Cards Lose to Wake for the First Time 57-68

Jan 27, 2023 - 2:07 AM

Unfortunately the one consistent theme in all of Louisville basketball this season is that there is no lead that can’t be lost. Once again tonight the Cards were up 40-28 in the second half and things seemed to be humming along to a victory when instead everything quickly imploded. Louisville found themselves down 45-51 going into the last quarter and Wake Forest outplayed them from that point forward.

Morgan Jones led the Cards in scoring with 15. Olivia Cochran had 11 points and 6 rebounds. Hailey Van Lith struggled and finished with 8 points but she did dish 5 assists.

After the game an obviously frustrated Coach Walz spoke to Nick Curran. “We won’t do anything we talk about in practice. I’ll take the blame for it.... I feel bad for my staff honestly. We watch all this film and I don't know why because we refuse to do anything. We’re just going to say ‘We know better.’ It’s maddening.”

He was not pleased with his team’s defense. “We will not guard. We will not guard. We will NOT have a presence at all.... They had several floating passes that we just watched instead of going to get it. You’ve GOT to play with urgency. I’m not gonna lie. I’ve never been this frustrated in 16 years. We have talent in there. But you don’t win just because you have talent.”

There was a technical foul called in the final seconds of the game and Coach Walz said that he wanted to inbounds the ball from the other side. He said, “I got a technical foul sitting down because I said ‘You’re really missing a good game and it’s not fair to the kids.’ Normally I take pride in the fact when I earn them. If I MF them or really rip their tail I’m fine with it.”

He concluded with, “It sucks man. We’re bad. We’re bad right now.... I apologize to all of our fans that watched this ball game.” However he added, “We’re not gonna quit. If you think you’re frustrated these players are frustrated too. What we have to do is change. If we don’t the results are going to be the same.”

Next up the Cards travel to Syracuse. The game is Sunday the 29th at noon and can be seen on the ACC Network.