Jeff Walz evaluates Louisville's energetic first-half effort vs. Boston College in ACC Tournament

The second round of the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament is underway, with Louisville taking on Boston College. It was the Cardinals’ first game in the tournament and while they had plenty of energy for head coach Jeff Walz, there was still plenty to build on.

While speaking to the ACC Network going into halftime, Walz evaluated Louisville’s first-half effort, explaining that his team needs to play with more poise.

“We played hard,” Jeff Walz said. “I think we came out with a lot of energy. Now, poise, I’m not sure I ever said that to you. We’re kind of throwing the ball everywhere. We’ve got to calm down. We’ve had a lot of great opportunities that we pissed away.”

Despite not playing as poised as Walz would have liked, Louisville did go into the break with a 33-29 lead over Boston College. Still, the Cardinals know they’ll need to play better to hold onto that lead in the second half.

“I mean, you’ve got to come to a jump stop to shoot an open jumper. You’ve got to be able to see your teammate opposite. We’ve done some really good things, and then we have a lot of self-inflicted wounds that we’ve got to clean up in the second half. Then, you can’t give Boston College open looks. They’re a really good team playing really well right now, and they take advantage of every breakdown you have.”

One of the biggest issues for Louisville in the first half was turnovers. The Cardinals had 11 of them to only five by Boston College. It’s possible that comes from it being Louisville’s first game in the ACC Tournament, they’re rusty compared to the Eagles who already played a game. Boston College also deserves credit in that department for its aggressive defense.

Those turnovers hurt Louisville, but things could’ve been worse. The Eagles missed six first-half layups, which easily could have given Boston College the lead.

This is the third time Louisville and Boston College have played this season, with the Cardinals winning both of their previous games. That included a blowout win at home and a close win on the road for the Cardinals.

At 12-6 in conference play, Louisville entered the ACC Tournament as the fifth seed. Boston College, meanwhile, is the 13th seed after going 5-13 in conference play this season. The winner of this game will advance to take on Notre Dame in the next round of the ACC Tournament.