By Derek DeBurger and Jo Simpson
The No. 24 Louisville Cardinals head into a prominent non-conference matchup against the Colorado Buffaloes. The game takes place at Colorado’s home court and will be a key test for both teams.
Something lost
The Buffaloes have continued their success from last season with a current record of 6-1. They’ve lost much of their production, however, and star player Frida Foremann has been injured for much of the year.
Colorado scores an average 72 points a game, but with Formann the Buffaloes increase that number to 81.7 points. This is all while Formann has been on a minutes restriction in the three games she’s been back.
Colorado’s offense comes and goes with Formann, so the Cards will have to hone in on her defensively for however long she ends up playing.
Lior Garzon leads the Buffaloes with 13.6 points per game, shooting 43.7% from the field. She does the majority of her work from the paint, but can step out beyond the three-point arc and make teams pay. Olivia Cochran and Nyla Harris will likely have the responsibility of trying to shut her down.
Colorado has not had a great year behind the arc, opting to shoot inside the arc at more than twice the rate from three. The rationale behind this is their being very average three-point shooters as a team at just 31.9% from deep.
The Buffaloes make up for the more one-dimensional offense with their prolific passing. Colorado averages 18.3 assists per game. Louisville’s discipline will be tested each possession, and the freshman will need to stay alert as passes came come from anywhere.
Tough exterior
Colorado is a pretty good team at forcing turnovers, with 19.1 forced a game and 10 coming by way of steal. Louisville has had an issue with holding onto the ball dating back to last year. Being loose with the ball could provide a recipe for things to go downhill fast for the Cards, so ball security will be a must.
Probably the worst aspect of this Buffaloes squad is their interior defense. They only allow opponents to shoot 36.7% from the field, but they only record 2.6 blocks a game which ranks 233rd nationally. Louisville’s best option on offense might be to get downhill and attack the bigs of Colorado.
Controlling the glass, limiting turnovers and finding success among the perimeter will be key to overcoming Colorado’s discipline defense and home-court advantage.
Louisville will look to advance to 5-2 and boost their resume with an impressive road-win in Boulder.
Tip-off is at 3:00 p.m.
Photo Courtesy // Tre Jones, Louisville Athletics
