By RUSS BROWN Photos by UofL Athletics
With eight freshmen and a transfer on the roster, Jeff Walz knew it would take his Louisville women’s basketball team awhile to mesh into a consistently effective unit, although he may have been wondering if the time frame he expected was too optimistic after a couple of blowouts within a week that he termed “absolute embarrassment.”
No one would disagree with that assessment. First, in the Women’s Champions Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y. vs. No. 2 Connecticut on Dec. 7 only one team looked like a champion, and it wasn’t U of L, as the Huskies blitzed the Cardinals 85-52 in prime time on national TV on Dec. 7. Eight days later, No. 22/20 NC State came close to matching that margin with a 72-42 shellacking in the KFC Yum! Center.
“That shouldn’t happen here,” Walz said.
After 11 games, U of L stood 6-5. In 18 seasons guiding the Cards, it marked only the third time they had compiled a record that bad after the same number of games. They have been 9-2 or better in 13 of 18 seasons. Louisville was ranked No. 17 in the AP preseason poll but had dropped out by week 6 and at this point wasn’t even receiving a single vote.
However, the Cards have shown signs of getting their act together, and with a schedule that ranks 17th in the nation, they’ll need to continue their progress. After the NC State debacle, they won seven straight before falling at Virginia Tech 70-65 Jan. 19 in the first of three consecutive road games.
“I’m pleased with where we’re at, but we’ve got to get better,” Walz said. “We look really good at times and then really bad at times.”
Against the Hokies, the Cards turned in one of those really bad performances, shooting a season-worst 11% from 3-point range and just 39% overall, while allowing the winners to shoot 53%. However, they got back on the right track by beating Virginia on the road, 68-65 to improve to 14-6 overall and 7-2 in the ACC, good for fourth place and just one game out of second.
“We had some kids coming in as freshmen and our returners were having to accept more responsibility,” Walz said. “I probably scheduled overzealously, and we had games we were right there and should have won. And I think we learned more from those than the NC State loss when we just got our butt kicked. What we did learn was if we don’t shoot the ball well, you’ve still got to try and guard somebody. You can’t let your offense dictate your defense.”
They must have forgotten that lesson at Virginia Tech, which they can’t afford to do again with their upcoming challenges in February that includes five games against ranked teams -- home and away against No. 3 Notre Dame, along with No. 18 Cal, No. 14 North Carolina and No. 16 Duke. With the exception of the Hokies, all of Louisville’s losses have come against Top 25 teams, including No. 11 Kentucky (71-61 in overtime). Their only win against a ranked team is No. 13 Georgia Tech, 69-60.
“This is a league that, golly, if you look at the (NCAA) NET I think we’ve got 10 teams in the top 50,” Walz said. “We can’t look past anyone. It’s real and you’ve got to be competitive. There have been some unbelievable games in our league, and even teams that might have only one or two wins right now in conference play are playing teams really, really close. There’s nobody you can just walk on the court and say, hey it’s a win.”
U of L’s biggest weakness has been 3-point shooting. The Cards are next-to-last in the ACC at 29.5%, which Walz finds puzzling.
“One area I’m looking for us to improve is our 3-point shooting because we really do shoot the ball well in practice,” he said. “It has just not translated yet into games. We should be shooting the ball 35-36 percent from the three.”
A highlight for the Cards has been the play of freshman guard Tajianna Roberts. She made an impact in her first collegiate game with a game-high 21 points in the opener against UCLA -- which is unbeaten and ranked No. 1 -- to earn ACC Rookie of the Week honors and is the only freshman in the starting lineup. She has scored in double figures in a team-best 15 of 18 games, the most by any rookie in the league and leads the team with 13.0 points and 29 minutes per game.
“She’s doing exactly what we thought she could,” Walz said. “I’ve just been very, very impressed with her patience, how the game has come along to her, how she’s seeing the game. It’s one of the things when you come in as a freshman, sometimes it’s so much quicker and stronger. And for her, it plays out slowly.”
Roberts is one of four players averaging in double figures for Louisville’s balanced attack in conference games, with senior Jayda Curry at 11.8, junior Nyla Harris 10.6 and grad student Olivia Cochran 10.1. Ja’Leah Williams is close to 9.1.
U of L has a chance to finish the regular season strong, playing five of its last seven games at home. If that happens, those early lopsided losses will fade from memory.