Robinson and Williams Depart WBB -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

It's uncommon for us to have much talk regarding women's basketball at this time of the year other than a late commit or transfer joining the squad. Instead of talking about additions to the program, we talk about a pair of alums who are moving onto bigger and better things.

Mykasa Robinson Joins Marshall

After a six-year career with Louisville, Mykasa Robinson announced that she will be joining the coaching staff for Marshall women's basketball. Robinson played five seasons for the Cards before becoming a graduate assistant for a season. 

Robinson was known for her defensive skills and leadership as a player. She helped lead the Cards to two Elite Eight appearances and a Final Four.

The Ashland native is a part of a brand new coaching staff at Marshall under first year head coach Juli Fulks.

Josie Williams Joins Utah State

Following a two-year stent at Louisville, Josie Williams will become the new director of operations for Utah State women's basketball. Williams played one season at Louisville and spent another season as a graduate assistant.

Williams came in as a transfer in order to help with the post play. She quickly showed her versatility by knocking down three-pointers to go along with her performance down low.

As a Utah native, Williams is able to head back to her home state and be a part of a Utah State program looking to turn things aorund.

We wish both Mykasa and Josie the best of luck in their new roles!

Paulie's Picks

For those of you that have followed Cardinal Couple for a while or know Paulie, then you are familiar with his handicapping expertise. With Oaks and Derby upon us, Paulie has been considering wiping the dust off of his old site, "PAULIE PICKS" in order to give us his inside knowledge and thoughts on the two biggest days of the year here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

I will let Paulie add his comments on that.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  I will have Oaks Day Picks at the bottom of the Friday Column and Derby Day Picks at the bottom of Saturday's Column. I will be handicapping the stakes racea each day. 

paulie

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Advance to Elite Eight -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Win Over Ole Miss is Louisville's 5th Straight in Sweet Sixteen

In a season in which Louisville's offense has looked suspect at times, the Cards faced an immense challenge in the defensive-minded Ole Miss Rebels. Mississippi was likely underseeded, with five of their nine losses coming against ranked opponents. To prove it, they had shut down Gonzaga, one of the top three point shooting teams in the country, in the first round. Still not quite convincing people, Ole Miss then took down the Stanford Cardinal at home, holding the number one seed to just 49 points. That mark was Stanford's second fewest points scored this season and only the third time they had been held to fewer than 60 points. The other two were against USC, games which the Cardinal and Trojans split. In the first two games of the tournament, Mississippi held their opponents to just 3-24 shooting from beyond the arc.

Knowing all of this, Louisville came out determined to play their own game. There were hiccups, of course, but Louisville largely did what they wanted to do offensively, weathering multiple hot and cold streaks from both teams and putting four Cards in double figures. Despite stretches in which the Cards went without scoring for far more minutes than were comfortable, Louisville last lost the lead with 3:41 remaining in the first half. Myah Taylor hit a second straight three to cap a 14-3 run and give Ole Miss a 29-27 lead.

After scoring seven points in the first quarter (originally scored eight but a three-pointer was overturned), Hailey Van Lith had gone cold in the second. It would be a trend that would repeat itself a bit later, but, for a critical moment, Van Lith found her shot. Her second (third) three of the game put Louisville back in front by one. Myah Taylor missed a three on the third time of asking and Louisville was fouled on the rebound. Taking advantage, the Cards scored on the ensuing possession to move their lead back to a full basket. Both teams struggled a bit in the final two minutes, but Louisville came out ahead, scoring the only points of the stretch with an Olivia Cochran jumper to put the Cards up five. After holding a 20-15 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Cards kept a five point advantage at the end of the second: 34-29. There certainly wasn't any weirdness like Louisville stretching their lead to nine points before going on a 4+ minute scoring drought.

HVL was interviewed on her way off the floor at halftime and said it felt great to play in front of her family but that they still had work to do and they were going to come out better in the second half. The third quarter started very evenly. Both teams were able to find the bottom of the net, with Louisville's five-point advantage remaining steady for the first six minutes of the quarter. Over that time, Louisville never stretched that lead beyond five and Ole Miss never reduced it to fewer than three. Two-point shots and free throws ruled the day. When the media timeout finally came at 3:40, Louisville seemed to flip a switch. Unable to widen the gap for so long, the Cards suddenly found a way, closing down on defense and making the offense work. Louisville pushed their advantage to nine in the final minute of the quarter before Ole Miss scored for just the second time over the stretch to bring the lead back down to seven. Right on cue, Merissah Russell hit one of the critical threes she's been wont to do recently to give Louisville a double-digit lead, prompting me to message our Cardinal Couple group, "Don't look back."

Holding a 52-42 lead opening the fourth, Louisville, at first, looked like they would heed my advice. Both teams went fairly cold to open the quarter, meaning Louisville wasn't able to ride the momentum they had to close the third and put the game out of reach. They moved the lead to 12 twice, but never got any farther ahead. After scoring seven points in that first quarter, Van Lith's shot continued to evade her, as she had scored just four points in the next two periods. The basket seemed to be mocking her at times, with mid range jumpers rattling inside the rim before coming back out. When Ole Miss cut the lead to eight with 4:06 remaining, Van Lith finally found the bottom of the basket again, moving the lead back to ten. After an offensive rebound, one of eleven pulled down by the Rebels, they found Angel Baker at the top of the key. The defense was slow to step out, and Baker (whose shot is not at all pretty, by the way) nailed a three to bring the lead down to seven. 

More important than the basket itself was that it allowed Ole Miss to set up their full court pressure. Louisville had managed it okay to this point, but as the Cards became passive, trying to run clock in a game that was much too close for that, the pressure started to creep in. Louisville continually inbounded the ball directly into the pressure and dribbled right into trap situations. It was a bit like they hadn't seen a full-court press before, and it got concerning rather quickly. It didn't really help that "Coach Yo" was allowed to be on the court, in many cases contributing to two- and three-man traps in the corner, but Louisville put themselves in the positions. Holding onto their seven point lead, it wasn't really the full-court press that broke through, rather the passivity yielding to Ole Miss's urgency. As soon as she got the ball across mid-court, HVL raised it above her head expecting to run clock. Taylor promptly swatted the ball up, out jumped Van Lith for the secondary tip, and sprinted down court for the fast break jumper. To her credit, Van Lith worked very hard to influence the shot, even providing a body bump to try to put Taylor off-balance. It would be easy to criticize that she didn't do more or get her hands up, but she was playing with three fouls and the two points would be more recoverable than losing HVL completely.

