LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – It’s a strange year for the Kentucky-Louisville women’s basketball rivalry.
Louisville is the team in this game that, from a personnel standpoint, could’ve been considered “rebuilding.” Only three players on the Cardinals’ roster have seen significant minutes against the Wildcats (in a Louisville uniform, anyway).
Yet Kentucky is the team that finds itself struggling heading into Sunday’s 2 p.m. installment of the game. Since the departure of Rhyne Howard, the most decorated player in the program’s history, the Wildcats have struggled to find their footing. And this season, they’ve been deeply hindered by injury. They had only seven available players in a 76-57 loss to Minnesota on Wednesday.
The Wildcats are 4-6. Against power conference teams, they are 1-5. Louisville comes into the game with an 8-1 record, ranked No. 18 nationally. They’re coming off a 40-point blowout of North Carolina A&T, which followed a 6-point win at No. 19 Ole Miss.
On paper, it is a mismatch. Louisville is averaging a shade under 80 points per game, Kentucky is averaging 63. Louisville is outrebounding opponents by 11 per game. Kentucky is being outrebounded by one per contest. The analytics at HerHoopStats.com project Louisville as a nearly 26-point favorite.
The concern for Louisville, of course, is that it’s a rivalry game. Throw the record books out the window and all that. And as Cardinals’ coach Jeff Walz knows well, nothing could re-set Kentucky’s season like an upset win in the KFC Yum! Center, where 12,000 tickets have been sold and he’s hoping for a crowd of around 14,000 on Sunday.
“We’re just fortunate to have to great programs have this chance to compete,” Walz said. “Our players know the importance of this game. And we have Olivia (Cochran) who’s in Year 4 and Merrisah (Russel) who is in Year 4. They’ve been a part of things, and our staff, so we make sure that our newcomers know it’s not just another game. Yes, it’s the next game on the schedule. And it’s not going to determine if we win or lose or go to a Final Four or make a deep run in March. But this game does mean a lot, to me and to our staff, our fan base and our athletic department. And it means a lot to Kentucky, as well. I can promise you our kids know that we’re not just rolling out and playing another basketball game.”
Louisville has won six straight in the series. The Cardinals are blending six transfer portal additions with three returnees with starting experience. They have played well, but with that many transfers, it’s a process.
One development in recent games has been the emergence of Florida transfer Nina Rickards at point guard. Her ability to apply defensive pressure and run the offense with the kind of tempo Walz likes has led to her insertion into the starting lineups, to address a problem of slow starts the Cardinals had early in the season.
Rickards left last Sunday’s game against North Carolina A&T after knocking knees with a defender, but Walz said she is good to play against Kentucky and has been practicing all week.
“Nina just gives us a little more spark at the beginning of games,” Walz said. “But I think Jayda (Curry) has played well coming off the bench the past four games. She has shot the ball well for us and scored, which is what we need her to do. I need her to be aggressive at both ends of the floor and even look to score a little more, because she has proven she can score.”
Kentucky is led in scoring by Ajae Petty, a 6-3 senior forward who is averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds per game. Brooklyn Miles, a transfer from Tennessee, runs the point and averages 5.7 points per contest. Maddie Scherr, a 5-11 senior guard who was a Kentucky Miss Basketball, adds 14 points per game but has missed four games because of injury.
“It’s a ballclub that has been battling a ton of injuries right now, but I would expect them all to be cleared and ready to play on Sunday,” Walz said. “You’ve got Maddie Scherr who transferred from Oregon and this is her second year, I believe. She’s an outstanding player. You’ve got Brooklyn Miles who transferred from Tennessee. So you’ve got some really talented players, and Petty is playing really good basketball right now. She played well against us last year. So we’re going into the game knowing they’re a good basketball team. (Kentucky coach) Kyra (Elzy) is going to have them ready to play. And we’re going to expect their best. There’s nobody overlooking the other team here. . . . I’ve watched a lot of these kids play in the summer and recruited them. And they’re a better three-point shooting team than they’ve shown through the first 10 games. So we’re going into it knowing we have to defend in the paint and outside.”
Louisville has been, overall, a slightly better offensive team that it was a year ago, from an analytics standpoint. The Cardinals are balanced, led by Kiki Jefferson at 12.2 points per game, followed by Cochran at 11.3 and Sydney Taylor at 10.9. Rickards, Harris and Curry all average better than 8 points per game. But the Cardinals have had 10 players turn in double-digit scoring games this season and five different players lead them in scoring.
Defensively, the Cardinals have forced at least 20 opponent turnovers in seven straight games, and are coming off a 31-turnover defensive effort.
“We’ve done a pretty good job defensively,” Walz said. “Our three-point shooting defense is what we need to keep working on. . . . We’ve done a better job forcing turnovers. Now our challenge is turning them into points.”
If the Cardinals can do that on Sunday, their streak likely will continue.
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