Kenny Payne 'disappointed, discouraged, hurt' by Louisville basketball's Senior Night showing
Wins have been hard to come by during the 2022-23 Louisville men’s basketball season. Metaphors haven't.
The "black cloud" players told head coach Kenny Payne was hanging over them after starting the year 0-3. Sparse crowds becoming commonplace at the KFC Yum! Center. Pittsburgh's Nike Sibande turning a botched windmill dunk into a 3-pointer during a 34-point beatdown on Feb. 7 at the Petersen Events Center.
The symbolism culminated at halftime of Tuesday night’s 71-54 loss to Virginia Tech (17-13, 7-12 ACC), when a frisbee-catching dog pooped on the court.
It was one of those games for the Cardinals (4-26, 2-17), who trailed for 32 minutes, 44 seconds and suffered their 17th double-digit defeat of the season despite cutting the Hokies' lead to 50-47 at the 09:07 mark of the second half.
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For Payne, Senior Night felt more like Groundhog Day; the first-year head coach once again said there were "numerous guys who did not come to play."
"I’m disappointed, discouraged, hurt," Payne said. "There are no words to describe what it feels like to be a part of something where you watch guys not come to fight for their teammates and this fan base on the last regular-season (home) game of the year."
Just when you thought Louisville had turned a corner by stringing together a few commendable performances against some of the ACC's finest, these were the difference-makers in the losing effort: Virginia Tech scored 18 points off 12 Cardinals turnovers and converted 18 offensive rebounds into 24 second-chance points. And when U of L pulled within three with nine minutes and change to play, one mistake led to another during a 21-7 stretch run for the visitors that had fans headed to the exits before the final buzzer.
Sound familiar?
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"It’s not good enough, for real," said Mike James, who tied El Ellis with a team-high 14 points but didn't convert a field goal after halftime. "It’s not good enough."
Like the fans who left early, Payne walked away disappointed with his team's lack of energy, communication and confidence.
"I ask these players every day, 'Do you understand what it means to be in that jersey and what, fully, you have to sacrifice to be in that jersey?' he said. "I don’t think a majority of them do."
Sound familiar?
Here's what the coach had to say after the Cardinals' 10th double-digit loss of the season, 80-59 to North Carolina on Jan. 14:
"My question (to them) would be, 'Do you understand where you are?'" Payne said then. "'Do you understand what it means to have Louisville across your jersey? Do you understand the history, the pride, that comes with this? Your hang-ups, your fears, your insecurities, are they bigger than what this program is and what it's done and what it means to so many people?' The answer is, 'No, they're not.'"
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Louisville has won twice — and played markedly better — in the 12 games between then and Tuesday night. Its players got a chance to see what the program means to the community, and pulled out a 10-point win over Clemson, when 15,157 fans packed the Yum! Center to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2012-13 team, which brought home a (now-vacated) national championship.
The pep in the Cardinals' step they had against the Tigers wasn't there when the ball was tipped against Virginia Tech. It took 11:09 of game time for Louisville to score 10 points and approximately 30 minutes for its first 3-pointer to fall.
Ellis, who has been Mr. Consistency all season, struggled to find his rhythm in the early going with the Hokies double-teaming the All-ACC candidate off ball screens to limit his drives to the basket. The 6-foot-3 native of Durham, North Carolina, had just three points on 1-for-6 shooting at the break.
"When they do that, you burn them; and when you burn them, they get out of it," Payne said. We didn’t do a good job of burning them or penalizing them for trapping El."
Second-chance opportunities were bountiful in the first half, with Louisville totaling nine offensive rebounds to Virginia Tech’s five, but the Cardinals only had eight points off missed shots to show for it at halftime.
"We were kind of rushing our shots a little bit," said JJ Traynor, who contributed nine points, six rebounds and two blocks in 31 minutes. "Next time, we just gotta bring it out, get into something real quick, get a better shot and take advantage of those opportunities."
The Hokies, however, came out and dominated the boards in the second half. U of L had just five offensive rebounds and five second-chance points after the intermission.
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It's clear, from Tuesday night's performance and Saturday's loss at Georgia Tech, that Payne still has a long way to go to make the culture he wants to establish at his alma mater feel routine.
"I hope our fan base — I know most of them do; I know there are some who are disappointed — but I hope they understand that not one of these kids to this point has been cheated," Payne said. "Not one single day have they been cheated.
"We’re gonna get this program fixed — probably sooner than later, most likely sooner than later — and the right type of people will be in this program who deserve to be here, who fit the criteria that it takes to be a Louisville Cardinal."
U of L wraps up its regular season with a road trip to Virginia and must walk out of John Paul Jones Arena with a victory if it wants to avoid the program's first winless season on the road since 1939-40.
Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. Saturday. Only time will tell if more players decide to show up.
"Every day, I’m challenging them," Payne said. "I’m (making) practice harder. I know it’s the right thing to do, because they’re not liking it. That encourages me that I’m doing the right thing, because of their body language toward work, their body language toward being challenged, their body language toward somebody loving them regardless of their flaws and saying, 'You can figure this out. I believe in you.' I go to work every day with that in mind and thinking that they’re gonna figure it out.
"At some point, you hope that they get it — individually and (as a) team," he added. "It’s not just one person. It’s multiple guys, but I’m still not giving up."
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville vs Virginia Tech: Cardinals fall to Hokies on Senior Night