Hailey showed just how recoverable those two points were when she charged down the court and hit a jumper in the paint (very similar to the few that she had missed; shooters shoot) to push Louisville's lead back to 60-53. A foul sent Taylor to the line, where she missed the second. Liz Dixon secured the rebound, and, on the other end, Olivia Cochran powered through two defenders to make a layup and draw a foul on Tyia Singleton, ending her night. The free throw put Louisville up nine, which didn't last long. Ole Miss hit a jumper to move the lead back down to seven, but, just as Van Lith had before, Mykasa Robinson quickly got the points back. Growing tired of getting pinned down in half court traps and Louisville being out of rhythm, Kasa calmly worked the offense and navigated the defense deftly to get Louisville an open look. I'm just kidding. Kasa put her head down like a raging bull and sprinted through the pressing defenders on a bee-line for the basket. Her path was suddenly impeded by Angel Baker, so she stopped and put up the floater while crashing into the defender. The whistle blew and the ball fell through the hoop, while everyone watched the refs convene. Ultimately, they ruled a block and set Kasa to the line to try to convert Louisville's second straight three-point play. While it was a very close call that could have gone either way, replay proved the call correct. Baker was not in the circle, which seemed to be the point of issue for many on the floor, but an overhead view showed she was never set and slid/leaned into the contact as Kasa arrived.

As it stood, the free throw gave Louisville a 66-56 lead with 1:40 remaining in the game, and it began to feel a bit more like you could breathe. A pair of Rebel free throws were answered by another Robinson layup and a missed three set Ole Miss back to the line after a foul on the rebound. The free throws cut the lead to eight again, but time was heavily in favor of the Cards. Louisville was able to tick 17 seconds off before Ole Miss fouled to send Van Lith to the line. Having missed a free throw earlier in the game, HVL was determined to close this one out in front of her home fans. She calmly sunk the pair. Taylor scored quickly for Ole Miss and they wisely fouled immediately after the basket, but Van Lith, again, was clutch at the free throw line, moving Louisville's lead back to 72-62 with 33 seconds remaining. 

Ole Miss called their last timeout to discuss their options and to advance the ball, they worked a quick layup to Maddie Scott under the basket, but Morgan Jones was on hand for a block. In the shuffle for the ball, Ole Miss came out with it, but it took another nine seconds to get a shot off. When the three-pointer was off the mark and Merissah Russell came down with the rebound with just 19 seconds remaining, Ole Miss tipped their caps and let the clock run out. Louisville held on to win their fifth straight Sweet Sixteen game, advancing to face Iowa in the Elite Eight on Sunday.

As I mentioned earlier, and as they mentioned repeatedly on the broadcast, Hailey Van Lith was playing in front of what was effectively a home crowd. Dozens of family members had turned out for the game and HVL delivered. The hot 3-4 start from the floor cooled significantly, as she finished with just 7-18 shooting, but she kept her head in the game to finish with 21 points, five rebounds, four assists, and a steal compared to just three turnovers. One of those turnovers was an offensive foul and another was when she had her pocket picked clean, so it was a very strong outing for Louisville's star. She was 5-6 from the line, making all four of her free throws down the stretch, and she did it all without a break, playing all 40 minutes. 

Mykasa Robinson was Van Lith's running mate for all but two minutes on the floor. She shot 5-8 from the floor and, after missing a pair of free throws early, hit a big one to finish a three-point play late in the game. Kasa finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and just two turnovers and one foul. Her defensive impact doesn't stand out on the stat sheet, but at one point in the fourth quarter, Louisville had contested 74% of Ole Miss's field goal attempts in the half. Kasa's presence makes a difference there. Her other critical contribution came as the primary ball handler against a stifling full-court press. To play 38 minutes against that pressure and finish with just two turnovers was masterclass. 

Joining those two in double figures Olivia Cochran and Morgan Jones. Cochran finished with ten points and six rebounds, adding a block, a steal, and an assist. She made 4-5 free throw attempts and turned the ball over just twice. Like Van Lith, one of those came on an offensive foul. Cochran kept her head in this one, playing through frustrations and keeping herself in the game both mentally and physically. She committed just three fouls, with one of those coming very late. 

Morgan Jones had her best game since Louisville made the starting lineup change. Jones was a starter through January, scoring 13 in the loss to NC State and 15 in the loss at Wake Forest. Her average was buoyed by back-to-back 19 and 25 point performances against Virginia Tech and FSU. Unfortunately, the team was losing during that time. Since the lineup change, Jones has seen her minutes drop significantly, and her offense has suffered as a result. After breaking double-digits off the bench for the first time last week against Texas, she did it again with 11 last night. Jones was 4-8 from the floor, 3-3 from the line, and added seven rebounds, an assist, two blocks and two steals. She made a significant case for her role as a key player, and it will be interesting to see what Jeff Walz does moving forward.

In this game, Louisville played a short bench, with only three players subbing in for Louisville. With Nyla Harris playing just five minutes in her start, that position may be up for grabs. Jones had 25 minutes and Merissah Russell played 23. Russell and Dixon didn't score double digits, but both were danger-close with eight each. The three bench players totaled 27 points, outscoring Ole Miss's bench by 21. Though she struggled, Chrislyn Carr stayed engaged throughout the game. She finished with just one made basket for three points, but had an assist and just one turnover in her 21 minutes. CC was a threat on the floor and forced Ole Miss to account for her, even if the shot wasn't falling. Her presence forces the defense to open things up for Louisville's other offensive threats to punish. Plus, when she's hitting her shots, she's a force all on her own.

Ole Miss got 49 of their 62 points from three players, with Myah Taylor and Marquesha Davis dropping 19 apiece. Angel Baker added 11. Louisville did a good job forcing Maddie Scott to the bench early with foul trouble. Scott finished with just four points and five rebounds in 24 minutes and had to play passively to avoid fouling out. All six of Mississippi's bench points came from Snudda Collins. As was pointed out in the halftime show, Ole Miss was not a three-point shooting team. They shot below 30% from beyond the arc during the season, but they were content to attempt them against Louisville. Despite making a few in big spots, those big spot threes were the only ones they made. Keeping about on their average, the Rebels shot 4-15 from range, good for just 26.7%.

Louisville, on the other hand, took what the defense gave them. Making just one more three-pointer than Ole Miss, their advantage came in shooting three fewer. After allowing just 3-24 in the first two games, Ole Miss gave up 5-12 shooting from three to Louisville, part of what made the Cards outscore the Rebels' tournament defensive average by 22 points. 

The FRED and CASE Reports

Things are getting tight, as every game is win or go home. The little things matter even more, so let's see how the Cards handled our major categories. 

F-Free Throws: Robinson's 1-3 was really the low point of Louisville's effort from the line, as the Cards shot 13-17 overall. One miss each from HVL and Cochran and Jones 3-3 mark lifted the misses by Kasa. 76.5% is good for a lowercase 'f'.

R-Rebounding: This one is tough. Louisville won the rebounding battle 38-35. However, they had only nine offensive rebounds, giving up 11 to Ole Miss. Along with that, the Cards scored just one second chance point, a mark that they also lost to Ole Miss, who had 11. Both teams cleared about 72% of their rebounding opportunities on the defensive end, so it was very evenly matched. With Louisville having a size disadvantage at the guard spot and an advantage in the front-court, I am ultimately going to go with the big number winning out. Louisville gets a lowercase 'r', but just barely.

