Payne: Louisville's Loss to Bellarmine a 'Hard Lesson to Learn'

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Since he arrived on campus back in mid-March, new Louisville men's basketball head coach Kenny Payne has been adamant about one message: his first year at the helm isn't about winning or losing, it's about winning or learning. In order to establish the championship culture he wants to have at Louisville, he wants to instill a long term mindset of growth and development with his players.

On Wednesday night, the Cardinals certainly learned a tough lesson.

Facing cross-town foe Bellarmine to kick off the 2022-23, Louisville dug themselves into a first half hole that a furious comeback attempt couldn't dig them out of, and the Cardinals fell to the Knights 67-66. It was Louisville's first season-opening loss in 18 years, and their first home-opening loss in 21.

"Understand, this is a hard game. If it was easy, everyone would be winning," Payne said after the game. "So I am asking them to change and do things that are uncomfortable for them right now. That is why I say, ‘we win or we learn’. Today is a hard lesson to learn, it is that simple.”

Along with his "win or learn" message that he has preached all offseason, Payne has made mention on numerous occasions that he wants to be a defensive-minded team with a free-flowing, pass happy offense that has an emphasis on paint touches. Against Bellarmine, both of those aspects of his preferred style of play were largely absent.

For most of the night, the Knights consistently denied the Cardinals entry into the paint on both ends of the court. On offense, this resulted in Louisville settling for a high amount of three-point shots on offense, attempting 28 threes to just 24 two-point attempts, making 11 of each.

“No question about it," Payne said when asked if the team was settling for outside shots. "I think in the first half, I think we had 16 threes and 10 twos, that is not who we are. That is not they way we practice, it is not the way we play. Since the day I got here, I have been talking about multiple lane touches. There were 10 possessions where we did not have a lane touch. That is not what we teach. That is not what we do."

Defensively, it was a similar story. Like in the two exhibition games, the Cardinals were out-scored in the paint by a much smaller opponent, this time losing the points in the paint battle 24-22. For being the third-tallest team in Division I, compared to Bellarmine coming in at 136th in this category, Louisville only won the rebounding margin by six.

“I can say for myself and for our other bigs, we just have to hold our post position because they’re fighting," forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield said. "They’re not just laying on our backs. And once they do throw it in, they’re sending another guy. So, we just have to hold our post position and play stronger, that’s really it.”

Arguably the most concerning aspect from the game was the sudden disappearance of Louisville's energy and effort after early first half adjustments from Bellarmine. In the first segment of the game, Louisville rushed out to a 13-5 lead, playing with a level of enthusiasm and execution that had largely been absent during exhibition play.

But when the Knights made some adjustments and countered after the first media timeout, Louisville's energy and effort seemingly couldn't match it. Bellarmine then immediately went on a 27-5 run, flipping an eight-point Cardinals lead into a 14-point deficit in the blink of an eye. Bellarmine wound up shooting 13-of-22 in this half, while Louisville was 10-of-26.

If there's any positive takeaways from the loss - outside of their crisp start and the solid play from Jae'Lyn Withers, Mike James and El Ellis - it's that Louisville showed some real fight, especially towards the end. They battled back to make it a four-point game on three separate occasions, and after Bellarmine went on a late 8-0 run to push their lead to 12 with just under five minutes left, the responded with an 11-0 run in to get within one point with roughly a minute to go.

"I think the difference was down the stretch, we became more desperate," forward Mike James said. "We knew we had to make a run and we were down 10 we knew we had to make a run at all costs. We just couldn’t let them get an easy look so we just became more desperate. That’s what Coach Payne was telling us. We have to pitch a shutout. We have to become more desperate and play like our lives depend on it. I think if we play like that from the tip all the way through, we'll be a very good defensive team."

Louisville had three chances to either tie the game or take the lead in the final minute, and came up short each time. Ellis missed the front end of a one-and-one at the free throw line, and while Bellarmine grabbed the offensive rebound, their ensuing shot was blocked to set up one final possession

With eight seconds left, Kamari Lands attempted an open midrange jumper, but couldn't connect. Roosevelt Wheeler grabbed the offensive rebound, but his immediate put back attempt also fell short.

While the final possession was an empty one, Payne believes that, in time, his players will have the confidence to be able to come through in similar situations. Though he admits that it might take some time.

"My lesson to them this: confidence is something that a lot of people don’t like to talk about as coaches. It comes from doing something so hard, for so long. ... If this is the life that you choose, you have to know your confidence is not like a light switch, you can’t turn it on and off. I am saying that as a team and not one individual. Confidence has to come from your work. We have to work borderline insanely in order to be good."

Louisville will be back in action this weekend when they host Wright State. Tip-off against the Raiders is set for Saturday, Nov. 12 at 1:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Kamari Lands: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY SPORTS)

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