A house plant in the TV room was acting funky, so I rang up my pal, an international gardening guru. A guy who knows some flora.
Also a truly fine writer, he’d just posted a piece in a magazine of note devoted to green thumbery where he riffed on the word “truculent.” No matter why. Though not to worry, he wasn’t describing my commentariat, apropos as it might be.
Anyhow, I mentioned as how I’d recently invoked the rarely used “ameliorate.”
Which is why I kept attempting to conjure a college board word to describe the deceptively ho hum 91-66 U of L beatdown of woeful NC State in Raleigh.
Moribund is what came to mind.
Lacking in vigor or vitality.
Too many unforced turnovers.
Way way way too many. 17.
Allowing 14 offensive boards.
Any number of slo mo possessions when the patented Kelsey movement wasn’t to be seen.
So, here we are on the cusp of Valentine’s Day 2025 , picking nits at a 25 point victory in the league on the road.
Seedy, shame on ya.
Here’s the tried and true nature of these mature, fascinating, Metro energizing Cardinals.
That turnover thing. State gave it away only 12 times. But Louisville still outscored the Wolfpack in points off of, 19-17.
Those offensive boards, many by a former Cardinal. U of L had half as many as the home team, but was only outscored on 2d chances by 6.
And of those static possessions, two stand out. J’Vonne Hadley missed up close on a back down with the shot clock expiring. But Kader Traore followed with a put back.
Then when State had run off 5 in a row to cut the Cards’ advantage to a still robust 20, U of L swam in molasses the next trip down. But Terrence Edwards hit an off balance triple at the shot clock.
Such is the nature of this team’s often unspectacular resilience.
As halftime approached Louisville was back on their heels a bit. A seven point burst trimmed their advantage to single digits.
Chucky Hepburn, looking just about full speed, stopped the run with a steal and score.
After a defensive stop, and a PK Use It or Lose It with :05 left, Cards inbound at midcourt, nobody thought to check Reyne Smith.
Silly silly them.
Down Under trey.
The point I suppose is this. The Cardinals continue to do what they need to thwart the big advantages they craft. Answering when a response is mandatory. The Cardinals continue to hammer lesser foes with terrible swift sword. (Except GT.)
Which is why the University of Louisville Cardinals stand tall at 19-6 (12-2).
* * * * *
Looking like Hannibal Lector in his protective mask, it appeared obvious that James Scott injury is more debilitating than one would think when they hear the word dental.
His numbers were modest, but the kid has guts. Tougher than it seems.
Noah Waterman saw but 10 minutes of action. One must assume he’s still hurting more than he lets on, more than has been reported.
My man Kader was called upon to check Brandon Huntley-Hatfield. He gave no quarter.
Traore had 9 and 5.
Hepburn’s slash line: 15/3/6.
Edwards: 21/4/5.
Smith was 5/9 from the International Date Line.
J’Vonne Hadley. Do we love this dude or what? 17/9/4.
* * * * *
U of L goes for #20 at the oddest hour.
8:00 Sunday night in South Bend.
— c d kaplan
Under the past couple of coaching regimes, how many times would the team come out of a TO with seconds remaining in the half, and have the point guard pound the ball at the top of the key, and then attempt an unsuccessful shot as time expired?
I bet just about everyone viewing the game had the same Hanible Lector thought when we saw JS’s mask. Once the passers stopped overthrowing the lobs to him, he looked like his old self.
Beat the Irish!
I call that the Sosa play. And to be fair, PK’s run it a few times this year.
No quit, no spit the bit, dynamic, frenetic, unselfish and just a pleasure to watch a team getting after it.
You’re saying we like this team, right?
You bet I am!
turnovers from what looked like a casual approach in playing a team that was not respected yet at the same time, PK has instilled a sense of complete confidence in these players. We also didn’t box out in the first half and I thought that was remedied at the break . I imagine the toughest part for Scott was pain on landing after jumping with inevitable mandible and maxilla colliding on impact. Tough kid.
Obviously tough. Facial fractures. Speed School engineered protective mask.
I know people are saying point spreads matter to the Net, committee, etc. But I would like to see not only the the walk-ons, but also Anselm-Ibe get a few more minutes in these blowouts. I didn’t like the play on our last possession when Edwards took the easy layup while Antonelli was floating open on the wing. Give the kid a shot, especially with his mom announcing.
I am going to give NC State for some of our turnovers. They delivered pressure on the ball while covering the passing lanes better than most of our opponents. That said, in all of the games where we surrendered a big lead it was loose handles and not getting to the 50/50 balls that caused the problem. And, there was some of that last night too.