LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — It was all right there for Kenny Payne’s University of Louisville men’s basketball team at Virginia Tech late Sunday afternoon.
A direct line to the first road victory during Payne’s one-plus seasons with the Cardinals. Payne’s first three-game winning streak.
A 1-0 start in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Oh, and the fifth victory of this season — one more win than the Cardinals collected in 2022-23.
But after leading by eight points in the first half and by two early in the second half, Louisville let this one slide into the “Progress,” pile, not the “Victory” column. The Hokies survived in Cassell Coliseum, 75-68.
Like the Texas and Indiana games, this one had to leave furrowed brows as a game the Cardinals should have won.
Down 69-66 with a little more than a minute to play, Louisville failed to beat the shot clock out of timeout. Then Brandon Huntley-Hatfield was whistled for fouling Tech’s Lynn Kidd with 1.9 seconds left on the shot clock at the other end of the court. He made two free throws to bump the Hokies ahead, 71-66. Louisville turned it over.
"We were going to hit Trey (White) and we had a counter to the opposite side in case he couldn't get open," Payne said of the shot clock play. "We froze and left Trey stranded. That's what I mean when I talk about paying attention to detail."
Ball game. Mark it down as Louisville's 19th consecutive road loss as the Cards dropped to 4-4. They did gain four spots, to No. 161, in Ken Pomeroy's computer power formula.
Payne was not happy that his team gave up several easy baskets to start the second half as the Hokies shot 12 for 25 and made 19 of 23 free throws in the final 20 minutes.
"They took the fight to us, especially in the second half," Payne said. "I thought we did a lot of things well, but at critical times we made mistakes."
Five Cardinals scored 10 points or more. They were led by Skyy Clark with 16 points and Huntley-Hatfield, who had 14.
This was an issue: Tech guard M.J. Collins made all three of his shots from distance. Collins had missed his last 16 three-point shots, including all 11 this season. Collins had 24 points total in Tech's first eight games but led all scorers with 20.
The Cards have not won an ACC road game since Jan. 2, 2022 at Georgia Tech, which was before Chris Mack handed over the program to Mike Pegues.
"Our goal was to come here, get off to a strong start, carry it into the second half and get this win,” U of L guard Mike James said. “We really wanted this win to open conference play … so we really had a lot of focus on that start, but we lost it at times later
The Cardinals have five days off. They play at DePaul Saturday in Chicago. The Blue Demons are 1-6. They defeated South Dakota but have lost their last four, three by 10 points or more.
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