By Derek DeBurger
Louisville basketball downs the UT Martin Skyhawks in their first road game of the season.
The game was the manifestation between the two teams that Louisville would play the Skyhawks as they played two games in the KFC Yum! Center during the Covid-19 season.
Easy come, easy go
Tuesday’s game was one of ebbs and flows for the Cards. The game started on an ebb when the Skyhawks kept up with them in the early goings. The score was 10-8 for the Cards when they hit their first flow by way of a 14-3 run to end the first quarter.
During this time Louisville shot over 60% from the field and held UT Martin to about 18%.
Louisville started the second quarter on another ebb. They didn’t score for almost three minutes of game-time, while UT cut the lead to single-digits. Louisville came back swinging, however, with strong efforts from veteran players like Nyla Harris, Olivia Cochran and Merrisah Russell.
The defense also held strong during the second, only allowing the Skyhawks to score nine points in the quarter.
Louisville ended the half by more than doubling their lead to 44-20.
Louisville started the third quarter like they had every other: flat.
UT knew they could score inside, so they took almost exclusively jump shots and cut into the lead yet again. Harris, Cochran and Tajianna Roberts took charge to put the pedal to the metal, but the slow start saw the Cards barely outscore UT in the quarter.
Louisville led going into the fourth quarter 67-41.
Louisville had a rough final quarter of play, with freshman receiving the bulk of the available minutes. The fourth was the only quarter that the Skyhawks outscored the Cards, with nine of Louisville’s 21 turnovers coming in the final quarter of play.
Fortunately for the Cards the outcome wasn’t in doubt, and Louisville won 86-64.
Forced to find themselves
Like Jeff Walz does to begin every season, Louisville is trying any and every rotational lineup under the sun.
This is in an effort for the team to play itself into a solidified rotation. However, it seems the result thus far in the season is that Walz may have learned that he has less of a bench than was expected.
Many of the freshman on the team have struggled through the first three games. After having a dynamic season opener, Roberts has cooled off a bit, and Imari Berry has been solid enough to get minutes, but not necessarily the five-star that she was advertised as.
Freshman notoriously get better as the year goes on, but with Louisville’s early-season gauntlet the bench will likely need to shorten up and fast.
Despite the work that needs to be done, Louisville is now 2-1 on the year.
Photo Courtesy // Rachel Klotz, Louisville Athletics