E-Effort/Execution: Louisville deserves heaping credit for their offensive performance against a very strong defensive team. The Cards committed just 12 turnovers, scattered throughout, and they scored 72 points on a team giving up 49.5 through two tournament games. They also kept their heads in the game, responding to scoring droughts and Ole Miss runs with poise. Louisville was outscored 9-5 in points off turnovers, 11-1 in second chance points, and 14-6 in fast break points. That said, they won the points in the paint battle and got far more bench production. Plus, they didn't lose any quarter scores, held the lead at the end of each period, and, most importantly, won the game. I grant a capital 'E' because I'm the one writing and I can do what I want.

D-Defense: Ole Miss scored 68.6 points per game this season, impressive for shooting just 29% from three and 67% from the free throw line. In addition to outscoring Ole Miss's defensive average by 16, the Cards held the Rebels below their season scoring average and below the scoring average of Louisville's opponents. The teams matched in turnovers, but Louisville had fewer fouls, more blocks, and more steals. They also forced Ole Miss to play outside of their system, with the 4-15 three-point shooting contributing to an overall 37% field goal percentage. Capital 'D'.

C-Care: Louisville turned the ball over 12 times. That's not great, but it's the same number as Ole Miss, and it's less than 75% of Ole Miss's season average of 16.4%. I can't give half a letter for tying in turnovers, so it must be a lowercase 'c'.

A-Assists: While their assist-to-turnover ratio was positive, it wasn't quite 1.5. Louisville finished with 13 assists on 27 made shots. It seems overly harsh to not get any letter here as the defense definitely played a part in Louisville's offense, resulting in a number of dribble drives. I'm going to be generous (I'm tired and happy Louisville won, ok? It's my metric) and award a lowercase 'a'.

S-Steals: Much more cut and dry with this stat. Louisville had more than Ole Miss, which is good, but fewer than our expected 7.5, which is less good. Lowercase 'e'.

E-Efficiency: Ah yes, an unexpected capital letter here. Louisville just managed to sneak 45.8% shooting, which is above our 45% expectation for field goal percentage. When they went cold a few times, it looked suspect, but the Cards actually shot consistently throughout the game. They were 7-15 in the first and third quarters, 6-13 in the second, and 7-16 in the fourth. As I mentioned earlier, HVL had a few shots in the fourth that were all the way down before coming back out. Louisville also shot over 75% from the free throw line, so that's a capital 'E'.

Overall, that's scores of f-r-E-D and c-a-s-E. No missing letters is representative of a strong showing from the Cards. At this stage of the tournament, strong showings will be needed to keep playing. Louisville already has their assignment for the next game. While it's easier said than done, the defensive scout is to shut down Caitlin Clark. If the Cards are going to make it to the Final Four, they can't let Clark go for 30. She might go for 20, and there might be nothing you can do about that, but a well-rounded offensive performance can see Louisville advance as long as they make someone else try to beat them instead of Clark. Make sure you get your nap in: Louisville's Elite 8 matchup is set for 9PM Sunday night.

Cardinal Couple Pick 'Em Challenge Update

We've got a couple of discrepancies, but they should be sorted out once the sweet sixteen has been played in full. I'm hoping for myself to be out of contention, as I have Iowa knocking off Stanford Sunday on their way to the championship. I'll gladly be wrong with the Hawkeyes facing multiple Cardinals instead of just one. I also lost a final four team when LSU beat Utah. My Greenville 2 bracket was one to forget, with Utah being my only correctly selected regional team there. 

As it stands the current order is below. Disputed scores are marked with an asterisk, and should be clarified later this weekend as I mentioned.

40-12: Jason, Karen J, Jared

39-13: Kenny S*, Katy, KStark Sr, Jeff, WahooCard, Daryl, Farris*

38-14: Arthur, Paulie, Joe Hill, Sonja*

37-15: David Watson, Thomas

36-16: Case, Vivian*

35-17: Blue Lou, Cindy, Curtis, Mike D

34-18: Becky

32-20: Bea, Chimps

30-22: Nick O*

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We should have a full house this week with plenty to discuss. Softball was postponed yesterday, but they played earlier in the week. Lacrosse is in action again today, and volleyball kicked off spring ball last night. More on both of those from Jeff tomorrow. Basketball will surely be the primary focus this morning, though, so be sure to tune in to this week's episode.  As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards WBB Advance to ACC Semis -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

With the weather that rolled into the region yesterday, lacrosse canceled their previously rescheduled game against Cincinnati last night. The cancellation notification was brief and didn't include any information about a second rescheduling, so it seems fair to say that this one just won't happen. Another impact of the weather and the resulting power outages is that we will not record the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast this week. We'll be back next week to discuss the upcoming week in Louisville women's athletics and take a look at the WBB tournament prospects after the conclusion of conference tournaments.

HVL Outshines Jewel; Cards Thump Wake 74-48

Louisville used a hot first quarter from Hailey Van Lith to jump out to a large lead yesterday before the Demon Deacons clawed their way back into the game late in the first half. Despite the 8-0 scoring run, Louisville held a 10-point lead at halftime. After Jeff Walz ripped the team in the halftime interview, he presumably did so in the locker room as well, as the Cards opened the second half with a 13-2 run to effectively put the game away. The Cards would stretch the lead to 25 in the third quarter before Wake brought it back to an 18-point deficit at the end of the quarter, but an 18-point quarter deficit is very different from a 20-point halftime deficit. That, along with the fact that Louisville was playing fresh and Wake was entering their 12th quarter of basketball in 50ish hours, was proven by Louisville extending their lead in the fourth quarter up to 30 before the game ultimately ended with the 26-point difference, Louisville's largest margin of victory in an ACC Tournament game.

Louisville's leader on the floor in this one was none other than Hailey Van Lith. After scoring just eight points against Wake Forest on January 26th, HVL doubled that output in the first quarter of yesterday's game when she tallied 17. It was an inauspicious start for Louisville, with Olivia Cochran committing a shooting foul on the game's first possession. Fortunately for the Cards, Demeara Hinds missed both free throws on the only foul she would draw in the game. It wasn't the cleanest start offensively, either. HVL missed a mid-range jumper, but Cochran was fouled on the rebound. On the ensuing play, Cochran had a driving attempt in the lane miss, but Nyla Harris (part of a brand new starting lineup of HVL / Cochran / Harris / Carr / Robinson) got the offensive rebound. Harris's putback was also off the mark, but a team rebound bounced to Van Lith, who finally hit a pull-up jumper to score the game's first points. After a block by Harris on the other end, CC Carr hit a spot-up three to give the Cards a quick 5-0 lead and Wake called their first timeout. 

