Louisville basketball struggles — and falls — in rematch vs Georgia Tech, splitting series

Kenny Payne didn't want this to be a shootout, and in the grand scheme of things it wasn't.

But winning, as the Louisville men's basketball coach has said at several points during the worst season in program history, is fragile. And the difference-maker in Georgia Tech's 83-67 victory over the Cardinals on Saturday at McCamish Pavilion was the Yellow Jackets' lights-out shooting in the first half.

"I want to feel like we’re going to war to win a game, not to play offense," Payne said after his team's 16th loss by double digits dropped Louisville to 4-25 (2-16 ACC). "I thought today’s game was an indicator that — it was, 'You score, I score.' We’re not built like that. We have to defend. It’s not a choice.

"(If) we decide not to defend, it’s like saying, 'We don’t want to win. We just want to score.'"

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U of L trailed by as many as 18 points after falling behind 45-32 at halftime but cut the deficit to five with 4:46 to play in a second half that was mired by scoring droughts. Tech (12-17, 4-14 ACC) cooled down significantly after the intermission but went on a 17-6 stretch run to split the regular-season series — and deal a crushing blow to the Cardinals' chances of avoiding a last-place finish in conference play.

"There’s a focus, a discipline, that you have to have, especially when you dig yourself (into) a hole," Payne said. "There’s a fight that is required — you don’t just make a run. You gotta get over that run; you gotta take the lead. We get to the cusp of making the run, of getting the lead, and then a bad play, a bad call, a lack of defensive effort — one thing goes wrong, they get a basket, and it kills our run."

The energy Payne saw from his team as it closed out a 10-point victory against Georgia Tech on Feb. 1 at the KFC Yum! Center and as it competed against some of the ACC's best over the past four games resurfaced at times in Atlanta. The Cardinals asserted themselves with 40 points in the paint and a 37-29 advantage on the glass after getting beat physically Monday night in a 17-point loss at Duke.

They did not, however, bring the defensive intensity they showcased in a three-point loss to Virginia on Feb. 15 and a 10-point win against Clemson three days later. The Yellow Jackets made them pay for it.

After scoring just 58 points on 29.5% shooting in its loss at the Yum! Center, Georgia Tech was nearly 12 points better than its first-half season average (33.8) on Saturday thanks to eight 3-pointers on 16 attempts and a 53.3% clip from the field. The first time these teams met, the Yellow Jackets converted just seven of their 27 total shots from deep.

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Ironically, the game’s leading scorer, Georgia Tech’s Ja'von Franklin with 21, did not attempt a 3. His teammates, three of whom turned in double-digit performances, finished the game 12 of 29 from deep.

"I don’t think our closeouts were desperate," Payne said. "I thought we were very casual in getting to shooters. I thought we were casual in getting to spots. I thought we were casual in giving them resistance to where they wanted to go on the floor."

Louisville used a 7-0 run to take a 17-14 lead with 11:41 remaining in the first half and held onto a 24-22 advantage at the 7:38 mark. That was the Cardinals' last lead of the game after Tech ended the half with a 23-8 swing.

Unlike Monday’s loss at Duke, U of L's offensive attack was more balanced Saturday afternoon. El Ellis and Kamari Lands led the team with 15 points apiece. Mike James (14) and JJ Traynor (10) also broke into double digits, and Jae'Lyn Withers added a team-best nine rebounds to go along with eight points.

Payne, however, was left preaching a message similar to the one he had at Cameron Indoor Stadium: Scoring is to be expected — and yet again wasn't enough.

"We’re not more talented than Georgia Tech. We’re not," he said. "The only way we win (is if) we fight together and we talk to each other on the court and we, defensively, get after them. That’s the only way we can win, and we weren’t connected today."

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The Cardinals went just 4 for 17 from 3-point range Saturday afternoon and were a combined 11 for 34 beyond the arc during the penultimate week of the regular season. They also turned the ball over 14 times, resulting in 18 points for the Yellow Jackets.

Returning to the scene of its last road victory (Jan. 2, 2022), Louisville fell to 0-10 in enemy territory and must win March 4 at Virginia if it wants to avoid the program's first winless season on the road since 1939-40. U of L next takes the court at 9 p.m. Tuesday for senior night against Virginia Tech at the Yum! Center.

The Cardinals' chances of clawing their way out of 15th place in the ACC grew more bleak with Saturday's loss, too.

Sweeping Georgia Tech would have given Louisville a tie-breaking advantage over the 13th-place Yellow Jackets. U of L could have also passed 14th-place Notre Dame, with the Fighting Irish losing their seventh consecutive game Saturday night at Wake Forest.

But, much like what transpired Saturday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion, sometimes the hole is just too deep. Chalk it up as another lesson for Payne and the Cardinals during a season that's been billed as, "Win or learn."

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 Georgia Tech: Cardinals lose ACC college basketball game