What Kenny Payne, Louisville Players Said After 68-58 Win vs. Georgia Tech
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program, at long last, finally was able to win a game in ACC play, taking down Georgia Tech 68-58 to snap a 10-game losing streak on the season.
Here's what head coach Kenny Payne, forward Jae'Lyn Withers, forward J.J. Traynor and forward Kamari Lands had to say following the win:
Head Coach Kenny Payne
(Opening Statement)
“I thought we played hard. I thought we played desperately defensively in the second half. We did make mistakes, but overall, they deserved it. Before this game I said I wanted Georgia Tech to play great. I want them to play physical. I want them to run their stuff great. I want you to find a way to win. I don’t want to beat Georgia Tech because they played bad. I want them to beat Georgia Tech because they played good. That was my mindset coming in. They are a good team. They are sort of like us in that they haven’t been able to get wins. But when you look at them and how they are orchestrated, they talk, they rebound the ball, they were missing a starting point guard but still they were playing us hard. They played us hard.”
(About learning to not take wins for granted)
“I can say it to you like this: me personally, I don’t make it about me. But I can tell you that I have been blessed to have been around a bunch of winning. I have always known that winning is very fragile. When you look at constantly winning games and being in a tournament, as a player winning a national championship, as a coach winning a national championship, making the playoffs in the NBA …. all that winning … sometimes you forget how fragile it is. For me, I want these guys to figure out that it is about them. It is not about me. They just gave me a game ball for my first ACC win, which is great. But I want them to know this is about them and they can conquer whatever is in front of them if they believe. Now if you don’t believe and don’t fight for it, you are not going to get it. You have to believe. You have to fight for it and give yourself a chance regardless of talent, regardless of all your insecurities, doubts, fears, whatever it is. If you believe in what you are doing and put in 110 percent in, it can happen for you.”
(About winning being much more frequent next year)
“I really wouldn’t tell them anything knowing me, I would let them see it with their own eyes. I am not going to say it will be next year. I am going to tell you that I am building something, in my mind, that will have sustained success. Next year we will be better. I don’t now how we can get any worse. In the future I just tell you this that I know now, and I have always known how to put a team together that will make others want to come to be a part of it. I hope these fans understand that this program is built on success. It is built on discipline. It is built on fight. It is built on fundamentals of the game. It is built on defense. These fans over the years, in the 70’s, the 80’s, the 90’s and even the 2000’s they have been blessed to have great teams. For whatever reason, it got derailed. I pray to God everyday that we can get this back on track. I know that we will. I know God didn’t take me through this journey to come back and lose every game. So, we are going to be alright. We are going to figure it out.”
(About Georgia Tech getting it down to single digits late and this year UofL has not responded well earlier, what is their takeaway after the win)
“I just hope that they walk away saying that we got stops and we rebounded the ball. They got over the top and got three or four offensive rebounds in a row and yet we bounced back and started fighting defensively and we started getting rebounds. And we got baskets to go in ourselves. One of their players walked off and said, ‘Louisville is lucky’. I liked that. He didn’t even know he was talking out loud because he was talking to himself. My point is I want teams to walk out of here and say we got beat. Not that we were lucky. We are going to get to that point and that is my job to make sure they understand that we are going to earn the respect of every team that walks through that door and every team we play against.”
(On the crowd’s enthusiasm)
“I never look at social media, I never look at newspapers, radio shows, any of that. I never listen or hear anything. So, when I go to games and I listen to what they do for us, I’m inspired. Now, they don’t know the inner workings of what we deal with every day. So, when you look at a game – and I’ll just be 100 percent honest and give you exactly what I mean – what you’re seeing in a game is five times better than what we’re doing in practice. Imagine how frustrated I am if we go down the court 10 different times in a practice and every one of those possessions are turnovers, imagine what I’m going through. So, the games are like you’re looking at them, if you’re not in practice, you’re looking at them and saying ‘they should be better.’ And we’re looking at them and saying ‘we’re fighting these kids to be competitive. And sometimes they’re getting it and then others they’re not.’ So, I’ve seen growth, even this year, but I need this team to be a team that its success comes from preparation, from practice. Not a team that plays like that and fights and does it in a game, but never in practice.”
(On Emmanuel Okorafor making his Yum Center debut, how would you assess his performance?)
