Frustrations Mounting for Mike Pegues Following Another Louisville Loss

The Cardinals lost their seventh straight game in another outing which can be described as listless.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Things were a lot different the last time that the Louisville men's basketball program suffered a seven-game losing streak. Denny Crum was approaching his fourth birthday, the Cardinals' home games were played at the 600-seat Belknap Gymnasium on campus, and the United States had yet to get involved in World War II.

But on Wednesday night, that's exactly what happened. Even after a week off, Louisville still could not bring themselves to snap their current losing streak, falling to Miami 70-63 at the KFC Yum! Center for their longest skid in 81 years.

They've won just three games since the calendar flipped to 2022, and have dropped ten of their last eleven games. After starting 10-4 overall and 4-0 in the ACC, Louisville now sits at 11-14 and 5-10 with five games left in the regular season.

For interim head coach Mike Pegues, his frustrations regarding the Cardinals' inability to get back in the win column is starting to reach a fever pitch.

"I am of getting in front of you guys and having to talk about what we didn't do right to win a game. It's extremely frustrating," he said folloing their loss to the Canes. "I had a long talk with the guys in the back and told them the most disappointing thing was that we didn't play hard in the first half. I thought we were lifeless, no energy, no pop – and I don't really understand why."

Louisville scored six of the game's first nine points, but then Miami quickly fired off a 13-0 run to put the Cardinals behind the eight ball in a hurry. For the majority of the game, Louisville simply did not play with much intensity or effort, which is a far cry from who they have looked in practice, according to Pegues.

"In practice, guys seemed really excited, competitive, trash-talking, competing… and we didn't bring that to the table in the first half and I really don't know why," he said. "We have to be much better in that area."

Pegues mentioned after their previous game at Notre Dame that he wanted to shorten up the rotation, which led to some interesting decisions against Miami. Not only did J.J. Traynor get the start, but co-captain Malik Williams and former McDonald's All American Sam Williamson did not play a single minute again the Canes.

When asked about this, he echoed a very similar sentiment that former head coach Chris Mack offered before his departure: his players have been incredibly inconsistent.

"Our whole team throughout the year has had an issue with coachability at times… just doing things the right way, handling coaching and, in addition to that, productivity – those are the two most important things to me," he said.

Louisville did give themselves a chance down the stretch. Trailing by 10 with under four minutes to go, they went on a 7-0 run to make it a one-possession game with 1:10 left.

But, like in the recent games against Duke and Notre Dame, they couldn't cash in down the stretch, missing three of their final four shots while allowing Miami to make their last two. While some of that lack of late game execution does fall some of the players, Pegues also takes a little bit of the responsibility as well.

"I haven't been in enough of those moments to give those guys the right answer, but sometimes the right answer is that you have to make a play. You have to make a play and exploit the mismatch. It's twofold," he said.

While Pegues admits that he, the players and everyone else in the program are getting extremely discouraged by the lack of energy and the continuing skid, he doesn't think the frustration had reached a point of no return. He believes the players still very much want to win, but also adds that they have to be engaged from the jump if they have any expectation of breaking their losing streak.

"We got to come back to work tomorrow, Friday, and then come out here and have a better performance Saturday with the energy that we talked about," he said. "It has to show up from minute one."

Louisville will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 19 when they host Clemson at the KFC Yum! Center. Tip-off against the Tigers is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Mike Pegues: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleOnSI
Twitter - @LouisvilleOnSI
Instagram - @louisville_report

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter