Louisville looks to slow Cunane and fourth-ranked NC State

After two straight losses, Louisville women’s basketball plays fourth-ranked NC State in Raleigh Feb. 13. The Cardinals (21-3 overall, 10-2 in the ACC) dropped consecutive games to Florida State and Syracuse following a 10-game winning streak that lasted for nearly two months.

Louisville is tasked with slowing one of the ACC’s best players in Elissa Cunane. The 6-foot-5 center averages 17.0 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting 57.7 percent from the field.

Louisville coach Jeff Walz considers Cunane an ACC Player of the Year candidate and says the sophomore makes things happen for NC State.

She is hard to defend one-on-one, you have to stay between her and the basket. If she gets you too deep, she has great post moves and can score over either shoulder,” Walz said. “We have to do a good job of trying to push her away from the basket, not let her get comfortable in the paint.”

Kylee Shook, Bionca Dunham and Elizabeth Dixon will share time in defending Cunane. NC State ranks 10 in the nation with 9.0 made 3-pointers per game, so Louisville won’t be able to double-team Cunane frequently.

Aislinn Konig, who averages 11.1 points, has made a team-high 61 shots from behind the arc. Kayla Jones, Jakia-Brown Turner, Kai Crutchfield and Grace Hunter have all made more than 23 3-pointers this season.

“The problem is they have four shooters surrounding her [Cunane], so it’s difficult to go off of one and double because now you are going to leave somebody wide open,” Walz said.

With guards able to make perimeter shots, Walz said Louisville’s transition defense becomes critical.

“They do a really nice job of knocking threes down after a defensive stop,” Walz said. “We are going to have to make sure we are on point with our defensive transition, we are going to have to pick the ball up, we’re going to have to have ball pressure.”

NC State is 12-0 at home this season. Louisville must be able to weather several runs by the home team by slowing the tempo.

“Our problem has been when a team goes on a 6-0 or 8-0 run, instead of reverting back to relying on our ability to execute on the offensive end, we start trying to do things one-on-one,” Walz said.