Miami (Ohio)-Louisville Preview

3/20/2008 7:42 PM

By JEFF MEZYDLO
STATS Senior Writer

A late-season run should give Louisville plenty of confidence heading into the NCAA tournament.

The fourth-seeded Cardinals look to build off their success from the Big East tournament as they face No. 13 seed Miami of Ohio in a first-round game of the New Orleans Regional on Sunday in Bridgeport, Conn.

Louisville (24-9) finished tied for fifth in the league during the regular season, but reached the conference tournament final as a seventh seed after upsetting Rutgers and West Virginia before losing to top-ranked Connecticut 65-59 for the championship on March 11.

"We have been playing well for the past 13 or 14 games so it wasn't an accident (during the Big East tournament) that we were playing well," Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. "It's just a great group of kids."

Likely a result of their recent effort, the 19th-ranked Cardinals enter play with their highest seed in school history Sunday while making their fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. As a sixth seed in 2007, Louisville lost to Arizona State in the second round of the tournament after losing in the first round each of the previous two seasons.

Despite falling short to Connecticut, the Cardinals managed to keep close despite trailing 34-19 at halftime and outrebounded the Huskies 50-42.

Louisville played well defensively during the league tournament, allowing an average of 57.0 points per game - better than the 63.2 yielded during the regular season.

"We have a group of players who will fight," said Walz, whose team's tournament victories over then-No. 7 Rutgers and No. 16 West Virginia marked the first time in school history the Cardinals beat ranked opponents in consecutive games.

All-American candidate Angel McCoughtry had 22 points with 11 rebounds, while Candyce Bingham added 11 and 14, respectively, for Louisville against Connecticut.

The 6-foot-1 junior McCoughtry is among the nation's top scorers, averaging 23.6 points. She also leads the team with 8.8 rebounds and 4.2 steals per contest.

McCoughtry, however, is averaging just 13.3 points in three NCAA tournament contests.

While Sunday will mark the 11th meeting between Louisville and Miami, it's the first since the Cardinals won 92-71 at home over the RedHawks on Dec. 28, 2001. Louisville holds a 6-4 advantage in the all-time series with Miami, which will be making its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.

The RedHawks (23-10) finished second in the East Division of the Mid-American Conference, but earned an automatic NCAA bid after beating Ohio 67-56 in the MAC tournament title game on March 15.

It's been a remarkable turnaround for Miami, which combined for 20 wins over the last two seasons.

"It says a lot about our program and a lot about our coaches," said leading scorer Amanda Jackson, who had 19 points against Ohio. "We've worked hard and now we have gotten some attention for the things we've done on the court."

The senior guard is averaging 21.6 points for Miami, which has won 12 of its last 13.

The winner of this contest will face either fifth-seeded Kansas State or Chattanooga in the second round Tuesday.