It was pretty much a tale of two different scenarios in Louisville WBB's 79-68 win over North Carolina Thursday night in the KFC YUM! Center. The first 28 minutes featured the Cards blowing out the visitors from Chapel Hill and establishing a 32-point, 67-35 lead. The final 12 minutes bore witness to a UNC's 33-12 pasting of a Cardinal squad that was never in any danger of losing, but had more than a few of the 2748 fans in attendance and those watching on screen a bit in askance and slightly nervous.
Jeff Walz post game remarks put the blame for the 12-minute sputter directly on him:
Coach Walz took responsibility for making the substitutions that led to UNC cutting the lead more than half to get it within single digits with a little more than a minute left in the game. He said he was trying to get some bench players some minutes and it just wasn't the right combo at the right time. It seems like it was more of a teaching moment for Coach Walz than for what he was going for by putting the subs in those moments. Walz even apologized to Noirka Konno and Ahlana Smith after the game for putting them in that kind of situation.
But, on the bright side -- Louisville had six players reach double figures, led by Olivia Cochran's 17 points. Also reaching double digits were Dana Evans (13 points), Liz Dixon (13 points), Kianna Smith (13 points), Hailey Van Lith (11 points) and Elizabeth Balogun (10 points). The Cards launched 26 three-point attempts and sank 12 of them (46.2%) and Evans, Van Lith and Smith had three threes each to propel the Cards to a 16-0 overall record and 9-0 ACC mark.
Louisville went with a starting lineup that featured their two "bigs" last night -- Cochran and Dixon on the court at the same time with Evans, Balogun and Van Lith. That ploy was an overwhelmingly successful move, the Cards blew out to a 30-16 first quarter advantage and had pumped that lead up to 55-30 by halftime.
FIVE THINGS I LIKED LAST NIGHT:
1) The shot. Olivia Cochran must have channeled her "inner Lebron James" at the end of the first half. She took a pass from Evans as time ran out, turned and launched a three in front of the UNC bench and -- nothing but net. A wild celebration amongst the Cardinal players ensued -- it was Cochran's first successful three of her career at Louisville.
2) Few Turnovers served at the KFC YUM Center last night. Jeff Walz is fond of quoting his grandfather when the Cards have excessive miscues -- saying that apple, blueberry, raspberry turnovers and more were all available, fresh out of the oven, at the fictional turnover booth on the main concourse. Louisville had just six turnovers last night and surprisingly, Dana had three of them.
3) Where Did She Come From? UNC Graduate transfer Petra Holesinslka did some pretty remarkable things at her time at Illinois from three point range. Lately, she's channeled that success for the TarHeels. The "Czech Connect" knocked in five treys against Louisville last night and led all scorers with 26 points. Off the bench. I always appreciate great performance-- regardless of which team it comes from. Petra was probably still knocking them down in the departure terminal at Louisville International Airport late last night as the TarHeels waited for their flight home.
4) Let me give you some assistance. The Cards had 16 assists on 30 made baskets and Balogun led the way with five. The guards had 13 of them and were finding the "bigs" inside with them. That was fun to see, and, let's hope it continues Monday night.
5) I dig those bigs. "O" and Liz combined for 30 points and 12-20 shooting last night. 11 rebounds, too. Most impressively, in my eyes, was the shut-down job they did on UNC center Janelle Bailey...holding her to 11 points and seven rebounds. Cochran and Dixon also got Bailey in early foul trouble -- limiting her to 27 minutes before her departure when she fouled out in the final minute.
A probable hungry and looking-for-revenge NC State comes to town Monday night to face Louisville. The WolfPack will be looking to wash the loss to Virginia Tech last night down the drain and try to force the Cards into a conference tie. I fully expect they'll have "Big Smile" Elissa Cunane back, she sat out the NC State loss last night. I expect they'll plummet from their #2 ranking when the polls come out Monday afternoon, but since UConn also lost (to Arkansas...seriously?) just how far down the pole the Wolfpack will go remains to be seen. South Carolina is no doubt smiling down in Columbia.
