Louisville Knocks Off UNC 79-68

An 11 point win is perfectly respectable but when you consider at one point the Cards were up by 30 it didn’t feel as triumphant as it should have. Louisville had absolutely dominated the entire game and was up 71-46 going into the final quarter and then UNC went on a 17-0 run.

After the game Coach Walz took the blame for the poor last quarter, “It’s my fault for the last 12 minutes. I put some players in some bad situations. I wanted to try to get some more playing time for some of them and I put them out there all together instead of breaking it up where I’ve got one or two going in with those eight who play a lot.” He added that he apologized to them. “I can’t do that to them.... it’s not smart. They were great. They were very understanding.”

However he was extremely happy with the first three quarters. “We played some really, really good basketball. Really pleased with how we passed the ball in that first half— how we moved it and found the open shooters. We shared it. When we play like that we’re a pretty darn good basketball team. We’re as good as anybody in the country.”

Kianna Smith talked about the team’s hot start: “We talked about how we’re the number one team and a lot of teams are going to be coming out strong for us and we have to throw the first punch and tonight I think we really did that.”

Olivia Cochran said, “When we move the ball around and get each other looks I just feel like everybody gets great shots and we play as a team.” She added, “I feel more comfortable. I’m getting more in the groove and in the mix of things of how we play.”

The Cards finished with 6 players in double figures. Olivia Cochran led all scorers with 17 to which she added 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. Liz Dixon, Dana Evans, and Kianna Smith all had 13 points apiece.

Next up the Cards take on NC State who will be coming off their first loss of the season tonight. The game is on Monday at 7PM and can be seen on ESPN2.