The timeout broke up the momentum greatly, and the game stuttered. Wake hit a three in their first possession before covers magically appeared on the baskets. The next five possessions saw seven missed shots before a jump ball stopped play. Liz Dixon entered and must have given HVL some of "Michael's Secret Stuff" from Space Jam. HVL scored all of Louisville's next 15 points, giving her a lead over Wake Forest of 17-8 at the end of the quarter. The team led 20-8. Van Lith was 6-8 from the floor, 4-4 from beyond the arc, and 1-1 from the free throw line. Not to be outdone in the quarter statistically, Nyla Harris matched the entire Wake Forest team with seven rebounds. She was 0-5, but shooting can practiced in the gym. The intensity with which Harris played in yesterday's game is something innate.

As the second quarter started, the announcers were ready to discuss the Wake Forest comeback against FSU and HVL's performance. Louisville's best scoring performance in an ACC Tournament game belongs to Asia Durr with 28 points. With 17 in one quarter and showing no signs of slowing down, everyone was quite confident HVL had the record in her sights. There was even some discussion of the overall ACC single game record. Well pump the brakes, folks. Van Lith scored just four in the second quarter as Louisville's lead began to evaporate due to cooled off shooting and boneheaded mistakes. On his way to the locker room, Walz made it clear that the team needed to remove their heads from their rear ends in order to win the game. 

The quarter began as if things would continue swimmingly for Louisville. Wake made a few baskets but Louisville matched pace to maintain their advantage. A three pointer cut the Louisville lead to nine with seven minutes left, but two offensive rebounds saw the next possession result in two points to get it back to 11. The next sequence prompted me to tweet "If Kasa is doing that, WF can just hang it up." The "that" in question was leaping for a one-handed snag that looked like it belonged at an NFL skills challenge before calmly hitting the mid-range jumper like it was automatic for her. Was I a little nervous about jinxing things when I tweeted it? Sure, but Louisville had given me many more reasons to be confident than reasons to be nervous. The Cards even backed up that confidence after the media timeout. A pair of HVL free-throws extended the lead to 15, and two Cardinal baskets were split by a free throw from Wake moved the score to 34-16. 

Then things unraveled a bit. A missed three was collected for an offensive rebound and Josie Williams went to the line on the put back. She missed both free throws. Louisville recovered another offensive rebound to try to salvage the possession, but HVL missed the ensuing three. No matter, a Wake layup meant Louisville still held a 16-point advantage. Then Mykasa Robinson had an extremely uncharacteristic lazy pass across the top of the key. As lazy passes across the top of the key are wont to do, it was stolen for a breakaway. Merissah Russell hustled back to impact the layup and it was missed. Unfortunately for the Cards, she was the only one in the area. As Jeff Walz put it, "The rest of the team was on a Sunday stroll; too bad it's Friday." Wake was there for the offensive rebound and it was a 14-point game. You might think that the result of that play would make an impact on Louisville's mindset. I certainly would have. Walz apparently thought it would have, because he didn't call a timeout to make sure they understood. Naturally, they did the exact same thing. 

This time it was Carr with the lazy pass across the top, but it was Alyssa Andrews jumping into the passing lane again. Once more, Russell sprinted back to cover the layup, and, once more, she was the only white jersey in the general vicinity of the play. This time, Andrews couldn't quite make a layup happen, so she kicked it out to Jewel Spear (quiet so far) who buried a three. Walz called a timeout. The Cards would miss four shots over the final 1:44 of the half but they would give up just one attempt to the Demon Deacons, a missed 3-pointer from Spear as time wound down. A single free throw cut the halftime lead to ten, and Louisville headed to the locker room, surely prepared to hear it from Walz for the clunker of an end to the quarter. However, while Louisville has struggled with collapses like that in quarters throughout the season, they are usually isolated, and they are usually more damaging. For the Cards to still hold a 34-24 lead at halftime was encouraging. 

Out of the break, Louisville went big. They subbed out Merissah Russell and Morgan Jones to bring in Liz Dixon and Olivia Cochran. After the Hailey show in the first half (she finished it with 21), O was ready to remind people that if your game plan is "everyone cover HVL," you might have other problems. Cochran scored the first six points of the quarter on Louisville's first three possessions. The Cards forced two turnovers from Wake to quickly turn a 10-point lead into 16, and Wake head coach Megan Gebbia wanted another early timeout. While the Deacs were able to draw up another play to get Spear a look at a three, she was unable to convert. Louisville finally missed on their fourth possession, but their momentum was not so easily derailed this time around. Another Wake miss gave the Cards a look at extending the lead once more, so they took it. Again, it was Carr with a big basket (she had Louisville's only other first quarter points, remember, on the first three of the game), as she pushed Louisville's lead to 19. She then matched Spear's driving layup with one of her own to maintain the lead. After a pair of missed baskets, Robinson grabbed a steal and made the fast-break layup herself to make it 47-26 Cards.

The next minute and a half saw three jump balls before the media timeout, which was more than made baskets. Two Carr free throws answered the Wake jumper to keep the lead at 21. Three minutes of back and forth missed baskets were followed by a flurry of scoring. Louisville came out the worse, scoring three points for Wake's seven, but still held on to the 18-point lead at 53-35.

The fourth opened with the same familiar characters pulling the hands of the clock toward midnight on Wake's small Cinderella run. Cochran opened with a layup, HVL hit a three, and a Carr layup capped the quick 7-0 run. Down 25 with just eight minutes left, the Deacs wilted. While they would score 13 more points over the remainder of the game, much of it would come against Louisville's bench, as Walz pulled the starters to rest for today's game. Louisville, for their part, scored 14 over those last eight minutes, including a Norika Konno catch and shoot three, to close out the 74-48 victory.

Van Lith finished the game with 26 points. She needed one more made basket to tie or break AD Durr's record, but I think she's probably happy just to come away with the victory. While the record seemed assured after the first quarter, it was good to see her able to keep her head in the game when the going got a little tougher as Wake clamped down the defense on her. She had just two turnovers in 33+ minutes and added three rebounds, an assist, and a steal. She committed no fouls and drew two, though going 4-12 from inside the three-point line may suggest she didn't get a couple of calls she would have liked. 

Mykasa Robinson was everywhere. In just under 33 minutes (second most on the team, 35 seconds shy of HVL), Kasa had ten assists, eight rebounds, and three steals. She had an uncharacteristic four turnovers, including the rough first half pass we discussed, but also added four points. Importantly, she was decisive on offense. She took four shots, making two, which is pretty much on average for her, but the ten assists show that she was passing on opportunities to shoot because they were better team chances to score, not just because she was being hesitant. More of that from Kasa and Louisville will continue to be dangerous.  

Louisville's biggest +/- came from Liz Dixon. Despite just one point and two rebounds, her presence on the floor was felt, as the team was +34 in her 27:40 of floor time. Dixon added an assist and three blocks, while committing no turnovers. Cochran was limited by early foul trouble, picking up a pair in the first quarter. She ultimately played just nine more minutes after that first quarter, but she was 5-5 from the floor with a rebound, just one turnover, and two fouls drawn in those nine minutes. Critically, she committed no more fouls. Her time was more limited by Louisville's smaller lineups in response to Wake's foul trouble and lack of depth at the post positions. She finished with 11 points.

