The AAC Conference swimming tournament gets underway today in the Ralph Wright. It's a "pay-for" event and ticket information is:

All-session tickets can be purchased up until the start of competition on Feb. 19.Prices are as follows:All-session adult: $33.00All-session 18 and under, college student, and senior citizen: $18.00Swimming preliminaries will be held each day in the morning beginning at 10 am. Finals will start in the evenings at 6 pm. Diving preliminaries are at noon every day, with finals combined with swimming in the evening sessions.For ticket information click here: Tickets or call the University of Louisville ticket office at 502-852-5151.Swimming preliminaries will be held each day in the morning beginning at 10 am. Finals will start in the evenings at 6 pm. Diving preliminaries are at noon every day, with finals combined with swimming in the evening sessions.There are a limited number of single session tickets available and will be sold at the Natatorium beginning at one hour before the sessions begin.Ticket prices are as follows: Finals Sessions: $8.00 Adults $4.00 Students/Seniors 65 & older/18 & youngerPrelim Sessions: $5.00 Adults $ 3.00 Students/Seniors 65 & older/18 & younger

jennyobryan
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Another visitor for basketball

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Flaherty to visit UofL

-Holmes to Missouri

(Jenny O'Bryan brings us news of a 2014 point guard that is on UofL's radar. She's listed several schools and is taking unoffical visits as for now.) 


2014 point guard Katelynn Flaherty (5-8) is due on campus sometime this week for an unofficial visit.  Flaherty recently has visited Virginia Tech, Michigan and Georgia.  She will also visit Kentucky this week. 

Flaherty seems to have quite a few suitors.  Along with the above-mentioned teams, she is also visiting Ole Miss and Vanderbilt unofficially. 

Flaherty is a point guard who apparently can play either guard spot.  In her junior campaign, as a transfer to a new school, she averaged 30.3 points, 5.8 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game.  Flaherty notched a blistering 93% from the free throw line.  Her season high game of record is 40 points!  This kid can shoot. 

Scouring the internet and watching video of her play, Flaherty appears to do it all.  Lay ups, pull up jumpers, 3 balls, you name it, the kid can hit it.  Aside from that she is said to take great pride in her defense.    A coaches kid.   Coaches kids are said to be some of the best students of the game, very strong basketball IQ’s. 

Below is a summary of her game from a Michigan blogger:

 

A 5'7 " guard who can can flat out shoot the rock. Seems at times to score without much effort whether it is behind the 3 point arch or scoring in the paint. Her fundamentals are solid and her basketball IQ is very high. Loves to defend and cause havoc to anyone who tries to get pass her. A natural leader and a winner!tio

Flaherty sounds like a player that Cardinal fans would love to watch.  What exactly are our chances of landing this dynamic player?  Hard to say, with all the schools on her current list.  I’ll keep my nose to the grind and report back just as soon as there is more to report.  

ESPN W has this to say about her (from last year):

The Mecca-Feb 12: Though in basketball, possession of one, special skill is enough to advance to the next level, coaches are most comfortable with prospects who exhibit balance. Flaherty is an example of a point guard with yin to go with her yang. She has plenty of flair to her game, but also is very good in basic mode. She is most dynamic in transition, one-on-one opportunities, where Flaherty exhibits nice, quick dribble moves combined with head and shoulder fakes and plenty misdirection. In halfcourt situations, she can be quite unflappable, fearless and in charge. She'd pair well with a combo guard, as she works well without the ball and shows good footwork and form on her shot out to 3-point range. (Nelson)

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DAVIONNA HOLMES wasted no time leaving the UofL campus and heading elsewhere. That elsewhere is Missouri. The press release is in the comments section below.



 

-Jenny O Bryan