LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz was conducting the team's normal pregame shootaround at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday when he got the call that Virginia wouldn't be showing up for the teams' scheduled 7 p.m. basketball game that night at the KFC Yum! Center.
A thousand things run through your head at that point. What about the players who are eager to play? What about the fans who will be disappointed? What about the breast cancer awareness events that were scheduled as part of the game, the survivors who were to be honored?
A day later, Walz still has more questions than answers. From a conference standings standpoint, the game will go down as a Virginia forfeit, so the Cardinals won't be penalized when it comes to a potential regular-season championship. But the team's overall record will remain the same, at 21-2, and players missed out on opportunities to build statistics, and U of L's marketing department is still scrambling to figure out if it can have its Play4Kay promotions in one of the final two home games.
It's a mess. And the numbers don't really add up.
Virginia's original charter flight Wednesday was scrapped because of issues with the service. When the team showed up Thursday to leave, the attendants were late, and the decision was apparently made just not to make the trip to Louisville.
"It's questions that 10 years ago, five years ago, you never even dreamed someone would not show up," Walz said. "It wasn't heard of. And now, unfortunately, with COVID and COVID-positive, it's kind of opened up a Pandora's box. Where in the past, if you had five players, you know, if you had eight kids get hurt and you had five, you just showed up with five. You may go to the Rec Center, find the rec league, the sorority League and see if there's a player that you could add as a walk-on, but you didn’t think not to go."
It may make for some crazy numbers, but Louisville has been putting up some impressive numbers since its second loss of the season, a fourth-quarter meltdown in a loss at N.C. State on Jan. 20.
With No. 18 Notre Dame set to visit Sunday at 2 p.m., a look at some key numbers for the Cards as they embark on a final five-game stretch of the season, which features three games against ranked teams:
1. In Louisville's current six-game winning streak, the Cardinals are averaging 81 points per game, shooting 49.7% from the field and 40.8% from three-point range. They have scored 70-plus points in five of six games and are 14-0 this season when scoring 70-plus. They are 56-0 the past three seasons when scoring more than 70.
2. In the last six games, Louisville has assisted on 126 of 189 field goals, good for 66.7%. In ACC play, the Cards have assisted on 216 of 351 field goals, good for 61.5%. They are averaging 18.0 assists per game in ACC play, which leads the league.
Walz on the team's passing: "We've been pretty darn good at the offensive end. We've been very patient. We're sharing the basketball. We're assisting on a lot of field goals. But as I tell people, you can make a great pass, somebody's still got to make a shot. We've been getting people the ball in areas that they can be successful. And when we do that, we're a pretty darn good shooting team. So, I've been very impressed with how well we pass the ball."
3. In her last three games, Louisville senior Kianna Smith has dished out 21 assists with only one turnover. She also has averaged 15 points per game and made eight of 18 shots (44.4%) from three-point range.
4. In its last six games, Louisville is shooting 51-125 (40.8%) from three-point range. On the season, the Cards are shooting 37.5% from beyond the arc, which ranks second in the ACC and eighth in the country. The Cards have a trio of players shooting better than 40% from three-point range on the season, led by Payton Verhulst (44.4%), Emily Engstler (43.9%) and Smith (40.9%). Over her past six games, Hailey Van Lith has shot 53.3% from three-point range (16-30), despite going 0-5 at Syracuse.
Walz on Verhulst: "I've been really excited for Payton. I think she she's taken advantage of the opportunity. She's been practicing much better, much more consistently. And that's what we need. She's a big guard that can rebound, can shoot the three, can stretch the defense but scores around the basket as well. She's really done some great things for us. And we're going to continue to need her to do that as we go forward. Because when you've got eight or nine that you can play, it really gives you some time to rest some players. And that's the exciting thing -- when we sub it's not like we go down, we have players that are still contributing and still doing great things for us.
5. In Liz Dixon’s last six games, she shooting 85.7% from the field (24-28) and is averaging 9.2 points per game. In the past two games, she is a perfect 14-14 from the field and has scored a combined 30 points. She's coming off a season-high 18-point, seven-rebound performance at Syracuse.
Walz on Dixon: "I'm really excited for Liz. She's put the work in, she's really been consistent. She's doing what she does well. She finishes around the basket. She's got a nice reverse pivot, knocks down a 15-foot jump shot. She's rebounding the ball well. But it's because of the work she's putting in. She's putting in the work continuing to want to get better, and that's all you can ask from a player. The exciting thing is, for a coach, is you're seeing that work pay off. Just because you work hard doesn't guarantee you success -- but it's nice to see when it does lead to success."
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