LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — I didn't need to call Woodward or Bernstein to find evidence that the serious decline of the University of Louisville basketball program began two seasons before Kenny Payne took control of the Cardinals.
I found it on page 159 of the team's media guide. It has come to pass that the Cardinals cannot pass.
Louisville will play a pair of road games this week — Wednesday at 9 p.m. at Boston College and Saturday at noon at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
The Cardinals rank last in Division 1 basketball in assists, averaging 8.7 per game.
In their last two games they have managed only 12, nine by El Ellis, their tireless point guard.
Payne remains uncertain if he will play Emmanuel Okorafor, the 6-foot, 9-inch forward who joined the program last Thursday from NBA Academy Africa. Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, another forward, will not play at BC because of a foot injury.
But for all the understandable buzz about those two guys, especially Okorafor, the Cardinals (2-17) are not going to beat anybody until they learn how to help each other get easier and cleaner shots. They have to make shots at a considerably better rate than their current 40.3% average.
Six assists won't work. Not in a world where elite teams average 17 or more.
Season statistics are available for the Cards in a variety of categories. The numbers for assists began with the 1969-70 season, two years before Denny Crum arrived.
That squad averaged 15.4 per game. For the next 30 seasons the number never went under 15 assists. The averaged dipped to 14.1 and 14.8 and then jumped back over 16.
The Cards had their first season under 13 per game in 2015 when a Rick Pitino team that actually finished 27-9 averaged 11.6.
The numbers started getting truly ugly the last two seasons when the Cards averaged 11.1 and 11.9.
The 2015 team won with a meager assist total because the Cardinals had Terry Rozier and Montrezl Harrell, two guys still playing in the NBA.
Guys like Rozier and Harrell have not walked through that door at the KFC Yum! Center the last 2 1/2 seasons. Louisville needs more guys who can make scoring easier for their teammates.
Sharper passes. Guys who understand how to avoid or handle double teams. Catching the ball and finishing at the rim helps, too. That's merely the opening verse of the issues Louisville has on offense.
Ellis has more than half (89 of 166) of Louisville's assists this season. He is the only player on the team with more assists than turnovers (89 to 84). That's quite a statistic.
You have other players who are averaging two, three or four times as many turnovers as assists, which has added up to losing streaks of nine and eight games.
"What you end up seeing is that if you look at every player on this team is (a negative) assist to turnover ratio," Payne said.
"That's a problem. That's a problem."
Payne has said that James is still adjusting to being a ball-handler and shooting guard after being used as a post player in high school. But Payne needs James to produce more than 16 assists in 19 games.
"There are days when in practice when I don't want Mike James to shoot the ball," Payne said. "Create offense, as if you're a point guard.
"Learn how to make passes. Learn how if you take the shot out the equation what are you doing to help the team?
"That way you may get more comfortable making a pass to somebody or making sure you don't step out of bounds or whatever the turnover is that we've been having.
"The same for (forward) Jae'Lyn (Withers, who has 42 turnovers and only a dozen assists). I'm telling Jae'Lyn constantly, 'If you spin (while dribbling the ball), chances are something bad's gonna happen.'
"Don't spin. Pull up and shoot a shot. Pass the ball. Make a step when you pass the ball. Use your feet to make the payments as well. Those type of things."
That's the next step James must take to become a winning guard in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He said that Payne has been consistent in his message.
"He's been preaching about getting in the lane," James said. "Especially me, getting in the lane and (passing) it out and seeing guys that are open. Try to get it to our bigs so we can get more assists. It's moving the ball."
Copyright 2023 WDRB Media. All rights reserved.
