Lack of rebounding, second chance points and refereeing. Three things that ultimately brought the Cards their first loss of the season. Two are correctable.
For "no way!" scenarios, the awakening of Arike, and other observations on what I'll call the tale of two halves, let's block out and grab the ball in:
FIVE THINGS ABOUT THIS GAME:
5) Go get the ball. Getting outrebounded 48-32 isn't going to put many "W"'s on the board for you. Granted, when the entire Belknap Campus is sitting on the bench with foul trouble, it makes a difference but the Irish had almost as many defensive rebounds as Louisville had total rebounds. That's not good. Second chance points 19-5 in favor of the Irish. Ouchie!
4) What game Are you guys watching? Trying to kick Arica in the face. No contact, no foul. Falling down like a fainting goat with no contact and then getting awarded a intentional foul? . Arike Ogunbowale is a talented played but she plays dirty. 28-15 was the final foul tally. A stat Louisville didn't want to win. It's a shame when the refs take over a game.
3) Sealing the deal. Despite all the chicanery going on out on the court, the Cards managed to pull within two with less than two to go. A time out. Notre Dame comes out and scores, and scores again. Unfortunately, the Irish performed better down the stretch, in crunch time than the Cards did.
If I see Brianna Turner driving down the lane and sinking that seven-foot jumper one more time...please erase my brain of those bad visions. It's a shame that Ogunbowale decided to wake up in the second half, but, that's what she does. And, the Cards couldn't stop her.
2) Quote of the night. On the foul situation, Jeff Walz did get a good quip in when he said.
"It was getting so bad, I thought I was going to have to put my five-year-old daughter in the game." Glad it didn't come to that. Arike probably would have sucker-punched Lola.
1) Thanks For Coming. Now, leave. The iciness of the post game handshake between Walz and McGraw caught my attention. There is no love lost between these two. Especially now, after Notre Dame got every break, every call and capitalized. Hey, let them dance in January. I hope Louisville is dancing in March.
Wait a second, the Cards are getting off the bus after the ride back to Louisville and Jaz Jones just got whistled for blocking Arica's path to the luggage compartment. "Ay, ya, yi, yi...Lucy. who let Eric and his whistle on the bus?"
This was not a night to remember.
-- Sonja --