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What Kenny Payne, Louisville Players Said After 81-78 Loss vs. Florida State

Read what the head coach of the Cardinals, guard El Ellis and forward Kamari Lands said after their loss vs. the Seminoles:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trailing by as much as 17 points in the second half, the Louisville men's basketball program was nearly able to successfully mount a comeback against Florida State, but instead fell 81-78 to tie the program record for most losses in a single season.

Here's what head coach Kenny Payne, guard El Ellis and forward Kamari Lands had to say following the loss:

Head Coach Kenny Payne

(Opening statement)

“Basically I say the same thing every game. I love our fight against a very good defensive team. They are disruptive in what they do. You just have to be a basketball player because you can’t run plays. The ball has to move and you have to attack the lane. We did it in the second half, we got wide open shots. Maybe we hit them, maybe we missed them. The other piece to it is that I want a second drive. I didn’t want to take one drive and kick out a shot. I wanted a second drive which could have been a layup or a dump off pass or a three, then we get anything we want. Look, 19 points off our 11 turnovers. The stuff that we did well was we out-rebounded that team by three and held them to 37 percent shooting in the second half. We played desperately on defense for stretches. We talked about one of our game plans was to have more assists than the first time we played them and we accomplished that. We went to the free throw line 11 times and made 10 of them. I wanted that to be in the 20s. We made 10 threes. We did enough to win the game. We just have to figure out that we have to play a certain way for the whole game. That is not to take anything away from Florida State. I am going to tell you that, as a coach, you want to run things that you think will work. But then you play a team like that and they are sitting on top of everybody on the perimeter and everybody on the post, it is very hard to win a ball game. So now I told those guys that it was a players’ game. The ball has to move. You have to make sure that there are sharp cuts. You have to be willing and able to drive the ball, and it can’t just be one player. It has to be multiple players.”

(About FSU responded when UofL took the lead and how the Cardinals responded):

“I love our fight. I love what we did to get back into the game. I loved what they were saying in the huddle. I love how their eyes were captured on me when I was saying, ‘guys, we are only down 11 and we aren’t playing well.’ Just keep fighting. Get three stops in a row and see what happens. Move the ball, don’t hold it. Don’t dribble it once and then go pass it. Move the ball and don’t let it stick in your hands. Other people besides El (Ellis) need to be ready to drive the ball. When we did it, we looked pretty good. Love the way that Sydney (Curry) finished the game. He did some good stuff out there in the end. We have gotten better as a team. I can see it and I can tell you we have. We have gotten better from Day 1 to today. I know it is hard to believe but I believe we have gotten 70 percent better. Now you can look at me and say ‘how bad were we’? I will tell you that we were really, really bad. For us to be competitive from where we came from says a lot about what these young men have done. I know nobody wants to hear that. It is win or your life is over. We have gotten better.”

(About the last play in the final 15 seconds):

“I wanted to run a play. El made a good play to get into the lane. We work on this play where you drive it into the lane and reverse pivot and the defense collapses and you throw it behind. He decided to go and make the shot. He probably should have shot-faked him and got fouled or found somebody earlier. But we had a chance to tie it up. Mike (James) had a wide open three or a good look at a three. I can’t be upset about that.”

(About Hercy Miller’s play today):

“I thought he was good. I thought he was solid. There were players out there and I will just say it to you, I don’t want him to think shoot first. I want him to be the guy that creates all the offense for us. There were a couple of times where he drove it and looked to shoot. I need him to look to pass. What happens is that you get shots for people and your teammates feel good about you being out on the court. I feel good that you understand the game plan is for you, individually to be on the court more. But he fought hard and got a great offensive rebound. He made good passes and he did a lot of good stuff.

(About FSU’s fast start and how it happened):

“It happened in walk-through today. We walked on the court and guys were lethargic. I said if that is what you want to be, get on the line and we will run. I need to see energetic guys. I keep saying preparation for how we play a game and everything we do -- individual workouts and practices – you have to play with energy. You have to practice with energy. They hit us in the mouth and the game was fast and we are on our heels. We can’t have that. We have to be the aggressor. We can’t let teams here, or anywhere as a matter of fact, and put us on our heels.

(About Kamari tying a season high in points, following a big game earlier in the week. What do you see as he’s getting better throughout the season?)

“I think he’s finally getting better. I think he’s getting better at playing patiently. I think he’s getting better at knowing where the shots are coming from. I think he’s getting a little bit better at, and I would like it to be more to be honest with you, I need defensive energy. I need defensive toughness. I need him to talk more, and not just look and try to process things. Anticipate, talk, and react immediately. He’s grown as a player, he’s gotten better. I thought he played very well tonight. You know, there was a play where he got a great steal, and he tried to shoot it. He shot it, El (Ellis) was in the corner. I would like for him to give that up, let’s get a better shot than what he took.”

(When JJ Traynor hit that lob to tie it up, the place goes nuts. This isn’t the season anyone wanted, but there’s 10 or 12,000 people here, for a team that’s won three games, that’s with you and engaged. There’s a lot of negativity out there, but you come in here, you come in a game like this, it’s different.”)

“For me, I think our fans have been great. I love the energy in the gym, especially when we’re playing well. And I love the fact that when we don’t play well, we can hear way up high, timeout, boo, whatever. I like that. Because it’s what I’m saying, do you understand where you are? You’re around passionate fans that love this program and pay a lot of money to be a part of this program. We have an obligation, and I don’t know who told them this, but there’s a mentality we’re trying to change. You’re not just playing basketball. We have to play winning basketball here. That’s what we need them to do, they’re getting better at it. I love what our fans are doing, I want them to continue to come and support us, fight for us, and if we’re not playing the right way, I want them to get on us. I do. And it’s tough because for the first time, they are seeing, somebody’s telling them, exactly what this program is. Think about that. Someone saying, ‘This is Louisville.’ This isn’t just I go out and play and play hard and we lose and it’s over. There’s a lot of pride that came from this program, a lot of love for this program, a community that lives and dies with this program, and we have obligation to make these people happy.”

