Recap: Louisville Wears Down the Panthers

After Louisville's win over Virginia the other night Coach Walz shared his grandpa's saying "the bakery was open because we were passing out turnovers."  After the 73-52 victory over Pittsburgh he said "the bakery was shut down today."  In the first half the Cards forced 17 Pitt turnovers while only committing 4 of their own.

Unlike a couple of the last games everybody on the team played and it wasn't just a garbage time situation.  In the 3rd quarter Pitt cut the lead to 40-36 and shortly thereafter the lineup on the floor included only one starter--Mariya Moore. Coach Walz said that he was just looking for someone who could come in and give them a lift.    Brianna Jones, who hadn't seen any action since the Evansville game on December 18th, came in and contributed.  Coach said he likes her because she plays physical.  That aggressiveness led to some free throw opportunities, and she nailed them.

Pitt kept it competitive but their bench was much shorter and eventually Louisville's constant substitutions took a toll on them.  The 4th quarter started with a score of 52-43 and after a pair of Mariya Moore 3s Pitt suddenly found itself looking at a 60-43 deficit just a few minutes into the quarter.  Still, Coach Walz wasn't pleased with their passing.  "We were way too stagnant on offense.  We held the ball way too much.  We've got to get better as players at understanding who's made shots....Mariya comes down and makes that one three as we're going on that run and then she never touches the ball on the next three possessions....We've got to get smarter."

Jazmine Jones started the second half for Asia Durr who did not see any action the last 20 minutes.  Asia's shooting has been woeful the last few games but when she was in she seemed to be getting a lot of defensive deflections.  However Coach Walz said that he took her out because she looked "tired and sick" and he wanted to give her a rest.  Given his dry delivery I honestly couldn't tell if that was a sincere or sarcastic statement.

Speaking of sarcastic comments, check out the coaches giving Jazmine Jones a hard time on her Instagram

Funny.

The next game is at #6 Florida State on Wednesday.  It's at 7pm on ACCN Extra.