 

Chrislyn Carr was the second leading scorer on the team, adding 16 points for the Cards. She was 2-6 from three, but both makes were clutch, and she was 5-6 from inside the arc. Five rebounds, a steal, and two assists rounded out CC's stat line, while she committed just two fouls and one turnover. Morgan Jones and Merissah Russell were the only two other players to earn double digit minutes, and both put in decent stints. Jones had five points, two rebounds, and an assist. She turned the ball over once but drew three fouls while committing just one. Russell had four rebounds to go with her four points, and was the only player with more than ten minutes to commit no fouls or turnovers. Her hustle prevented two fast breaks from scoring, though the stat sheet doesn't reflect it as the rest of the team was lagging on those plays. 

Josie Williams struggled a bit under the lights, missing three free throws on her two drawn fouls, but her -9 in 6:45 was more a reflection of when she was on the floor than of her play. She was quiet, with just two points on 1-2 shooting and no other stats, but with no fouls and no turnovers, you can't be too mad at the effort from what was effectively the fourth forward up. When all was said and done, all but one player for Louisville ended with points. That player was a starter (Harris) who still contributed with nine rebounds and a block and finished with a +/- of +8 in 15:36 on the floor.

Louisville held up defensively, fearing no Spear in this one. Jewel finished with 15 points, but shot just 5-16 from the floor and 4-10 from three. While she drew three fouls, she took just two free throws. Elise Williams was big for Wake as well, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, but she committed seven of the Demon Deacons' 15 turnovers. The Cards effectively neutralized the bigs for Wake Forest with early foul trouble. Olivia Summiel and Demeara Hinds both had four fouls and both played about 23 minutes. The pair combined for four points, quite a bit fewer than their average of 12. Critically, their non-presence on the floor opened things up for Louisville to win the rebounding battle and avoid the major blockers.

The FRED and CASE Reports

F-Free Throws: 8-12 is just 66.7% for the Cards, which isn't winning any awards. Critically, three of those four misses came from Williams around the big Wake Forest run. The starters were 6-6, but drawing 16 fouls, you'd like to see a few more free throws. Wake, for comparison, shot 14 free throws on 13 fouls. No letter.

R-Rebounding: I award a capital R for this one. It's not cut and dry as free throws, but Louisville won the battle 40-29. They doubled up Wake on offensive rebounds, and, while they could only turn that into a 7-4 second chance advantage, it's still important to keep the opposing team off the glass. 

E-Effort/Execution: It's tempting to see just the big run by Wake and think that Louisville could be docked, but I can't ignore the rest of the game and the response directly to that run out of the half. Plus, the Cards won by almost 30 against a team that beat them up the road from this gym just over a month ago. Eleven turnovers isn't ideal, but it's fewer than the opponent. Outside of the blip in the second quarter, Louisville never appeared to let off the gas, and the Cards never trailed. Capital E.

D-Defense: The Cards had just seven steals in this one, though they forced a total of 15 turnovers. A couple of those were shot clock violations caused by actual lockdown defense and not lack of awareness. Adding four blocks and holding Wake to 35.4% shooting isn't bad either. Add all that into the fact that Wake's 48 points is the fewest allowed to an ACC opponent this season and I have to credit that with a Capital D.

_-R-E-D

C-Care: Louisville committed 11 turnovers in this one, like I mentioned, which is not great but is actually 4.6 fewer than their per game average. It's also fewer than Wake's 15. Wake turns opponents over at a clip of 14.25 per game (good for just 279th in the country) and 11 is more than 75% of that. Lowercase c.

A-Assists: Again, those 11 turnovers will hurt this category. While it's low, Louisville didn't have that many assists, despite 10 from Kasa. The Cards finished with 17 on 29 made baskets, giving them a 59% assist rate, which is pretty good. It's not an ATO of 2, though (just 1.54), and perhaps I should tune that number down. I'm not doing so today, though, so it's a lowercase a.

S-Steals: Sadly, seven is below 7.5 (obviously), but it is above the five that Wake snagged. Short and simple stat. Lowercase s.

E-Efficiency: With no letter in the F of the FRED report, we're starting at a lowercase e here. The Cards were just one made free throw away, but one free throw can make the difference in a game. They shot 43.3% from the floor, about on pace with their 42.1% from three, and that's not quite the 45% we're looking for. So no letter.

c-a-s-_

The slightly more subjective FRED report was friendlier than the CASE report, but both are decent showings in the tournament opener for the Cards. They'll get Notre Dame for the third time today at noon, and they'll have their work cut out for them. The Irish were still without Olivia Myles yesterday against NC State but held on to defeat the Diamond Johnson-less Wolfpack 66-60. Coverage for this one is on ACC Network, with the winner advancing to tomorrow's ACC Championship game.

Tournament Recap and Bracket Update

Hiya. Paulie here with yesterday's quarterfinal recaps and our contest (and ACC bracket) updates. 

The day started, as you'd no doubt read, with our Cards shaking Wake all the way back to Winston Salem.  Jewel Spear returns for them next year, and that's about all I'm going to say about that one. I also like the Hailey Van "Lethal" tag that folks are using when talking about our blonde bomber. Let's go out and beat ND, now. 

Notre Dame 66 - NCST 60

Apologies here, to my wife Sonja, who was getting confused every time I'd shout out something about ND's Sonia Citron yesterday, while I was watching this game.

 "Sonia, quit fouling her!" 

"What did you need, hon?" 

 The Irish managed to shut down an NCST squad that didn't have Diamond Johnson. Notre Dame was missing "Miles of Smiles" and "Lil Cindy Boo Hoo" -- who were nursing knees. Inconsistency is thy name, NCST -- I guess it does matter if you lose four starters from last year, Wes? 14-point leads are tough to overcome, and compliments for cutting it to six late...but YOURE GOING HOME, Used Car salesman. I-40 should be fairly clear for travel this morning.  

Duke 44 - UNC 40

That horrible sound on your TV was Deb Antonelli growling about lack of offense (again) in the rematch between these two. I think they were playing "first to 50 wins" and neither squad could get there, so they just let the clock decide.  We did see that former Card Elizabeth Balogun is continuing to fit in pretty well with Kara Lawson's bunch and she can still drill the three. UNC's Deja Kelly went, like 4-30, or some ridiculous number from the floor and that probably hurt the Heels. Yes, shooters are great...but coaches (and people watching the game) prefer makers. And, you probably needed Makers, if you watched all of this one. Duke moves on to get VT. TV worth watching today after the Cards game, I hope. This one wasn't.  I guess both squads were just resting up for the NCAA Tournament. 

. 

