Kenny Payne Critical of Louisville's Performance in Exhibition vs. Simmons College

The Cardinals had prolonged stretches of poor basketball in their exhibition opener against the Falcons.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Year two of the Kenny Payne era of the Louisville men's basketball program certainly had a better start than year one did.

The Cardinals lost to Lenoir-Rhyne in their exhibition opener last year, but this time around in their first warmup game ahead of the regular season, Louisville was on the right side of the win loss column, taking down Simmons College to the tune of 91-50.

But while the final score suggests a decisive victory, Louisville's performance against the Falcons was far from convincing. The head coach of the Cardinals did call the exhibition something that his team could build on, but he was also openly critical of how they carried themselves.

“I thought that game was one that we could build on, a game that we needed to identify and evaluate what guys can comprehend which concepts," Payne said. "But at the end of the day, I needed to know who I can count on to fight. Who can I count on to be disciplined? Who can I count on to know the plays and execute? That was, for me, the disappointing thing."

The exhibition matchup against the local HBCU - which is located roughly 1.5 miles from UofL's campus - had wildly inconstant play. There were both stretches of very efficient basketball that showed what this team could be capable of once the regular season kicks off. Then there were segments that were arguably worse than anything that last season's 4-28 team ever did.

Louisville had extremely disjointed starts in each half. 14 minutes into the game, the Cardinals held just a 20-15 advantage over their visitors. In the first five-plus minutes of the second half, Simmons actually out-scored Louisville 15-8.

The main culprit here was something that plagued Louisville all last season: turnovers. They committed a whopping 22 of them by the game's final horn, and they were extremely prevalent in their negative segments of play. The Cardinals turned the ball over on their first three possessions of each half, and committed 12 of them in the first 12 minutes of the game alone.

Many of them weren't even a product of Simmons College's defense. Many of them, in fact, were simply careless unforced turnovers such as errant passes, traveling, or not making the right read on the drive.

”I think it is more carelessness, to be honest with you," Payne said when asked about the turnovers. "Unforced turnovers – you have three options, and you choose the worse option and they get the ball. ... Teams are going to collapse on us defensively and we have to know and be willing passers and when the shot is there you take the shot, and we have two on the glass. ... You cannot create offense within your own mind that is not what the other four guys are doing that creates a bad situation. We had a lot of that tonight.”

On top of the carelessness with the turnovers, Payne was critical of their overall focus, which was very evident at times. During their negative stretches, there was hardly any sort of flow or decisiveness out of Louisville on either end of the court. The directly led to Simmons - despite being vastly out-matched in terms of speed physicality - to score 20 points off turnovers and 30 points in the paint.

"We’re big, strong, and athletic. If you’re giving up 30 points in the paint, you’re not focused somewhere," Payne said. "They scored 20 points off our turnovers. So, exactly how good are we?

"Focus on being vicious. Focus on being desperate. Focus on taking care of the ball and getting good shots and let's see where we end up. How good can we be if we get a group of guys who can focus on the little things it takes to be a great team? That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

But, it wasn't all bad for Louisville. They ended the first half on a 24-1 run where they essentially completely shut down Simmons on both ends of the floor. They also outscored the Falcons 39-19 in the final 15 minutes of the game. Both times, the offensive attack seems much more cohesive, and their defense efforts were way more decisive.

“That shows that we can be desperate defensively, get out in transition, and execute the offense, and get good shots," Payne said. I need this team to do this regularly, not just in spurts."

One factor that could have played into Louisville's up and down outing was the fact that Payne opted to rotate lineups incredibly often, which also included platoon substitutions. No one player logged more than 25 minutes of on-court time, and 10 players had double digit minutes on the floor. The only healthy scholarship player to not play double digit minutes was Koron Davis.

Payne's reasoning for this was that he is still evaluating each player and what he can get out of them. It was crucial for him to see what each player was capable of against an actual opponent.

"I need to know who I can count on to do what and play with discipline," he said. "So, to me, that is what my evaluation was about as far as platoon substitution. Finding out which guys can play within the system, breaking down the film at the end, and saying, “You’re behind in this area. Why were you hesitant to run this play?” I need to evaluate you with the light on. What will you do?”

But even with players coming in and out of the game often and possibly disrupting the flow of the game, it shouldn't have led to prolonged negative stretches against a team of Simmons College's caliber. The Falcons operate in the second division of the National Christian College Athletic Association - a league that is below even the NAIA - and went 14-13 last season.

Payne says he could sense the anxiousness from his team heading into their first game against another opponent, but was hoping it would serve as a fuel rather than a detriment. If there's anything he can truly take away from the up-and-down exhibition, it's that it served as way for him to find out who he can trust.

"At the end of the day, we evaluate that and evaluate how many guys I can count on," he said. "Is the number seven, eight, nine? I want the number to be 12, 13, 14. The great thing is I can identify who is who and who can help us win games.”

(Photo of Kenny Payne: © Sam Upshaw Jr. - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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