What to know about No. 6 Louisville before Sunday matinee vs. Syracuse
Syracuse has an opportunity for a statement win against No. 6 Louisville at the JMA Wireless Dome Sunday. The Cardinals have one ACC loss. Leonardo Eriman | Senior Staff Photographer
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On Wednesday, Felisha Legette-Jack didn’t hesitate when the topic turned to Louisville.
“I’m not talking Louisville. Not when we got Boston College,” Legette-Jack said. “That’s Kara Lawson’s problem. I got Boston College, and that’s enough for me right now.”
“(Boston College) is a dangerous team. They’re a desperate team,” Syracuse’s head coach added. “They don’t quit.”
Three days later, Legette-Jack’s statements couldn’t have been further from the truth. BC wasn’t dangerous enough for the Orange, who marched into Conte Forum and left with a 93-59 landslide win. The Eagles most certainly quit, allowing SU to balloon a five-point first-quarter lead into 21 by halftime.
Now, Legette-Jack should focus on Louisville, a genuinely dangerous team that does refuse to quit.
Here’s everything to know about the No. 6 Cardinals (21-4, 11-1 Atlantic Coast) before they take on Syracuse (19-4, 9-3 ACC) in the JMA Wireless Dome Sunday afternoon:
All-time series
Louisville leads 20-7.
Last time they played
In the KFC Yum! Center, with over 7,000 people in attendance, Syracuse made a mockery of itself and sank lower in the ACC standings with a 72-62 loss to the Cardinals. Legette-Jack previously harped on her team’s consistency, but their showing in Kentucky was anything but.
The Orange were outscored in all but the second quarter — when they topped Louisville 15-12 — and couldn’t handle a quintet of Cardinals scorers in double figures. Sophie Burrows and Kyra Wood poured in 17 points each, but nobody else drained more than five shots, preventing SU from climbing out of a slim three-point halftime hole.
The defeat kick-started a three-game losing streak — one of the Orange’s three across the season — as SU desperately tried to escape the ACC’s cellar.
The Cardinals report
Louisville, a team that’s lost four games all season, will enter the Dome with the tide turned against it. Its one ACC loss came on Thursday, breaking a whopping 14-game winning streak. It wasn’t like Syracuse’s defeats, which, aside from a six-point overtime loss to North Carolina, have come by 20-plus points.
The Cardinals went back and forth with No. 17 Duke — a squad SU surrendered to in December — but came out on the wrong side when Louisville guard Imari Berry missed a game-tying free throw with one second left.
A loss is a loss, but a loss to Duke, the ACC’s lone undefeated squad, is about as good as it gets. Louisville’s other defeats have come to No. 1 UConn, No. 3 South Carolina and No. 20 Kentucky.
What makes the Cardinals so strong is their deep offense, which, despite not featuring a player scoring over 12 points per game, still has 13 players averaging at least two. Their 81.9 points per game rank 18th in the nation and first in the ACC, per SportsReference, while their 59.7 points against place 81st.
As long as 19-year head coach Jeff Walz is in charge, you can count on the Cardinals to make the NCAA Tournament. Louisville has reached it 16 times since Walz took over, yet it hasn’t earned a national title. Maybe this is the season things change.
How Syracuse beats Louisville
To down Louisville, Syracuse needs to do just about everything right. It’s an uphill battle from the beginning for the Orange, and keeping pace with the Cardinals without letting their deficit grow to double digits will be crucial.
Louisville’s Simple Rating System, a metric that averages point differential and strength of schedule, ranks eighth in the nation at 34.57. The Cardinals are simply playing good teams and earning better wins.
SU must play to its strengths to make Sunday a ballgame. Its defense forces 20.2 turnovers per game, the 44th-best mark in Division I, and its 5.6 blocks — 2.6 of which come from Uche Izoje — are 12th. Swarming Louisville’s backcourt, potentially even deploying a press to fluster them, could catch the Cardinals sleeping and maximize Syracuse’s chances for a statement win.
Stat to know: 2.7
Louisville ranks top five in the ACC in all major stat categories — points, points allowed, field-goal percentage, rebounds and points differential — except one: blocks. The Cardinals’ 2.7 blocks per game rank second-to-last in the conference, just ahead of winless BC’s 1.1.
Izoje is set up to have a field day down low. Louisville’s top shot denier is Berry, a 5-foot-10 guard, whose 0.5 blocks rank 47th-best in the ACC. Izoje, meanwhile, is first.
The Orange’s average opponent records 2.6 blocks per game, 88th-worst in the nation, and five of their last six opponents haven’t come away with more than two.
SU will likely give the ball to Izoje and let her work. She’s Syracuse’s biggest advantage against a team that offers few.
Player to watch: Laura Ziegler, forward, No. 0
If one player can stop Izoje, it’s Laura Ziegler. She doesn’t lead the Cardinals in points, assists, steals or blocks, but her 6-foot-2 frame and 7.5 rebounds per game may be enough to quell SU’s 6-foot-3 stalwart big.
The Herley, Denmark, native spent her first three seasons with Saint Joseph’s, dropping a career-high 17.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per game with the Hawks last season. Since transferring to the Power Five, though, Ziegler has dropped 16 or more points in five of her 25 appearances.
She shoots the 3 ball — nearly four attempts per game — likely drawing Izoje out to the perimeter. If Izoje follows, the paint will be vacant, giving the Cardinals a chance to strike.