Virginia Tech 68 - Miami 42

A 20-5 lead in the first quarter pretty much describes it all....VT came ready to play and Miami stayed on the bus. Cavinder Magic and Ktie Meyer Mastery were not to be found and the Canes will fly back south. When you get a bird battle between a Gobbler and an Ibus, go with the land animal if it's a turf war. The fact is, VT hed coach Kenny Brooks has a helluva arsenal assembled, including two-time ACC Player of the Year Liz Kitley, and some very good players to compliment her.  They just might send Duke home today. 

CARDINAL COUPLE ACC PICK 'EM UPDATE

With three games to go, Case holds a tenacious 10-1 success mark and is ahead  of six participants at 9-2 (Paulie, Jared, Thomas I, Karen J, Jeff McA and Daryl. 

At 8-3:

Katy, Vivian, BJ, Nick O. K.Stark, David Watson, Jo. Spivey

At 7-4

Joe Hill, Sonja, JA. Spivey, Jason, Lilli D.

We also have two at 6-5, three at 5-6, two at 4-7 and the Cardinal Couple Chimps can see 'em all at 2-9. Thanks for playing and better luck next time  I expect I'll do a final and complete listing in my Monday column. 

We cannot allow Case to win, y'all. His ego is way too big already. He has Louisville beating Notre Dame today and Duke beating VT. He has Duke as champion. We shall see...

paulie

CASE TOSSED IN THESE PICTURES FROM JARED FROM FRIDAY GAMES

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Travel to Virginia -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Basketball Visits Virginia

Louisville women's basketball is back in action tonight against Virginia. The Cards and Cavaliers have not played each other since the 2019-2020 season after Virginia forfeited last year. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET and will be aired on ACCNX. You can also tune into 93.9-FM to hear Nick Curran and Cortnee Walton call the game.

The Cards enter the game riding a two-game win streak including being fresh off a win against #11 North Carolina in the KFC Yum! Center. The recent hot streak has improved Louisville's conference record to 8-4 as they continue to battle for a double-bye in the ACC Tournament.

Virginia has struggled this season, holding a 14-10 overall record but a poor 3-10 mark in the ACC. Their wins gave come against Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, and Boston College. Four of their conference losses have been by single-digits.

In terms of offense and defense, the Cavaliers sit near the middle. They average 70.3 points per game, ranking them ninth while they allow 62.0 points per game, sitting eighth. Rebounding has been a strong spot for them as they sit third in the conference with 43.1 rebounds per game. Mir McLean, whose season has ended due to injury,  leads the charge with 9.6 boards while four other Wahoos average at least four rebounds per game.

McLean, who transferred in from UCONN was also second in scoring on the team with 12.2 points per game. She is one of three players averaging scoring double figures alongside Camryn Taylor (13.6 ppg) and Sam Brunelle (11.0 ppg). Despite strong offensive efforts by the aforementioned trio, Virginia has been subpar from the free throw line at 72% and three-point shooting at 28%.. Brunelle, of course, played at Notre Dame before going into the portal. 

Virginia has had success in forcing opponents to turn the ball over. In fact, they've forced 426 turnovers this season. Meanwhile, Louisville has turned the ball over 397 times this year.

One of the questions going into tonight centers around the starting lineup and who will see more playing time. In the past two games, Nyla Harris, Mykasa Robinson, and Norika Konno were on the court for tip. Harris has posted back-to-back season bests in points and rebounds as she commands more minutes for the Cards. Robinson single-handedly sparked a momentum surge for Louisville in the third quarter against North Carolina thanks to her effort and defense.

Excluding the forfeit from last year, Louisville has dominated the series, winning 10 of the 12 meetings with one of the losses coming in 1985. Jeff Walz is 10-1 against the Wahoos including having won nine straight dating back to January 2016.

Currently projected as a 7-seed in the NCAA Tournament, Louisville sits comfortably enough to not worry about being a bubble team at the moment. A win most likely won't move them up a slot but a loss would certainly drop them down. This is a must-win for the Cards and I expect Louisville to treat it as such and will come out firing out of the gate.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

WBB Falls to South Dakota State 65-55 -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Basketball Suffers Second Loss at Battle 4 Atlantis 

The woes continue for Louisville women's basketball, as they fell to South Dakota State in their final game of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament, 65-55. Hailey Van Lith was the top scorer for the Cards with 26 points.

Minus HVL's high-scoring performance, the rest of the Louisville squad combined for 29 points with no one scoring more than seven points. The Cards shot a combined 20-55 (36.4%) from the field with a 5-16 (31.3%) mark from three-point range. While Louisville was able to limit their turnovers with 12, they struggled with fouls by committing 24. Rebounding was awful as South Dakota State won the rebounding battle 41-24.

Jeff Walz chose to go with a smaller lineup as the only "big" for Louisville to see double-digit minutes was Olivia Cochran with 22:05 floor time. Chrislyn Carr and Mykasa Robinson each saw about three and a half minutes of on-court action while Hailey Van Lith stayed on the floor for the entirety of the game.

No Cardinal recorded more than five rebounds. Louisville had success in forcing 20 turnovers while only committing 12. Despite recording nine steals, Louisville was only able to turn that into five fast break points. South Dakota State had 11 second chance points as opposed to Louisville, who made two second chance baskets for four points. The Jackrabbits also had better success in the paint with 30 points while Louisville had 22 points in the paint.

1Q: Louisville 11, South Dakota State 8

After trailing 8-4 roughly two-thirds through the opening period, Louisville rallied around a 7-0 run to close out the quarter. Although the offense was underwhelming, the defense had a strong showing by surrendering just eight points and shutting out the Jackrabbits in the final 3:26.

2Q: South Dakota State 26, Louisville 19

It appeared as if the Cards were destined to build a comfortable lead in the second quarter by scoring six of the first eight points, but a four and a half minute drought proved fatal. After going up seven, Louisville allowed the Jackrabbits to score 16 points over the final 6:13 before halftime.

3Q: South Dakota State 46, Louisville 39

If you like defense then this quarter is not for you. The two foes combined for 40 points in the third quarter alone with a combined 14-25 (56%) shooting. The Jackrabbits extended their lead to 17 midway through the quarter before Louisville closed out the quarter with an 11-1 run.

4Q South Dakota State 65, Louisville 55

Missed opportunities were the theme of the fourth quarter for Louisville. The Cards cut their deficit to three with 6:30 remaining in the game. A few defensive stops and a few made baskets could've turned the game around for Louisville, but that's not how the story would unfold. Four missed shots and a pair of fouls would plague the next several possessions for Louisville, allowing the Jackrabbits to push their lead back to 11 with three minutes remaining. Louisville would never get closer than within eight points the remainder of the game.

FRED Report

FRED Thompson's facial expression says it all
in terms of how the Cards played in this one.)

Free Throws: Louisville shot 10-15 (66.7%) from the charity stripe. HVL and Kasa combined to go 7-8 but Olivia Cochran and Norika Konno (glad to see Norika playing again) went a combined 3-7. South Dakota State shot 20-26 from the free throw line here. The Cards miss out on a letter here.

