Louisville football showing support for Cardinals during March Madness run to Elite Eight

SEATTLE — "Work is Work."

And players from the Louisville football team are supporting the work the U of L women's basketball team — one win away from reaching a second straight NCAA Tournament Final Four — is putting in on the West Coast.

Quarterbacks Jack Plummer and Pierce Clarkson, offensive linemen Luke Burgess and Madden Sanker, running back Jawhar Jordan, wide receiver Jadon Thompson and defensive back Marquis Groves-Killebrew all donned white shirts that say "Work is Work" in photos posted to social media before the Cardinals' Sweet 16 win over Ole Miss on Friday.

Ever since Jonneshia “JP” Pineda joined the U of L women’s basketball coaching staff in 2019, she’s been known for her "Work is Work" mantra. With the fifth-seeded Cardinals taking an uncharacteristic path — losing 10 games in a season for the first time since 2011-12 — to their Elite Eight game against No. 2 seed Iowa, the phrase has been something they have leaned on all season.

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"I think the biggest thing that I take from 'Work is Work' is that we don't always have to put all of our business out,” fifth-year senior guard Mykasa Robinson said. “We do a lot in the dark. We do a lot of work in the gym, we put in a lot of hours that people don't see."

Clarkson, in collaboration with Pineda, is selling the "Work is Work" T-shirts the football players were donning on social media.

“It was huge, exciting to see," said Pineda, of the tweets with the football players showing their support. "It made my heart get really big because I know that means a lot to our young women.”

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The Cardinals — set to face the Hawkeyes at 9 p.m. EST Sunday at Climate Pledge Arena — are in their fifth straight Elite Eight and vying to advance to the Final Four for the fifth time in program history.

“You have to put the work in, and we've done that," junior guard Merissah Russell said. "We kind of embody that, encompass that saying that you put in the work and the results will show.”

Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Alexis_Cubit.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: U of L college football team supporting Louisville women's basketball