Takeaways From Louisville MBB's 2022 Red-White Scrimmage
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - On Sunday, fans were able to get their first glance of the 2022-23 Louisville men's basketball team.
With a new college basketball season less than a month away, the Cardinals held their annual preseason Red and White intrasquad scrimmage at the KFC Yum! Center.
Like in years past, the red squad and white squad faced off against one another. This year, while played in six five-minutes segments, was a more traditional scrimmage with no roster switching up between periods.
El Ellis, Kamari Lands, Ashton Myles-Devore, Zan Payne, J.J. Traynor and Roosevelt Wheeler were assigned to the red team; and Fabio Basili, Sydney Curry, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Aidan McCool, Hercy Miller and Devin Ree played for the white team. Jae'Lyn Withers and Mike James were both held out due to "nagging" injuries.
Red team won the scrimmage, 68-51, in front of 9,013 Cardinals fans.
"Only in this state can you get people to come and support you like this," head coach Kenny Payne said. "For me personally, unbelievable. For these young man, they need it, and they are coming out and supporting them. I just hope that we can keep this going. I hope that, regardless of what happens when we have losses, especially losses, that the support is there, the cheering on is there."
While not much can be deduced from an intrasquad scrimmage, here are Louisville Report's main takeaways from the afternoon:
Payne's Scheme Implementation Still a Work in Progress
With Kenny Payne entering his first year as a head coach at any level, many have wondered what exactly a Payne-coached teams looks like. Payne has touched upon this subject a couple times over the offseason, but hasn't gone very far in depth as to what his actual scheme is, save for saying that he wants to be a defensive-minded team with "free flowing, unpredictable basketball" on offense.
Of course, when you're playing under the lights for the first time, not everything is going to come together right out of the gates. Ironically, it was the defense that struggled the most, as Louisville collectively shot 51.5 percent from the floor, with the red team shooting 55.8 percent.
"The defense was glaring,"Payne said. "But that's gonna happen. This is the first time being in front of people with the lights on. You guys have a little bit of nervousness there. But, I'm pleased with the energy, pleased with the effort. It's the first time that we have something that we can evaluate."
Payne believes that the biggest defensive issue was their help defense, and the stat sheet backs that up. Out of the 119 total points scored, 86 of them were points in the paint.
Even the offense, for as well as they shot it, had trouble clicking at first. Both sides of the floor struggled to establish a flow, and collectively, Louisville had 18 assists to 24 turnovers. But as the scrimmage progressed into the final two segments, they started hitting their strides when it came to the free-flowing ball movement Payne wants.
"For me, the most important thing happened, the last two, five minutes (periods)," Payne said. "When the ball was passed five or six times, all I said was pass the ball to each other five times, get the ball in the lane, and don't shoot it. Pass it to somebody else, then that person drives. You put the defense in rotation, and we'll get any shot we want.
"Go into the post after five or six passes, a couple of lane touches, get into the post, split action. There's no plays to that. That's just actions and offense. That's the concepts that I'm trying to teach. The frustrating thing is it took 25 minutes before we got to where I want them to get it. We practice it every day."
Captains El Ellis, Sydney Curry Shine
I want to avoid overreacting to a simple scrimmage, but it shouldn't come as a surprise that the two best players on the floor were the captains who were able to play in this outing.
The MVP of the scrimmage was undoubtedly El Ellis. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard played with incredible pace all afternoon long, demonstrating his explosiveness, ability to finish around the rim and flashy passing on multiple occasions. His finished with 16 points on 7-10 shooting, as well as a scrimmage-best seven assists and three steals.
"I love El's energy. I love what he was trying to do," Payne said. "I know El can score, right? I need El to facilitate. Reject the urge of putting the ball in the basket when you get in the lane, and give it up. Then watch how it comes back to somewhere else. That's what I'm trying to get him to do."
That being said, it was actually Sydney Curry who had the best statistical game. The 6-foot-8, 270-pound big man led all players in points and rebounds with an 18-point/10-rebound double-double, although he wasn't perfect. While Payne liked his scoring and "tenacity to attack the glass," he still thinks Curry's defense has room for improvement.
"I want to see him moving better," Payne said. "I want to see him move his feet on defense better, I want to see him connect on a ball screen to not get separated from the screener so a guard can split. Those are the little things that I need to see from him."
J.J. Traynor Playing With a Heightened Level of Confidence
After putting together a solid freshman campaign at Louisville, J.J. Traynor then spent most of last season riding the bench, not receiving much playing time at all. The 6-foot-8, 190-pound forward has been open about the fact that last year absolutely wrecked his confidence, and that Payne has helped him get back to a much better mental state.
His heightened level of confidence was certainly obvious during the scrimmage. He wasted no time getting involved on both ends of the court, not holding back when posting up on offense, and swarming to the ball when on defense. He finished the scrimmage with 14 points on 6-12 shooting, with two rebounds, two assists, and a scrimmage-best three blocks.
Payne owes it all to the newfound way in which Traynor carries himself, and how hard he has worked Traynor from a conditioning standpoint over the offseason. He also wants him to keep working to get better in this regard.
"I want J.J. to feel good about what is working," he said. "That means from little things: walking on the court with a swag, not walking like he dreads coming on the court. The way he speaks, people evaluate that. They evaluate: Do you exude confidence? Or are you draining a room? I need him to know what a true evaluation is."
Kamari Lands Makes Early Scoring Impact
Of the three true freshman on the roster, Kamari Lands was unquestionably the one that came with the most hype. The 6-foot-8, 220-pound wing was ranked as high as the No. 39 prospect in the 2022 class according to ESPN, mainly due to his abilities as a scorer.
It might have been just a scrimmage, but Lands was able to effectively put on display his capabilities as a three-level scorer. He made several effortless drives to the basket, finished with consistency, and drained a handful of shots from outside the paint. He tied with Ellis as the second-leading scorer with 16 points on 7-13 shooting, and was the only player to drain multiple threes, going 2-4 from beyond the arc.
"Kamari, you can tell he can post. He can score off drives, he can shoot the midrange and he can shoot the three," Payne said. "He's a good basketball player, who's only gonna get better."
(Photo of El Ellis: Cindy Rice Shelton - Louisville Report)
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