LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Louisville played the first quarter at Syracuse like it had the Orange’s playbook, PIN codes and Wi-Fi password.
Then the second quarter showed up like a room service bill you didn’t expect, with a $25 orange juice and a bunch of three-point charges.
The No. 6 Cardinals can bury you in a quarter. They can turn a good opponent into a series of hurried possessions and bad decisions. But they can drift from their core strengths just as quickly. On Sunday, they demonstrated both in an 84-65 win at Syracuse.
The Orange went 0-for-13 from the field in the opening period and didn’t make a shot until early in the second. They could do little right while Louisville made 12 of 14 shots and blew out to a 28-6 lead.
But then — because this is the part Louisville is still trying to sand down — the game changed personality.
Syracuse (19-5, 9-4 ACC) didn’t just wake up. Louisville relaxed. The open shots Syracuse had been missing started to find the mark. Louisville helped off the wrong people. Fouled. Descended into one-on-one offense.
The Orange shot 11-for-15 in the second quarter, hit four threes, and suddenly the blowout became a ballgame. It’s the kind of quarter that doesn’t erase the brilliance, it just stains it. The kind that doesn’t kill you in February, but can absolutely bury you in March.
That’s why Walz sounded less like a coach pleased with a victory and more like a man trying to prevent a habit.
He called the second quarter “terrible.” Not because the shots didn’t fall, but because Louisville stopped doing the very thing that has made it special.
“We weren't trying to create for each other, and when we create for each other we’re an elite basketball team,” Walz said. “We're not good enough to just sit there and try to do it on our own”
With his team in the locker room, Walz’s halftime speech wasn’t just frustration, it was a fire alarm.
“If you don’t want to listen to what we’re trying to tell you to as a coaching staff,” Walz told his players. “Please tell me who you would like to have coach, because what just transpired there in the second quarter was terrible.”
Louisville responded. They stabilized offensively. Hung on defensively. Then in the fourth quarter, they began to execute, move the ball, and their deliberate offense down the stretch wasn’t stalling. It was maturity.
Even after Thursday’s one-point loss to Duke, this Louisville team has serious postseason potential. It just can’t forget its defensive principles, nor its offensive mission statement:
Louisville’s offense is like a good dinner party: everybody touches the food. The second quarter was everybody eating straight out of the fridge.
When Louisville is at its best, it isn’t just scoring, it’s generating. It’s making the defense move twice. It’s turning advantages into layups. It’s creating shots that feel inevitable instead of hopeful.
Laura Ziegler was Louisville’s leader on Sunday, with 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting. Mackenly Randolph continues to enlarge her contributions, with 15 points and eight rebounds. Imari Berry added 15 points and Tajianna Roberts had 12. Louisville outscored Syracuse 42-32 in the paint and 25-10 off the bench. They outrebounded a bigger Syracuse team 39-27.
The Syracuse win was a reminder that Louisville’s ceiling is still high enough to scare anyone. It was also a reminder that the margin for freelancing is thinner than it looks when you’re up 28-6.
The Cards (22-4, 12-1 ACC) return home for a Thursday night game against Wake Forest (13-12, 3-10). Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. It begins a season-ending stretch where Louisville plays four out of five at home.
Despite Thursday's loss to Duke, the Cardinals remain in a good position for a piece of the ACC title, but they'll need help. The Blue Devils have home games against North Carolina and N.C. State this week, and still have road games at Clemson and North Carolina.
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