LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- If they made the matchups for the final ACC/Big Ten Challenge strictly on where teams are currently projected to finish in their leagues, the winless University of Louisville would not be playing unbeaten Maryland at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the KFC Yum! Center.
The Cards would be matched against Minnesota or Nebraska, teams projected to finish at the bottom of the Big Ten.
The analytics sites put Maryland clearly in the top half of the Big Ten and Louisville at the bottom of the ACC.
After a daunting week in Hawaii against one of the strongest Maui Invitational fields in years, Kenny Payne's team will play its third Top-25 opponent in its last four games in the No. 23 Terrapins (6-0).
With the Cards sitting at 0-6, Payne was asked if he was concerned the outside noise about the losing will make it difficult for him to stay on message about building a culture in year one.
"Yes, I do get concerned about them winning a game," he said. "One of the things when you're trying to get them to buy in, they have to see their work pay off.
"We've gotten better. We've gotten better as a team. We just haven't done it or played well enough for long stretches to come out with a win.
"We've made a lot of mental mistakes, a lot of defensive mistakes, things that we can correct.
"But for these kids, they need to see success in order to keep it going, in order to feel good about the work that they're doing. We work hard every day. They probably say we work too hard. But it has to translate into a win at some point."
Considering Louisville lost its first three home games by a single point to teams they were projected to beat, every game figures to be an adventure until the Cards fix their issues with turnovers, getting back on defense and lapsing into damaging meltdowns as soon as things start to go the wrong direction.
The Cards rank 356th in the nation (better than only seven teams) in turnover percentage, losing the ball on more than a quarter of their possessions.
Since his team returned from Maui early Friday morning, Payne has drilled his team on improved passing, demanding as many as eight passes to make the defense move and overreact before Louisville attempts a shot.
The Cards are also allowing opponents to make nearly 56% of their two-point field goal attempts, which ranks 331st in the nation and last in the ACC.
There is little reason to discuss many more numbers. When you are giving the ball away on a quarter of your possessions and allowing opponents to score on considerably more than half of its possessions, winning become challenging.
One college basketball analytics site has the Cardinals a 13-point underdog against Kevin Willard's first Maryland team. Two others — Ken Pomeroy and Bart Torvik — like Maryland by 10.
The Cards also figure to be underdogs in their following three games: Miami, Florida State and Western Kentucky.
Payne as well as two of his players — forward JJ Traynor and guard Hercy Miller — were asked how Louisville navigates the path forward and tries to create an identity.
Louisville players JJ Traynor and Hercy Miller discussed the Cards' game against Maryland.
"I think winning basketball starts in two areas for me,"Â Payne said.
"(One) is on the defensive end, (being) desperate defensively, helping each other, scrambling, fighting. I use the words 'every inch is a dogfight.'
"So whether you're dribbling the ball as an offensive player and we're putting pressure on the dribbler, whether that's a pass, then we're trying to get a deflection, whether that's a shot (with) a hard contest, whether that's a rebound, hit hard first. Then go get the ball.
"The best offensive teams are going to be the teams that are good passing teams. And we're trying to learn.
"I want that to be our identity. I want us to be desperate defensively. And I want us to share the ball offensively. I think we played enough games where we had less than 10 assists. That's not good enough. It's not good enough."
Let the record show that Louisville has committed more turnovers than it has forced in all six games. It also shows that the Cards have managed fewer than 10 assists in four of six games.
They're not good enough to overcome that.
What are the first steps forward?
"Recently, we've been working on our passing more," Miller said. "Like coach says, if you want to be a good team, you have to be a good passing team.
"And secondly, defense. We're really been working on being defensive stopping team. ... just everything in general: being in the gaps, pressuring the ball, being a major defensive presence."
"We have to (bring) more pressure on the defensive end," Traynor said. "Being the enforcers."
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