Rebounding: Getting outrebounded 41-24 and having just seven offensive rebounds won't win you many ballgames. Seeing eight (out of 11) Cards log at least one rebound is good but six of them had three rebounds or less so it doesn't do much. Getting outrebounded by such a large margin is unworthy of a letter.

Effort/Efficiency: Without being able to watch this game on tv or online (thanks, FloHoops), it's hard to say Louisville didn't put forth effort. The lack of rebounding and lack of scoring by a majority of the team makes me suspect that maybe 100% effort wasn't there from the team as a whole. Shooting 36% from the field and having very little success in the second chance points and fast break points isn't great either. However, after turnovers caused some trouble in earlier games this season, limiting turnovers to 12 is enough to sneak in a lowercase "e".

Defense: If we could award a letter to a single quarter then the first quarter would have a capital letter. The other three quarters, at least in terms of points allowed were bad. The Jackrabbits averaged 19 points per quarter over the final three periods. The positive is that this was South Dakota State's second lowest scoring total this season after they were limited to 63 points against Sam Purcell's Mississippi State. Holding a team six points under their season average, especially a team like South Dakota State, is enough a lowercase "d", although I'm cautiously awarding that letter.

_-_-e-d. Ouch. And that's me being somewhat generous.

The good news is that the season is still young and both losses so far are to teams I fully expect will make the NCAA Tournament. This Louisville has a ton of new faces that haven't fully adjusted to the Jeff Walz system yet. I'll be concerned if this is the same Louisville team we see in January. I think the Cards will look much different- and much better- come conference play and then post-season time.

Louisville drops to 4-2 on the season and finished sixth in the Bahamas Battle 4 Atlantis. The Cards travel back for a fairly quick turnaround as they gear up for a game against Longwood on Black Friday at noon. The game is promoted as Kids Day.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Sunk in Atlantis -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Falls in OT 79-67

When I traded writes with Jeff late Friday night, I was expecting to cover a victory, even if it was a little tighter than expected. Gonzaga is scrappy and has played the Cards well in recent meetings. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, as Louisville fell behind in the first quarter and never recovered the momentum. After trailing by 9 after one and bringing the deficit down to one before the half, Louisville was unable to turn the tide completely and take control of the game. Once the clock struck zero with the score tied, Louisville may as well have forgotten that they needed to continue playing.

The game started out well enough, with the Cards getting a steal on the opening possession and turning over Gonzaga on the second after the Zags got a defensive rebound. After a missed three by Gonzaga split a pair of paint jumpers from Olivia Cochran, Louisville led 4-0. What followed was the first of many Gonzaga runs. Another missed three by Gonzaga led to a put back to get them on the board. The ensuing play saw a steal from Cochran turn into a fastbreak layup to tie the game. A turnover by Liz Dixon gave Gonzaga the lead, and then Louisville missed three shots on one possession when they had the chance to tie. Cochran pulled down another defensive rebound on the next Gonzaga shot, but she had her pocket picked once more and Gonzaga doubled their advantage.

At this point, midway through the first quarter, an 8-4 deficit is ugly, but there is plenty of opportunity to clean things up. Louisville chose the opposite. While they traded baskets a couple of more times to bring the score to 11-10, the turnovers and Gonzaga offensive rebounds continued. After turnovers on back-to-back possessions for Louisville, Jeff Walz found himself on the receiving end of a T hand gesture from the official. Unlike when Walz makes the motion for a timeout, this one was a technical and sent Gonzaga to the line for two. They converted to move their lead to 13-10. A missed jumper kept Louisville from getting into too deep of a hole and the Cards responded by cutting the deficit back to 1. After a made basket by Gonzaga, Hailey Van Lith was called for an offensive foul and turned it over. Following in the footsteps of her leader, HVL expressed her displeasure and earned herself a two-for-one deal--adding a technical to her foul. This time, Gonzaga capitalized, making both free throws and scoring on the free possession to take a seven-point lead. In the final minute, they grabbed another steal and scored to make it a 21-12 game. HVL held for the final shot of the quarter, but her three was off the mark with one second left and the quarter came to a close.

Louisville appeared to have sorted things out during the timeout. After giving up 8-14 shooting in the first and handing Gonzaga 4 points at the free throw line, Louisville buckled down. They allowed just 4-12 shooting in the second quarter, including 0-1 from beyond the arc, and didn't send Gonzaga to the line once. On the other side, the Cards were 6-15, 1-2, and 3-4, respectively, and even took the lead briefly at 26-25. The good vibes of their 14-4 run were briefly disrupted when Gonzaga scored on back-to-back possessions and forced a turnover with a chance to extend their lead to two possessions. Nyla Harris was there to make up for her turnover with a pair of blocks, but Louisville couldn't cut into the advantage. As Gonzaga worked the clock to get the last shot of the half, Mykasa Robinson stepped in to avenge her previous miss and grabbed a steal to get a fast break layup. Louisville had brought the score back to 29-28 in favor of Gonzaga, but the momentum still wasn't quite in their favor.

The problem with struggling early in a game like last night's is that it's a lot harder to crush an opponent's dreams on a neutral floor. If Louisville goes down by nine against Gonzaga at home and then comes back to take the lead on a 14-4 run in the second quarter, Gonzaga is probably never taking that lead back. On a neutral floor, though, it takes more to swing Uncle Mo' in your favor. The underdog already knows they can beat you. They had been doing it soundly for the better part of two quarters. The only way to put a team like that behind you is to come out strong and refuse to yield.

Louisville looked, briefly, like they might do that to start the second half. Gonzaga was assessed a technical during the break that flipped the halftime advantage to Louisville after HVL made both free throws. A missed three was rebounded offensively and Gonzaga fouled to give Louisville another shot to extend the lead. The Cards responded with another missed three, but Gonzaga couldn't capitalize. Kayleigh Truong pulled down the rebound and found herself with the layup opportunity on the other end. Though she missed the shot, she pulled down her own rebound, before being called for an offensive foul while trying to clear out the lane. Louisville moved their lead to three with a Cochran jumper, but Truong immediately righted her wrongs by tying the game again with a three-pointer. 

The Truongs had just 19 points and 7 rebounds
but every one was backbreaking.

Two more traded baskets saw the game tied at 34, but Gonzaga's offensive rebounding continued to pressure the Cards. A foul by Dixon sent the Zags to the line for two and another missed three was followed by a fast break to push the lead to four. What came after was a clunky two minutes that saw a combined seven missed baskets and two turnovers. Louisville finally broke through with a basket, only to have their frustrations continue when Gonzaga responded with a three. Combine that with a pair of missed free throws, and the chance to retake control of the game was gone. Louisville would be able to cut the Gonzaga lead to one before the Bulldogs pushed it back to five. As Gonzaga held the ball for the final shot of the quarter with a chance to extend their lead even further, HVL nabbed a steal and hit Nyla Harris for a layup to bring the deficit back to one possession. On the ensuing possession, Gonzaga once more turned it over trying to hold. On the inbound play, it was Payton Verhulst who found herself with the game-tying opportunity, but her three was off the mark.

