LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — St. John’s, a team that Jim Boeheim says belongs ranked in the Top 25, lost an exhibition basketball game to Pace University Sunday.
To put it another way: Rick Pitino’s Big East contender lost to a Division II program. The Red Storm did not lead for a single second.
Kentucky led Georgetown College by a point at halftime Friday night before rolling to a 23-point win.
Indiana trailed the University of Indianapolis by two points at halftime Sunday. The Hoosiers won by 22.
Strange things can happen in October. But they should not and cannot happen 2 years in a row.
Considering the University of Louisville men’s basketball team lost 28 of 32 games last season, as well as an exhibition to lowly Lenoir-Rhyne, I’m convinced that Cardinals’ fans are aware of those developments.
I’m also convinced they have absolutely no interest in understanding why Kenny Payne’s second team labored and then failed against Kentucky Wesleyan, 71-68, at the KFC Yum! Center Monday night. After last season and the promise of better days, there can no acceptable explanation for that.
One Get Out of Jail Free card? Sure. Two years in a row? Nope. I sense anger in the air.
For Payne, the challenge is obvious: He's got a week to figure it out and stop the inevitable chatter that the Cards are headed for another dismal season -- in the fan base, in the nation and in his locker room.
"Hopefully we learn from this," Payne said. "All of us -- coaches, myself and players because, you know it's not acceptable to go out and the other team is more physical than you, plays harder than you, plays tougher than you and if you don't understand what this is."
As Payne said multiple times after the dispiriting performance, it's unacceptable.
And alarming. And puzzling. And absurd. Use your imagination. I'm sure you can cycle in some other descriptive terms.
Louisville did the one thing that Louisville could not afford to do while trying to build back optimism and excitement about this season:
The Cards lost to the Panthers, while getting outscored 24-19 in the final 6 minutes in front an announced crowd of 10,112.
"They came in here and were more physical than us," Payne said. "We just seemed to ball watch -- and they attacked the ball."
True. Unacceptable, especially after last season. But true. And truly unacceptable.
You want a statistic that screams Louisville got out-hustled? This one works. Wesleyan had 18 second-chance points. Louisville had 2. Wesleyan did that without any players the Cardinals considered recruiting. They did it because they decided to do it and Louisville decided not to stop them.
"The disconnect is understanding fully how hard you've got to practice, how hard you've got to play, how desperate you have to be defensively," Payne said.
This was no fluke. It wasn't as if Wesleyan threw in a wild shot to win it at the buzzer. The Panthers did not roll out a trick defense. They didn't make 20 three-point shots. They made 7 in 27 attempts.
Wesleyan took the lead with 5 minutes and 4 seconds to play -- and did not give it back. They played with more poise down the stretch, making 3 of their last 6 shots from distance during that 5-minute stretch. They secured several key offensive rebounds, especially long ones.
"There was a lot of talk (about playing with more toughness)," Louisville guard Skyy Clark said. "But talk only gets you so far. You have to go out there and execute it."
What Wesleyan did was outwork Louisville. The visitors turned the ball over 10 times in the first 10 minutes. They did not panic. They fixed that problem, losing it only 4 more times the rest of the game. They adjusted and delivered. Louisville did not. The Cards led by as many as 6 points in the first half but could not make the Panthers submit.
"We tried hard at times, but it's not good enough," Payne said.
Too many defensive breakdowns, especially giving up three-point baskets in the final minutes. Got outworked on the glass. A smaller Wesleyan team out-rebounded the Cards, 47-33.
That certainly cannot happen.
Minimal contributions from the bench. Wesleyan's reserves outscored the Cards, 39-4. One basket by Kaleb Glenn. Another by Brandon-Huntley Hatfield. Louisville's subs shot 2 for 9.Â
The Cards essentially had a 4-man offense -- getting 24 points from Clark, 16 from Mike James, 11 from Tre White and 9 from JJ Traynor.
No offensive presence in the post. In 31 combined minutes, the Cards’ two centers — Dennis Evans and Huntley-Hatfield — combined for one field goal in a pair of attempts with 6 rebounds. And the basket was a dunk by Huntley-Hatfield, who slipped behind the Wesleyan defense after a Louisville steal.
I asked Payne if his big men didn't work to establish position or if his perimeter guys failed to get them the ball.
"I just think we refuse to get paint touches," Payne said. "At times there are opportunities there ... a lot of times tonight the shot goes up and I'm watching my four and five make no effort to fight to get the rebound."
Won’t work.
Did not work.
The games will begin to go on the regular season record next Monday. The Cards open with three consecutive home games, starting with UMBC (Maryland-Baltimore County), a program that finished 18-14 last season and lost its only exhibition to Fordham, 79-75, on Sunday.
“It doesn't count thankfully, and it was good to get hit in the mouth early,” Traynor said. “We have a lot of freshmen with not as much experience so now they know what it is.
"We know what we need to work on and improve on. I feel like we guard pretty well, but offensively, we didn't share the ball and we have to get those loose balls.”
 The Cards lost their first three home games by one point last season. Can't repeat that.
Can't.
Just like the Cards could not lose another exhibition game. But they did.
"This isn't a finished product," Payne said. "This is a work in progress."
With a lot of work to do.
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