Louisville basketball's winning streak is short lived; Cards fall to Lipscomb 75-67

Lipscomb's A.J. McGinnis was called for a charge, and the KFC Yum! Center crowd went nuts.

With the Louisville men's basketball team trailing 71-67 and less than three minutes to play in the second half, the turnover gave the Cardinals a chance to make it a one-possession game. The U of L faithful, reinvigorated by last week's back-to-back wins but having watched their team trail for most of the evening, rose to their feet and tried to will the ball into the basket.

Instead, it slipped out of El Ellis' hand and into Lipscomb's possession. A few seconds later, Princeton, Kentucky, native Derrin Boyd converted an easy fast-break layup at the other end of the court — one of the Bisons' 18 layups of the evening.

And with that, the Cardinals' first winning streak of the Kenny Payne era was short lived. Louisville trailed for more than 34 minutes, lost 75-67 and fell to 2-10 on the season.

"Give them credit; they're a good team," said Payne, who knew the Bisons (8-5) would be a tough opponent after watching how they played in losses to Notre Dame (66-65) and Michigan (83-75). "I knew it would be hard for us to come out if we didn't focus and be desperate defensively and disciplined defensively, and we just couldn't mentally get it. We couldn't mentally play with the energy that we needed to fight for a win."

Key player: Lipscomb's Derrin Boyd

Boyd, who transferred to Lipscomb after three seasons at Georgetown College, was a problem all night for Louisville.

Averaging 10.2 points per game heading into Tuesday's contest, Boyd finished second only to Ellis with 23 points on 73% shooting. He made 4 of his 5 attempts from 3-point range.

As a team, the Bisons went 49.2% from the field. The Cardinals, on the other hand, shot 39.3%.

"I would like to be able to shoot the ball like that," Payne said.

Boyd also pulled down nine rebounds — more than any U of L player — despite standing at just 6 feet, 3 inches tall.

Key stretch

Those hoping the momentum Louisville gained from its first two wins of the season would carry over into a strong start against Lipscomb walked away from the Yum! Center disappointed. The Cardinals got out to a 7-4 lead to open the game before allowing the Bisons to go on a 16-4 run over the next five minutes and change.

Picking U of L apart with one backdoor cut to the basket after another, Lipscomb held onto that cushion for most of the night. The Cardinals' early defensive lapses proved to be too much to overcome when it came time to mount a comeback.

"Everybody was guilty of it," Payne said after the game. "The one that I'm most disappointed in was one of my captains, Jae'Lyn Withers. We talked about it. Not good enough. Like, 'How? You've been in college basketball for two or three years. You should know.'

"I'm not making excuses for him. I'm disappointed that he couldn't make the adjustment."

In explaining how another slow start led to another frustrating loss, Payne said, "For whatever reason, I'm not going to say we overlooked" Lipscomb. Withers, however, said there were some "casual moments" during practice and the team's pregame shootaround.

"Something (Payne) always says is, 'We can't afford to be casual,'" Withers said. "We have to be locked in and focused at all times in order to win."

Key stat

Only six Division I teams entered Tuesday with a worse turnover margin than Louisville, which at -4.5 ranked 346th in the country before taking the court against Lipscomb.

At halftime, it appeared as if the Cardinals were taking a step in the right direction; they created 12 points off the Bisons' seven turnovers while coughing up possession just three times.

Things took a turn for the worse in the second half, when Louisville committed two turnovers less than three minutes into the period. The Cards finished the game with a +4 margin (14-10), but their sloppy play resulted in seven second-half turnovers that derailed their comeback attempt.

Ellis, who scored a game-high 24 points, was the leading culprit with five of his teams 10 turnovers.

U of L also lost the battle of the boards, getting out-rebounded 40-26 (29-19 on the defensive end).

"That's just effort, honestly," junior forward JJ Traynor said. "Effort and seeing the ball. I feel like they were attacking the rebounds harder than we were, and it should definitely be the opposite."

Key quote

Payne on addressing a lack of toughness and effort 12 games into the season:

"Our practices are tough. I wish I could say (we) could practice like most teams — an hour, 45 minutes. Most days, we're going for three hours, and I'm not leaving that gym until I feel like we've addressed some of our issues as a team.

"I hate it that way; I don't want to coach that way, but we have to address the elephant within our team. Turnovers, we got to address it. Rebounding, we got to address it. Passing the ball, we got to address it. Continuity on offense, spacing, we have to address it. Toughness, conditioning, playing basketball when you're tired, we have to address it.

"By no means am I saying that they're going to pick it up right away. They're not robots; they're humans, and they're gonna make mistakes. Some of this is new to them. But, in the whole tonight, I'm saying to them, 'Winning and losing is not a choice.'"

Reach recruiting and trending sports reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball's winning streak snapped in loss to Lipscomb