Louisville Plays at Central Michigan on Thursday

Mark BlankenbakerDecember 19, 2018

After concluding its six-game homestand with a perfect 6-0 record, University of Louisville women’s basketball hits the road to conclude the 2018 portion of the schedule when they play at Central Michigan on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.

Louisville enters the game with a perfect 11-0 record, while Central Michigan is an impressive 8-1.

For the second straight season, Louisville has started off with at least an 11-0 record. It marks the second best start under head coach Jeff Walz, behind only the school-record start of 20-0 in 2017-18. It is the third best start in Louisville history, following last season and a 15-0 start in 2006-07.

UofL committed a season-low five turnovers in the 92-59 win over Northern Kentucky. It marks the fewest turnovers since they set the school–record and tied the NCAA Tournament record with three vs. Oregon State in the NCAA regional final last March. They had seven turnovers vs. UK and have just 12 in the last two games. Prior to the last two games, they had double-digit turnovers in every game. Their turnovers per game have dropped from 16.2 to 14.3 after the last two games.

Louisville ranks fifth in the country and second in the ACC in scoring offense with 86.9 points per game. They have scored 100-plus three times, 90-plus five times, 80-plus eight times and 70-plus in 10 of 11 games. In addition to scoring 100-plus in two of four games, they have scored 80-plus in the last seven, averaging 92.4 points during that stretch.

The Cardinals lead the ACC and ranks 12th in the country with a +23.5 scoring margin. Nine wins have been by 17 or more points, six by 22-plus points. They beat Kentucky by five (W, 80-75), but the Cards have won three of the last four by 55 (W, 107-52 vs. TSU), 40 (W, 102-62 vs. UTM) and 33 (W, 92-59 vs. NKU).

UofL tied a season-high with 45 bench points vs. NKU, led by Dana Evan’s career-high 21. They also had 45 against TSU, which eclipsed the 44 they had against WKU in the opener. The 45 bench points is the most bench points since they had 76 against Murray State on 11/24/17. They are averaging 30.9 bench points.

Evans’ 21 points vs. NKU came on 8-12 shooting, 4-4 from free throw line, while adding six assists and four steals. She ranks third on the team with 10.5 points and is averaging a team-high 4.6 assists. She has 51 assists and 26 turnovers and ranks second in ACC with 2.6 assist-to-TO ratio.

After starting the first two games, she has come off the bench the last nine.

Asia Durr is 18 points away from becoming the fourth player in program history with 2,000 points.