“I love his energy. He is learning. He’s not the finished product, but he brings energy, he tries hard. He studies what we’re doing offensively, defensively. He asks questions, even when he’s not in the game I can hear him yelling at the guys, ‘defend, fight, make them respect you.’ I hear him saying those things. What a positive way he has about himself that you add that to the team. Not just on the court, even when he’s off the court, he brings a positive energy. He is a winner and I love that about him and I can’t wait until he gets super-confident and super-comfortable on the court, because it’s going to bring us another dimension.”
(On Jae’Lyn Withers’ 35 minutes, 19 points, 13 defensive rebounds and only two turnovers – which of those stats did appreciate the most?)
“The 13 rebounds I appreciate the most. At pregame meal today, I said, ‘Can you please fight to make sure that we are going to be okay? How do you feel?’ He said, ‘Coach, I feel great today.” I said, “Okay, does that mean we’re winning? And does that mean your energy is going to be a part of us winning?” And he said he didn’t want that pressure on him at the time, but he goes out tonight and he plays like he’s supposed to play. That just goes to show what he’s capable of. He didn’t play without mistakes, but he played hard, he played desperate and did a lot of great things out there on the court that helped us win. He was a major part of us winning that game.”
(It seemed like the players showed a lot of emotion after the game and were really soaking this in. After all they’ve gone through this year, what does it mean to you to see them get to have a moment in front the home crowd?)
“I’m proud of them. I’m proud of them because they’ve worked really hard – really, really hard – and they haven’t had the success that they deserve, or that they should fight for. And to see them feel what it feels like to win, to see them be happy, to see them smiling… to see them laughing and playing music in the locker room. What you saw on the court – El [Ellis gave his headband to a kid], to see Mike James happy who feels like he’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders all the time. To see Roosevelt Wheeler come in and contribute. These are young people that are not robots, and they have emotions, and they want to please. And they’re learning about themselves, and they’re learning about college basketball and they’re learning about winning. They’re learning about being a team. They don’t have all the answers. And so, when I see them go through the adversity and then I see them go through what it feels like to be successful – even if it’s for one minute – it’s gratifying to me. And tomorrow, when I talk to them again, I’ll talk to them about, ‘Imagine being that team that never loses. And I keep saying Alabama football, Georgia football. Imagine being those teams where the culture in the system is in place and every year you expect to win every game. That’s what I want to build here.”
Forward Jae'Lyn Withers, forward J.J. Traynor and forward Kamari Lands
(Whose idea was it to give Coach Payne the game ball and what went into that decision?)
Jae’Lyn Withers: “It was El Ellis’ decision. First ACC win, it’s a big moment for him. But yeah, it was El Ellis’ idea.”
(When you go through a season like you’ve been going through, do you appreciate every win a little more? Does this one mean a little more to you than it might any other night against a team that is also struggling?)
Kamari Lands: “Yeah, no doubt. I feel like we take every win as important. Like I said, it’s been a tough season for us. We’ve been practicing really hard, you know, we’ve been just wanting it. Definitely, like you said, every win is important.”
JJ Traynor: “Yeah, I’ll have to agree. Even though they’ve been struggling as well, we’re really excited about the win. Doesn’t matter if it’s Georgia Tech or if it’s Duke, we’ll take it. We work so hard, and we’ve been struggling, just to have that is a good feeling.”
(It seems like you guys were kind of interacting with the fans and really trying to enjoy it a little bit like that. It’s been a while since you’ve been able to do that. What does it feel like to get to feed off the crowd, who was pretty energetic tonight?)
Jae’Lyn Withers: “It feels really good. Our fanbase is still sticking with us for the most part, it felt good to get a home win in front of them after the stretch of losses that we’ve had.”
(You had 19 (points), 13 rebounds, played 35 minutes. Coach Payne said he talked to you earlier, that he needed you for this game. Just talk about your performance and what he wanted from you?)
Jae’Lyn Withers: “My teammates found me in the right positions, and I knocked down shots. As far as rebounding, I attacked the glass with a lot more intensity than I usually do.”
(Do you kind of feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off after what you’ve gone through the last, well, all season really?)
JJ Traynor: “Yeah, definitely. Losing those games put us in a tough spot mentally, and when that buzzer sounds and you see the smiles on all of our faces, and just getting that energy from the crowd, and getting that winning feeling again, it meant a lot. I think going forward, getting to experience that feeling again will push us to play hard.”
(Photo of Jae'Lyn Withers, Kenny Payne: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
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