(About Jae’Lyn coming off a big game against Georgia Tech, your thoughts on how he responded leading into this game? )

“I thought he was hot and cold. I thought there were times on the court where he was really good, and I thought there were points in the game where he wasn’t so good. I thought he started the game off lethargic, not aggressive, behind on plays. I need him more alert. Like I told him after the game and even before the game: ‘Jae’Lyn, I see you one way, I need you to see yourself the way I see you.’ What do I mean by that? I need you to be an elite defender. I need you to get those 13, 14 rebounds, whatever they were the last game. I need you to do that. You were the only player above the rim, and using elbows above the rim, snatching rebounds. I need you to be that guy. I need to anticipate defensively what’s going on and react to it. You have great instincts defensively when you’re in tune, but when you’re not in tune, whenever there’s self-doubt, you look different. You look different, you walk different, you act different. I don’t want to see that guy ever, and if I see that guy, I will talk about my issues with that guy. I need him to be that player that I see every game.”

(About the defensive desperation, and a stretch where Florida State got to 72, and there was a five-minute scoreless stretch. What kind of changes did you see on that end for your guys to play with desperation.)

“Again, I saw the desperation. I saw them connected to the offensive player, I saw them talking, I saw them in stances. I saw them put better on the ball. I saw El Ellis, who most of the time tries to coast through a game, I saw him in a stance, I saw him alert, I saw him fight. I need him. I know it’s hard. It’s a tough situation to be in when you play that many minutes, you got to fight. You can’t just save it for the offensive end, you got to fight all the way through. I saw that. I needed more of that in the first half, and who knows how the game would have turned out. And again, we’re playing a very good team. You go through a lull in the first half, you may never get the chance to get back.”

Guard El Ellis and forward Kamari Lands

(About when FSU got a lead and you guys started to chip away, a few times there they made momentum busting shots. You guys got it tied. I just wonder if you could think back to the first time you played these guys and how much difference you see in the way you guys respond when they throw punches?)

El Ellis: “Really, I just feel like we’re just a different team from before. I feel like every time the locker room has grown up and has gotten a lot better individually and got better as a group. Kamari (Lands) was really big today, Jae’Lyn (Withers) is playing really well, Hercy (Miller) was really solid today. I just feel like at the end of the day, if we just keep fighting and we keep staying together there's no game that we can't stay in or game we can’t win.”

(Did either one of you have a good look at (Mike) James’s shot at the end and who tossed to ball to him after that scramble on the floor?)

El Ellis: “When I got the outlet, I think there was like 12 seconds. I tried to get a quick layup but I missed it, so we were going to try and get an offensive rebound and Syd (Sydney Curry) got the offensive rebound. He kicked out to Mike (James) and he got a really good look at it. Even if my layup would’ve gone, we just would have fouled again and hopefully they missed one. Then we were going to come back again and either go for the three or get a quick shot first. We just didn’t really get a good look at that.”

(Why do you think you guys were able to come back like you did?)

Kamari Lands: “I think it's all about that we fought. In the first half we didn't come out, we came out flat and then in the second half we came out we were supposed to come out in the first half. We fought, played hard, played great defense. I felt like especially in that end stretch everybody played great defense. We got good looks at the end and unfortunately it didn't go our way completely, but I felt like we fought all the way to the end. “

(When you've had a season like this, you have a game like this, and it shows progress. But are there ways where it frustrates you even more because if you get off to a better start or if you don't dig that hole, maybe you got a chance to win one when you haven't gotten very many wins?)

El Ellis: “Yeah, it's frustrating but I just feel like we're all real positive right now. No matter what the score is, no matter how we started the game, it's about how you finish. I feel like when we finish the right way, as long as we keep doing that, we're going to be a tough team to beat when it comes to the ACC Tournament.”

(Was there anything that you think caused that slow start? Was there anything that you thought stuck out to you during that first half that might have caused the slow start?)

Kamari Lands: “I don't know I just think we came off to a slow start. We kind of all just looked like slow and dry. They came out and kind of got some easy looks at first. We didn't really give them anything tough at first so everything they got was kind of easy. And then they got their confidence up and that's what we dug ourselves into a hole. We're trying to gain ours while they already had theirs at the beginning. So, it's kind of like we dug ourselves into a hole.”

(As far as the turnovers, if you look at this game and you take away some of turnovers, you likely win the game. Do you feel like it's being flustered by Florida State's defense or just playing too fast? What do you make of these high number of turnovers at times?)

El Ellis: “I felt like we were pretty solid. I mean, we had some battling, but it’s been worse than that - 19, 20, 21 turnovers. I just feel like it was a lot of the little things that we did that cost us the game. We were getting beat on backdoors, when I started the game off, I got backdoored for an easy layup. Little things like that are not supposed to happen. I feel like if we just continue to get better with our turnovers, and I feel like we are, as long as we just keep doing that. I mean if we’re going to have turnovers, they can’t be live ball turnovers, that's giving them easy baskets. If we get turnovers that stop play and they have to take it out of bounds and set something up, I feel like that's fine. We’re getting better though.”

(Photo of El Ellis, Kenny Payne: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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