Cards Grit Out 62-55 Win Over #11 UNC

Feb 5, 2023 - 10:05 PM

This was a tough game between two tough teams. It wasn’t very high scoring because both Louisville and North Carolina were playing tenacious defense. As Coach Walz said, “At the end of the 2nd quarter it was just a bloodbath. We were stuck on 21 from the 5:48 mark until Morgan gets a put back in [at the very end of the quarter].” However he added, “But what we did finally is we didn’t get outscored by 18. We guarded... That’s the trademark of what we’ve been able to do in the past. If we’re not gonna score we’re not gonna let you score.” Louisville held them to 4 points in that five minutes.

Mykasa Robinson was tasked with guarding Deja Kelly who averages 16 pointes a game but was held to 3 of 16 shooting for today. After the game Mykasa said, “I take a lot of pride in my defense and definitely want to go defensive player of the year so I think that was just a pride thing for me.”

The third quarter seemed to last about a week and was spurred off by a Coach Walz getting a technical. Despite UNC taking a 32-23 lead after all the free throws were taken, that technical seemed to fire up his team. Mykasa Robinson said, “Coach Walz got that tech and I thought ok if this is how we’re gonna do it... if Coach is willing to put that much into it then it’s the least we can do as players.” Coach Walz said, “I wasn’t trying to get a technical foul to get our kids to play harder. I thought they were playing hard. You can only watch so much of it before you’ve got to make a statement because it was bad.”

Hailey Van Lith had 17 points and 7 rebounds. Chrislyn Carr came off the bench to add 17 points many of those coming at clutch moments in the game. Nyla Harris started again and 6 points and 12 rebounds.

Mykasa praised her teammates, “CC hit some huge shots. Hailey hit some huge shots. Nyla rebounded the ball great. Merissah [Russell] got rebounds. It was just a team win and I’m so thankful and grateful to play with this team.” CC mentioned that everyone played their role. Speaking of roles Coach Walz talked about CC coming off the bench instead of starting and said, “It’s a role she’s going to play so you can either get used to it or not play. And the kid wants to play. It’s good for us. It brings some offense off the bench.” He said, “I’m sure some of them would’ve like to have played more... but at the end of the day we’re trying to win a game and it was a top 15 team that came in here and I’m hoping they’re all excited about the win.”

Next up the Cards travel to Charlottesville to play Virginia. The game is Thursday the 9th and can be seen on ACC Network Extra at 7PM.