The fourth quarter started much the same as the others, with Louisville unable to make a real impression on the Gonzaga lead. The Cards cut the deficit to one point twice and both times Gonzaga pushed their lead back to five. After that, Louisville decided that maybe they should avoid trailing by one. A Chrislyn Carr three-pointer cut the lead to two and a steal and fastbreak jumper tied the game at 53 with 4:31 to go. Louisville called timeout and the final media timeout of regulation joined it. Out of the break, Louisville collected a rebound off of a missed Gonzaga three, but turned it over to give the Zags the chance to do what they had tried on the previous possession. They didn't miss again. 

HVL cut the lead to one with a jumper in the paint, but, if you recall, they weren't supposed to trail by one anymore. After Olivia Cochran grabbed a steal in the paint on the other end, it looked like Louisville might have a late chance to put a stamp on the game. Robinson's layup was off the mark though, and Gonzaga pulled down the rebound. The Cards had another shot, after an offensive foul by Gonzaga, but Van Lith's jumper was wide and Gonzaga collected the rebound. Another missed three gave Louisville life, but the Cards couldn't keep Gonzaga off the boards. An offensive rebound kept the play alive and the second-chance three was on the money. Trailing by 4 with 1:46 remaining, it was looking grim for Louisville. The Cards responded with calm. A foul sent HVL to the line where she made both to make the lead two. After a missed three (could someone have gotten Gonzaga to please stop shooting those?), Louisville turned the ball over, but HVL stole it right back. Again she was fouled, and again she sunk both free throws. All of the sudden the game was tied. With a Gonzaga turnover, Louisville took a 61-59 lead with just 44 second left, and fans allowed themselves to hope the Cards might just escape. During the timeout, Gonzaga drew up a play that ultimately didn't matter, as Cochran fouled to send the Zags to the line to tie it. Harris missed a layup with 22 seconds left to regain the lead, but the Cards pulled down the offensive rebound. As they worked the ball back inside for a chance at the win, Kayleigh Truong grabbed a steal with five seconds left. She hit her sister who took the ball up court and fired a three as time expired. It probably would have been less painful to lose that way.

Instead, the shot missed and the teams prepared for overtime. One team seemed to prepare for it better than the other. Louisville gave up a paint jumper in the first eight seconds. After pulling down an offensive rebound on their own miss, Nyla Harris was fouled and sent to the line. She missed both. Louisville returned the favor, but Gonzaga only hit one of two free throws. No matter, as Louisville was unable to score their first points of the period. On the following possession, the Cards gave Gonzaga another chance at that missed free throw, giving up an and-1 to trail by six. With HVL sent to the line, she made only the second, and the parade of free throws continued with a foul on Chrislyn Carr. Gonzaga extended their lead to seven before another missed shot and another foul by Louisville gave them the chance to extend it further. They made one of two to push the lead to eight with 2:34 remaining. HVL finally gave Louisville their first field goal of overtime to cut the lead to six, but Gonzaga responded immediately to stretch it back to eight. Ultimately, Van Lith would hit her only three of the game with 38 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 67-76 before free throws closed it out. Louisville went 2-10 from the floor in overtime, including 1-7 from three. They were just 1-4 on free throws in the period. Meanwhile, Gonzaga was 4-4 from the floor and 10-13 from the line. 

Louisville had plenty of chances to take control of the game and just couldn't do it. While the commentators on the Louisville radio broadcast were upset with officiating, it's hard to think it's too biased when the teams combined for 31 first half turnovers and 49 overall. Louisville only had six more fouls than Gonzaga, and that can be expected as you foul out a game you're trailing in. The Cards led on points in the paint, points off turnovers, and fast break points. What this game came down to was Louisville's inability to end Gonzaga possessions. Louisville was outrebounded 31-50. Gonzaga had nearly as many offensive rebounds (18) as Louisville had defensive rebounds (19) and led the second chance points battle 24-3. If you can't punish your opponent for missing shots, you will have a very difficult time winning games. Louisville's leading rebounder was Olivia Cochran, who had seven. Second on the team was Mykasa Robinson with five. I, like most Louisville fans, love Kasa. She cannot be second on the team in rebounds.

The Cards couldn't hit the broad side of a barn last night. Morgan Jones and Nyla Harris were the only players to shoot over 50%. If you include free throws, which I'm going to do just to nail this point home, Harris drops off the list, but only Robinson joins it. Hailey Van Lith and Payton Verhulst, the two players many are expecting to lead the way scoring, were a combined 8-31 from the field and 2-12 from three. HVL finished with 18 points, thanks to 7-8 free throws, and scored all six of Louisville's overtime points, meaning Louisville's highest scorers in regulation were HVL and Jones with 12. 42% shooting in regulation will do that.

The FRED Report

It was Louisville who bit the dust last night.

F-Free Throws: Louisville finished 10-16 from the line. They shot four free throws in each period except for the first, in which they took none. 62.5% from the line doesn't get it done. While only three of those misses came in regulation and they were clutch in the fourth quarter, every point matters. The opponent was 20-23 from the line. I award no letter.

R-Rebounding: I don't feel I need to get into this one much. See two paragraphs prior. Ick. No Letter.

E-Effort/Efficiency: 42% from the floor is not great but it's not super terrible. However, that fell to 39% after overtime. Add in 20 turnovers and the efficiency is looking rough. That said, they did win in a number of categories and didn't appear to give up, despite their struggles. They came back from large deficits and played hard, final score notwithstanding. I'll give a generous lowercase 'e'.

D-Defense: After the first quarter in which Gonzaga shot 57% from the floor, Louisville held them to 35% or lower in each remaining quarter (until the 4-4 in OT). That turned into a final shooting line of 43%, which is better than Louisville's. The Cards forced 29 turnovers and had 15 steals, but man those second chance points are hard to ignore. Since they played much better after the first quarter and they've already been punished in rebounding, I'll be generous again and award a lowercase 'd'.

The final line of _-_-e-d won't win many games, just like it didn't win this one. Louisville has to improve on the defensive glass if nothing else. The road ahead doesn't get easier. I'll spare you a CASE Report this week. Spoiler alert: it wouldn't be good.

The Cards don't have long to lick their wounds as they'll get #3/5 Texas tonight at 7:30. Like last night's game, this one will be on FloHoops, which is a paid service. You can tune in on the radio, as 93.9 is listed. It's a matchup the Cards expected, but not in this way. After topping 100 in both of their exhibition games, Texas is now 1-2, having failed to score more than 76 points in the regular season, with that number coming in a loss at UCONN. The Longhorns fell 68-61 to Marquette in their opening game in the Bahamas. Both teams will be looking to get their seasons back on track after upsets, and tonight's game will be a test of who can better recover. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case