Louisville basketball: #1 ranking on the line for Cards in South Bend

Jeff Walz and the 2nd ranked Cardinals face their toughest test yet as they face top ranked Notre Dame Thursday.

Louisville basketball swept the season series against the Irish last season going 1-0 in the regular season, winning by 33 at home, and adding another win in the ACC tournament on the way to an ACC Championship. Last season, Asia Durr became a household name across college basketball by tallying 36 points in a route at the YUM! Center against the Fighting Irish.

However, the Cards know that last season doesn’t matter when squaring off against the defending women’s National Champion Irish tonight. Louisville knows the challenge of not only knocking off a giant, but to do it on the road in a building where the Irish are 102-3 in recent history, is a whole new challenge in of itself.

However, this game feels different and for good reason.

In a rare instance, this matchup features a battle against the top team in the country that isn’t UConn. Therefore, the Cardinals are in a prime position to capture the school’s first number one ranking in program history.

Muffet McGraw’s Irish are deep this year playing five players who have scored 1,000 points or more and adding a 6’3” graduate player at the center spot to just add to their experience and depth.

Louisville will face one of its toughest challenges on the season as they go head-to-head with the 2018 National Champion MVP, Arike Ogunbowale. Ogunbowale is currently the nation’s 10th leading scorer, averaging 22.1 points per game, and is one of five double digit scorers on the Notre Dame roster.

When it comes to winning the game, there are two big areas of focus that Louisville will need to hone in on in order to take advantage of McGraw’s Irish team. It will be important for the Cards to take care of the ball, especially in a hostile environment where every turnover is amplified. Both teams are fairly close in turnovers per game, as Louisville averages 13.9 (ranked 38th) and Notre Dame is at 14.2 per game (t 51st). The Cards have been inconsistent this season in taking care of the ball, as their turnovers have fluctuated between single and double-digit turnover totals game to game.

The other is rebounding, a statistical category that typically dictates the outcome. Last year Louisville owned the glass from start to finish, out rebounding Notre Dame 35-25. Myisha Hines-Allen led the game with 12 rebounds from Louisville, while no player from Notre Dame hauled in more than 7. This season, the roles are likely to be flip-flopped as Notre Dame is one of the nation’s top rebounding teams (currently ranked 26th). Louisville currently ranks toward the bottom in rebounding nationally and will need a big night from Sam Fuehring, Kylee Shook, and even Jazmine Jones, who has shown to be a very strong rebounder at the guard position this season.

Asia Durr, aka the ACC player of the year (just in case you were curious Muffet) will be the focal point of UofL’s offense that McGraw will have highlighted. Durr has had a tremendous season and no doubt will have a point to prove after the fiasco that took place last season.

This means that the Cards will have to play a team game and balance out the scoring. If Durr could duplicate what she did a season ago in putting up 36 points against the Irish that would be an added bonus, however the reality is that this is a different Notre Dame team from a season ago.

Players like Arica Carter and Sam Fuehring can have a huge impact in games like these by crashing the boards and disrupting ND’s offensive flow.

It will also be important for them to get production from them on offense, whether it is going after offensive rebounds or even simply moving without the ball.

It will also be important especially for Fuehring, to be a physical presence on both ends of the floor. It may not show up in the stat sheet, but as the game progresses it can have a huge impact by wearing down the defense.

There is no doubt that it will be a tough task, but the Cards are in prime position to get one of those program changing wins. Jeff Walz is one of the best coaches in college basketball, but like any great coach, he is hungry for more. Tonight would be the perfect opportunity to feed that hunger. UConn while still dominant, is not the clear-cut team that people have picked to win it all like they have in the past.