Emmanuel Okorafor has solid debut with Cards as Louisville basketball falls at Notre Dame

Kenny Payne keeps asking for the same things.

Effort. Energy. Pride.

For most of Saturday afternoon, his Louisville men’s basketball team failed again to deliver them, losing 76-62 to Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.

The Cardinals trailed by as many as 30 points. They didn’t force a turnover in the first half. They gave up clean looks from 3-point range and open paths to the basket against an Irish team that — for all its faults — can hit you in waves offensively if you don’t cut off the water.

“We played them with little bit — a lot of  — lack of energy, which is disappointing,” Payne said afterward. “We played with a lack of pride for what Louisville is. Very upset about that. I want more.”

But there was a stretch — too short and far too late — in which Louisville gave him more; in which the Cardinals looked a little more like the team its coach has implored it to be.

Don’t give the Cards (2-19, 0-10 ACC) too much credit for a run that sliced the Irish’s 30-point lead to 14.

It didn’t amount to much.

What maybe matters more is the players on the floor when it happened.

They included freshman forward Emmanuel Okorafor, the Cards’ new arrival from NBA Academy Africa, who joined the team last week and made his on-court debut against Notre Dame. He scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds in 18 minutes.

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And there was freshman guard Fabio Basil, logging some of his best minutes this season after the game got out of hand. In 12 minutes, he scored six points on a pair of 3-pointers, dished out two assists and hustled into a tie-up that won the Cards an extra possession.

And though they weren’t the only contributors to Louisville’s comeback attempt — freshman Mike James scored nine of his 14 points in the second half and went 4 for 4 from the floor after halftime — their contributions were the most surprising.

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Okorafor is new to the rotation. Basili has never really cracked it.

But Payne is open to change.

“If they continue, I'm not obligated to any player,” Payne said. “I need to play the players that bring energy, that bring fight, that know what we're doing. And if they consistently do that, I'll play them.”

Okorafor checks two of those boxes.

It’s reasonable that he doesn’t know exactly what Louisville is running. He’s barely been around a week. But the 6-foot-9 forward fought his way to a couple of early offensive rebounds, looked active defensively and set some screens referees deemed off limits but that Payne admired all the same.

“I could care less about the moving screens or the illegal screens. I love that,” Payne said. “You know, we haven't been able to really get that from any other big to this point. I love how he sets the screens and runs to the rim. I love the fact that he caught some passes that weren't great passes and finished. Love the fact that he's vocal.”

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In fact, Payne was so pleased with Okorafor’s debut that he suggested starting center Sydney Curry — who had three points and four rebounds and struggled significantly on defense in his 15 minutes Saturday — and backup Roosevelt Wheeler could learn a lesson from the rookie.

“I'm hoping that Emanuel sends a message to (Curry) and Rose,” Payne said. “I’ll play him and give him minutes just by doing the things I'm asking him to do.”

Basili, too, has the opportunity to increase his playing time.

He has shown flashes of game-changing effort this season, but only flashes. He’s prone to mental mistakes, particularly on the defensive end. But he has almost as many assists this season (eight) as turnovers (nine), and on this turnover-prone Louisville team, that’s meaningful.

But Payne can’t grade him on the same curve as Okorafor.

“(Basili) has to know the plays,” Payne said. “He has to know exactly what we're running, when we're running, where each player on the court is. It can't just be, 'You just out there playing.' That's not going to work. It's just not. He's confident. He works hard. But he has to have a certain knowledge of what we're doing with concepts and structure and what's going on on the court. And today was a step for him.”

You can argue, though, that it was a step back for Louisville.

Notre Dame (10-12, 2-9) had lost seven of eight games entering Saturday. Its only previous ACC win this season had come against Georgia Tech — which also entered the weekend with one conference win — and the Irish hadn’t won a game by a double-digit margin since Dec. 27 against Jacksonville.

But the Irish didn’t commit their first turnover until the 13:18 mark of the second half. Their biggest lead was 59-29.

“We didn't pressure the ball enough,” James said. “The first half they had zero turnovers so that meant we didn't have enough defensive pressure on them and we just let them run offense.”

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And though Notre Dame continued a tendency to lose leads — it has lost three games this season in which it led by double digits — it was never really threatened.

Despite missing 16 of their last 20 shots to close the game, the Irish led for the final 36 minutes Saturday and had a double-digit cushion for the final 28.

So take the late effort with a grain of salt.

That doesn’t mean it can’t matter moving forward.

There were stretches where Payne liked what he saw, and it could impact his rotations the rest of the season.

Assuming he sees it more often.

“It's not about showing me in a game,” Payne said. “It’s about showing me in practice that you know the plays, that you can go out there and fight.”

Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brett Dawson at mdawson@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @BDawsonWrites.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville vs Notre Dame: Emmanuel Okorafor has solid debut for Cards