Payne Criticizes Louisville's Practice Habits Following Third Straight Loss

The Cardinals are 0-3 to start the season, and their head coach believes their approach and mindset when it comes to practice are a direct reflection of that.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The start of the Kenny Payne era of the Louisville men's basketball program hasn't exactly gotten off on the right foot.

Playing three of their easiest opponents of the season right out out the gate, many expected that the Cardinals would be 3-0 heading into the Maui Invitational, or at the worst, 2-1 with a minor slip up along the way. Instead, the exact opposite has come to pass.

Three games into the 2022-23 season, Louisville still finds themselves searching for their first win of the year, falling to Bellarmine 67-66 in their season-opener, 73-72 to Wright State and most recently to Appalachian State 61-60. While all three games were only one-point losses, the Cardinals trailed by double-digits deep into the second halves of each of the these games.

According to Payne, the Cardinals' less than stellar play on the court is reflective of the way they have carried themselves in practice early in the season.

"This is what everybody needs to understand, if you watch us practice, you understand what we do," he said following the loss to App State. "You can’t play games and expect to win and have bad practices. Practices give you the confidence to know that you can go out and beat any and everybody you play against.

"We shouldn’t have three bad practices before a game and two bad practices before a game and hope you turn on the light switch. There was nothing in our practices that would have indicated that second half the way we played. Nothing. That has to change. If that means we have to practice harder or longer, I guess that is what we have to do. I am hoping that we continue to get better. There are places where we are getting better. I just need them to translate to a game.”

While neither end of the court is looking particularly efficient right now, Louisville's offense seems to lagging much farther behind than their defense. The Cardinals are shooting 44.6 percent from the floor and 33.8 percent on three-point attempts, but have a ghastly season assist-to-turnover ratio of 27-to-50.

Beyond the stats, it's easy to watch the product on the court and see why the offense is not having much success. Far too often, the ball is getting passed around the perimeter and not getting into the paint, or the four off-ball players are simply just standing around while the ballcarrier does all the work.

"We want the ball to move. We want to move to defenses and then when we do dribble it, we're going north-south, toward the basket, toward the rim," Payne said. "That's what we practice. But for some reason, the emotions of the game, we get in the game and guys refuse to move, it's not just a guy's fault. A guy refuses to move to come up to give him a passing lane, so he dribbles. It’s a bunch of different things."

Above anything else, the energy and effort has been extraordinarily deficient to start the season. It has been there in spurts on both offense and defense, but overall, Bellarmine, Wright State and App State have all shown far more fire than Louisville has. It all stems back to how Louisville performs in practice, mainly because of the players' mentality and approach towards it.

"I think our practices are so hard, sometimes we all come in dreading not to come to practice," forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield said. "Coaches are trying to make the practices harder, so the games will be easier. Now that we’re coming out to these games, and we’re not practicing hard how we would play in the game, now we’ve had to simulate the practices like it’s a real game."

A lack of effort or proper mindset in practice has also been the reason why a select few players have hardly seen the court, or not at all. Guard Fabio Basili and forward Devin Ree have yet to log any minutes, while forward/center Roosevelt Wheeler has played in just 23 minutes between the first two games. While Payne did admit that health did play a bit of role with the three, their practice habits played more so of a role, particularly with Basili and Ree.

"I just believe you deserve it," Payne said. "Make me believe that you want it by your practice habits, by what you’re doing every single day. We need somebody to come help us get a win. And the little things matter… whether it’s being on time to tutors, being on time to class. Whether it’s treatment, massage therapy – whatever it is, be on time. When you come to practice, come to practice to fight, not, to not fight. And I’ll reward you when you do that. They’re good kids. I’m waiting on Fabio, I’m waiting on Devin Ree. I need them to help us win, but I’m not going to give it to them, they will earn it.”

Both Payne and the players believe that once Louisville is able to play with energy and effort in practice, regardless of how hard practice may be, it will translate into games. They also believe it will help fix their issues with starting out slow. Over the first three games, the Cardinals have been out-scored 113-92 in the first half, including 38-25 against Appalachian State.

"They came out initially in the first half, they looked like they were Louisville and we were App State, like we were playing on their arena," Payne said. "It cannot happen. There has to be some pride, some toughness about being at home, them coming out and fighting to get wins. That is what this program is built on. The passion that it is to protect your home court, I guess we are learning that. I will take the blame for that.

Louisville will be back in action next week when they travel to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational. Their first of three games will come against Arkansas, with tip-off scheduled for Monday, Nov. 21 at 5:00 p.m. EST.

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

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