LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — You schedule victories in November. That is how the men’s college basketball game is played.
You line up teams that will take a check for $80,000-to-$90,000. You bring them to town to see your fancy arena. You’re OK if they make you sweat as long as you win and learn something about your team.
But they’re not supposed to go home with a victory and the money.
They’re simply not.
Certainly not a 10-point victory like the harsh one Chattanooga pinned on the University of Louisville Friday night at the KFC Yum! Center. The Cards lost, 81-71. There were moments when it appeared they would lose by 25.
"When it's not going the way that it should go, it bothers me," U of L coach Kenny Payne.
We've reached the point where it is bothering everybody.
After 2 games, starting with the 1-point win over UMBC last Monday, Louisville has already plunged from No. 109 to No. 177 in Ken Pomeroy's computer power formula. Payne did not enter the post-game press conference until more than 40 minutes after the game.
He his post-game chat focused on leadership, effort, pride and other qualities that he's been talking about since he took the job in the spring of 2022. The lessons are not sticking.
"I want to win," Payne said. "And the fact that I want to win, I want to fight when we lose. And I have to come and face you guys and act like I'm OK with it when I'm really not OK with it."
This was not a 1-point stumble like the back-to-back-to-back 1-point losses that brought the Cards down to start last season's march to 4-28.
Louisville trailed by as many as 21 points. They were outscored in both halves -- 6 in the first half, 4 in the second. They made it entertaining by scoring a dozen straight points to cut Chattanooga’s lead from 70-51 to 70-63.
But the visitors made a 3-point field goal for breathing room and averted a collapse. Chattanooga's starting guards, Honor Huff and Miles Che, looked as comfortable in the building as Peyton Siva and Russ Smith. They controlled the action, scoring 47 points while making 16 of 31 shots.
Huff made 7 of 13 shots from distance. Louisville made 6 of 18 shots from distance.
The size of the margin and Louisville’s inability to lead for more than 1 minute and 16 seconds made even the most ardent Payne believers wonder about the drifting direction of the program, especially with games against Texas, UConn or Indiana and Kentucky ahead before the Cards begin play in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"We looked unsure," Payne said.
The hecklers in the crowd of 10,634 turned on Payne, assistant coaches Nolan Smith and Danny Manning, the players and even a sports writer in the crowd.
The summer talk about the improved size, quickness, skills and talent of Payne’s second team dissolved into a dismal performance of missed defensive assignments, missed shots and misery.
"Something's got to change," said Mike James, one of the top holdovers from the team that finished 4-28 last season. "Something's definitely got to change."
Like Louisville, Chattanooga has a second-year coach (Dan Earl, who coached at VMI for 7 seasons.) The Mocs have 10 new players on their roster. The Mocs are traditionally a formidable program but this was the first time Chattanooga beat an ACC program on the road in 19 tries.
In the first half, Chattanooga punished Louisville with its offensive spacing and confident 3-point shooting, making 8 of 23 shots from distance.
“They walked in not afraid of us and executed their game plan,” Payne said. “I thought they were the aggressors tonight. I felt like we were behind the action a lot at times, and they attacked.
"They made a bunch of 3s and played with good energy. Their big guys played with a tenacity that we didn’t make or exceed. That falls on not just the players but coaches as well. I take accountability for that."
With the Cards more concerned with defending the perimeter in the second half, Chattanooga attacked the glass — with success. Louisville's defensive rotations were lacking. The visitors made 10 of their first 15 shots in the second half and finished the final 20 minutes making nearly 58% of their attempts.
"Chattanooga is a good team but we shouldn't be down 21 at home," James said.
Louisville labored to score. The Cards did not shoot threes (6 of 18) with conviction. They short-armed layups. There were too many turnovers (15).
"How many easy shots did we miss?" Payne said. "How many open shots did we miss?"
James and Tre White led Louisville with 17 points. Sky Clark had a dozen, but he also missed a dozen of his 17 attempts.
The Cardinals return home Wednesday night to play the worst team on their schedule — Coppin State, which is 0-2 this season after going 9-23 last season.
There are 362 Division I teams. Pomeroy ranks Coppin No. 360, ahead of LeMoyne and Mississippi Valley State.
It’s a scheduled victory -- again.
Right?
"As a group we've got to get better, attack it in practice and come out better in the next game," James said.
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