Cards take care of Cal Poly, 72-32

This game was not a thing of beauty. In just the first half the Cards matched their total turnovers of the previous game with nine and they finished the game with 20. They also missed wide open, fast break layups. Still their size and depth proved too much for the Mustangs and the Cards came away with a 72-32 victory.

Louisville traveled to Cal-Poly so that Kianna Smith could get the chance to play in front of her friends and family. Her father, John Smith, is the head coach of the men’s basketball team there. It was the first time a top 10 women’s team had ever gone to play there. Kianna finished the game with 11 points, 3 steals, and 4 assists.

Liz Dixon had another solid game. She came off the bench to score a game high 15 points to which she added 5 rebounds. Hailey Van Lith added 9 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

After the game Coach Walz spoke with Nick Curran. He praised the play of both of his bigs. He said, “Olivia [Cochran] made some tremendous passes. What we’re getting right now is a lot of double teams. They’re coming after our post hard and O is doing a really nice job of throwing it out. Now we’re going to have to continue to knock down some of those shots…. But she’s making the right read.” On Liz he said, “I thought Liz Dixon played a really nice ball game. The consistency that she’s having she’s not trying to make too many moves and that’s what good for her…. When she faces up from eight to ten that’s her shot.”

He also talked about his team’s defense. “We’re guarding well. That’s the one thing we are definitely a better defensive team than we were last year but we’re not offensively where we were.” But he said, “it’s easier to improve at the offensive end than it is the defensive end. Defense is a lot of will and a lot of guts and I thought we did a really nice job of that. I’m proud of the kids in that area and we’re going to continue to work.”

Next up the Cards will travel to Colorado to play Colorado State. The game is on Sunday at 2PM and can be seen online on the Mountain West Network.