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This is certainly a familiar foe for the Huskies. Both were members of the Big East for many year and played each other 21 times. Louisville won the first game between these two teams in 1993 and didn't play again until 2006. Louisville won that first game and UConn then won the next 16 times they played. One was for the National Championship in 2013 where the Huskies embarrassed Louisville 74-48. It was the first of Breanna Stewart and UConn's four straight championships. The Cardinals have won the last two of four times the teams have met including three seasons ago, 3 games after losing Bueckers and a game that Muhl was out as well. Ducharme was outstanding in that game with 26 points.
Ok, enough about the past.
Some teams say that they have a deep bench and in reality they only play 7 in cometative games. Not Louisville. They have 11 players that have double digit minutes and 8 have played in every game. Two others are double digit minute players that have only missed one game. And they have another player that has played in only 4 games due to injury. And she leads the team in scoring. I would imagine they play 8 or 9 against UConn.
The Cards also share the scoring load. There are 9 players between 12.0 PPG and 4.8 PPG. That can be good and bad. Sometimes you need that superstar to make the difference. They don't have that.
Louisville has been consistent with their starters. They have the same starting 5 players in every game. However, three of the starters are new to a starting role.
One of two returning starters is Grad Student center 6'3" Olivia Cochran. She has been there is seems forever. Cochran is on all the watch lists for the center position. She is solid post and it will be a great battle between her and UConn's two headed centers. She averages 9.3 PPG, down from past years production and leads the team in rebounds at 6.3 RPG. On a team that doesn't block shots she leads with only 5 on the season.
The other returning starter is Nyla Harris, a 6'2" sophomore forward. A solid rebounder at 4.4 RPG, second on the team, she is averaging 9.5 PPG as well. The stat that stands out to me is her 8 assists and 14 turnovers on the season.
Tied for scoring at 12.0 PPG is Tajianna Roberts a 5'10" Freshman Guard. She clearly has no fear as she scored 21 points in her first game and it was against now No. 1 UCLA. A five star prospect, she was ranked 24th by ESPN Hoopgurlz. She is a very good three point shooter at 38%. Roberts is also tied for the team lead in steals with 11.
Ja'leah Williams is a 5'9" senior Guard who transferred from Miami. She played three years there starting 81 of her 99 games played. She slid right into a starting position for the Cards. She is the point guard for Louisville and has 38 assists and only 21 turnovers. Not terrible but not great either. She is averaging 5.6 PPG.
MacKenly Randolph is the fifth starter. A 6' freshman forward, her claim to fame is she is the daughter of NBA great Zach Randoph. She only averages 13 MPG as a player off the bench is getting starter minutes. She is averaging 4.8 PPG and 1.8 RPG in her limited time on the court.
As I mentions earlier, the strength of this team is it's depth and they will play 3-4 players off the bench in this game. They have every game so far this season.
First off the bench is Jayda Curry, a 5'6" senior guard that transferred in from Cal two years ago. She has only played 4 games due to an injury but she is back and tied for the team lead at 12 PPG. She is a solid ball handler with a positive assist to turnover ratio of 14/4. Oh yeah, she is another transfer, this time from California.
Merissah Russell, a 6' Grad student from Canada is NOT a transfer. She is playing 15.5 MPG and averaging 5.6 PPG and 2.5 RPG. She is third in three pointers taken but is only 8-23. She is good with the ball, with 11 assists and only 2 turnovers.
Highly regarded freshman Amari Berry leads the team in three point shooting. She is 15-35 for 42.9%. Averging 8.6 PPG, with more experience she will earn more than her 18 MPG that she averages now.
Finally, the only size off the bench, 6'3" sophomore forward, Elif Istanbulluoglu, I hope this is the last time I have to type her name. She only gets 16.3 MPG. I don't see her getting that much in this one. She will spell Cochran for a few but that is about it. She is averaging 3.3 PPG and 3.8 RPG. She is 0-8 from three. But she is 12-17 on two point shots.
Louisville runs a basic defense. Switching man to man. However, they are not particularly quick to the ball on the switch, UConn will look to take advantage with that. Their guards are good sized and that is an advantage against most teams. Not UConn.
UConn's advantage is their quickness and some size advantages on the perimeter. While Louisville does have some big guards they also have small guards that see minutes. Look for Paige to post up if they are guarding her with their smaller guards.
Louisville is a poor shooting team. Of course that doesn't mean they will struggle in this game but the odds are that they will. They only shoot 44.4% from the field and 31.4% on threes. And they have simmilar rebounding stats as the Huskies so I don't see an advantage on the boards for either team. Whoever wins that could have a big advantage.
UConn hasn't hit it's true stride yet, but both have we seen glimpses of how good this team can be. I really like the new starting lineup. Some fans are feeling terrible for Shade moving the the bench. But there is really no comparison between her and Fudd. And once she gets used to that Ashlynn will be great off the pine. Hey, Bueckers, Fudd, Chen, Brady and Strong are the best 5 in the country.
UConn will use their pressure defense to turn Louisville over. The Cards have a 133/140 assist/TO ratio. That is red meat for the UConn defense. They may not score over 50 points.
Final Prediction
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