LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — In November, the game plan was for the University of Louisville men’s basketball team to launch into a roaring start with five home games against teams they paid roughly $90,000 to come and take a defeat.
But the Cards lost to Chattanooga and were fortunate to escape UMBC and New Mexico State.
"The University of Louisville deserves to win," U of L coach Kenny Payne said. "The University of Louisville deserves to have a product on the court where if you're not winning, you're fighting and everybody sees it every single second you're on the court."
Plan B was to overpower DePaul and Arkansas State.
They lost both games.
Then the idea was to regroup and survive the first half of the Atlantic Coast Conference season before taking advantage of a favorable closing stretch with four of the last five games booked for the KFC Yum! Center.
That’s not happening either.
Not in November. Not in December, January or February.
And now not in March.
The Cardinals lost their fifth straight game, slipping to 8-21 with an 82-76 loss to Syracuse Saturday night at the KFC Yum! Center. The Cards have lost those games to Boston College, Pitt, Notre Dame, Duke and Syracuse by an average of 18.4 points.
"I'm very disappointed that I, we as a staff, couldn't get these guys to come out with the energy, the fight that it takes to get a win," Payne said.
"For me, personally, I look at this and I say, 'All right, am I giving the message the wrong way? Am I asking you to sacrifice something that you're not able to do?
"It's very, very hard. And the reality of it is, if you don't go out and earn respect, nobody is going to give it to you. And I need this group of young men to go out and fight to earn their respect."
Think about this: Over 40 minutes, Louisville made three consecutive shots one time. The Cards made back-to-back shots only seven times. Syracuse, meanwhile, had two early stretches when they scored four straight times as well as crushing second half run where the Orange scored seven straight times.
"Each guy in our program, or really the guys that are playing, has to do some soul searching," said U of L forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield. "It's not on our staff. It's on us."
"We're not applying (what the coaches are saying) for 40 minutes straight," U of L freshman Kaleb Glenn said.
By losing Louisville clinched the 15th and bottom seed in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, which means they will play the No. 10 seed at 4:30 p.m. on March 12.
"I feel like we've given good effort but it has to be better obviously," Huntley-Hatfield said. "I just think it not our effort, I think it's communicating with each other. Being in the right spot. Attention to detail."
A month after taking Syracuse to the wire in a 94-92 road loss, Louisville floundered through 40 minutes against the Orange.
They fell behind as Syracuse punished them with six dunks in the first half, including one on a simple inbounds play that was incorrectly defended with 5.1 seconds to play.
This was another one where Louisville led for less than a minute -- 50 seconds to be precise. This was another one where the Cards could not limit their opponent to less than a point per possession. This was another one where a modest crowd (announced at 11,011) started departing the building halfway through the second half.
They were behind by 9 points in less than 9 minutes. The Orange pushed their advantage to 39-28 at halftime. Syracuse led by 14 before a short U of L rally made it 48-42 with about 15 minutes left.
Syracuse pushed it back to 19 (71-52) with about 7 minutes remaining. Louisville had one last finishing kick. A three-point shot by Mike James cut the Syracuse lead to 78-74 with 38.9 seconds to play.
There was no miracle on Main Street, despite 18 points by James and 17 from Huntley-Hatfield. Curtis Williams missed a pair of shots in the final 25 seconds as his shooting slump continued. Williams has made one shot in 27 attempts (3.7%) over his last six games.
Payne said the issue has not been with one player not following instructions and committing to 40 minutes of effort. It's a "multitude" of guys.
"There's a fight that's required to win at this level in this conference against these teams," Payne said. "And at times we don't show that we have it. At times our body language is bad. At times we look disconnected.
"And that's a problem with me."
And it's a problem for him -- and his sagging team, which has slid from No. 164 to No. 195 in Ken Pomeroy's computer power index in the last 2 1/2 weeks.
The Cards have two more home games before departing for Washington D.C. and the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. Virginia Tech will be here Tuesday at 7 p.m. before Boston College visits for Senior Day next Saturday.
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