Big Monday. It doesn't get any better than that, if you're a Louisville WBB fan.
--sonja--
Jeff Walz post game remarks put the blame for the 12-minute sputter directly on him:
Coach Walz took responsibility for making the substitutions that led to UNC cutting the lead more than half to get it within single digits with a little more than a minute left in the game. He said he was trying to get some bench players some minutes and it just wasn't the right combo at the right time. It seems like it was more of a teaching moment for Coach Walz than for what he was going for by putting the subs in those moments. Walz even apologized to Noirka Konno and Ahlana Smith after the game for putting them in that kind of situation.
But, on the bright side -- Louisville had six players reach double figures, led by Olivia Cochran's 17 points. Also reaching double digits were Dana Evans (13 points), Liz Dixon (13 points), Kianna Smith (13 points), Hailey Van Lith (11 points) and Elizabeth Balogun (10 points). The Cards launched 26 three-point attempts and sank 12 of them (46.2%) and Evans, Van Lith and Smith had three threes each to propel the Cards to a 16-0 overall record and 9-0 ACC mark.
Louisville went with a starting lineup that featured their two "bigs" last night -- Cochran and Dixon on the court at the same time with Evans, Balogun and Van Lith. That ploy was an overwhelmingly successful move, the Cards blew out to a 30-16 first quarter advantage and had pumped that lead up to 55-30 by halftime.
FIVE THINGS I LIKED LAST NIGHT:
1) The shot. Olivia Cochran must have channeled her "inner Lebron James" at the end of the first half. She took a pass from Evans as time ran out, turned and launched a three in front of the UNC bench and -- nothing but net. A wild celebration amongst the Cardinal players ensued -- it was Cochran's first successful three of her career at Louisville.
2) Few Turnovers served at the KFC YUM Center last night. Jeff Walz is fond of quoting his grandfather when the Cards have excessive miscues -- saying that apple, blueberry, raspberry turnovers and more were all available, fresh out of the oven, at the fictional turnover booth on the main concourse. Louisville had just six turnovers last night and surprisingly, Dana had three of them.
3) Where Did She Come From? UNC Graduate transfer Petra Holesinslka did some pretty remarkable things at her time at Illinois from three point range. Lately, she's channeled that success for the TarHeels. The "Czech Connect" knocked in five treys against Louisville last night and led all scorers with 26 points. Off the bench. I always appreciate great performance-- regardless of which team it comes from. Petra was probably still knocking them down in the departure terminal at Louisville International Airport late last night as the TarHeels waited for their flight home.
4) Let me give you some assistance. The Cards had 16 assists on 30 made baskets and Balogun led the way with five. The guards had 13 of them and were finding the "bigs" inside with them. That was fun to see, and, let's hope it continues Monday night.
5) I dig those bigs. "O" and Liz combined for 30 points and 12-20 shooting last night. 11 rebounds, too. Most impressively, in my eyes, was the shut-down job they did on UNC center Janelle Bailey...holding her to 11 points and seven rebounds. Cochran and Dixon also got Bailey in early foul trouble -- limiting her to 27 minutes before her departure when she fouled out in the final minute.
A probable hungry and looking-for-revenge NC State comes to town Monday night to face Louisville. The WolfPack will be looking to wash the loss to Virginia Tech last night down the drain and try to force the Cards into a conference tie. I fully expect they'll have "Big Smile" Elissa Cunane back, she sat out the NC State loss last night. I expect they'll plummet from their #2 ranking when the polls come out Monday afternoon, but since UConn also lost (to Arkansas...seriously?) just how far down the pole the Wolfpack will go remains to be seen. South Carolina is no doubt smiling down in Columbia.
Big Monday. It doesn't get any better than that, if you're a Louisville WBB fan.
--sonja--
