LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The seconds ticked down in Louisville's 70-61 win over Clemson on Saturday afternoon, and the celebration was muted. Nobody really knows how much weight lifted off the shoulders of Louisville's players with the end of their seven-game losing streak, the longest in this program in eight decades.
But my thoughts turned to the coach. How's this for a stat? With Saturday's win, Mike Pegues, who began the season as an assistant, now has coached half of the team's wins this season.
The six-game stretch to start the season, when Chris Mack was suspended, was one thing. The last six have been something different altogether. The first six were all fun and no pressure. The last six he carried the baggage of a departed coach, a demoralized roster and a dissatisfied fan base.
"A huge weight," Pegues said.
After Saturday's win, as he has done after every win and loss this season, Pegues spoke from the heart. He told reporters that some of the things that had been said about Louisville's players were unfair. (Of course, some of those things were from things he said. But others may have inferred other things from his comments.)
Jarrod West smiles in the closing moments of Louisville's 71-60 win over Clemson.
"You know, it's been a long hard road and there's been a lot said about us, a lot of unfair rhetoric, propaganda about things that are going on internally in our program," Pegues said. "I think it's completely unfair to be quite honest with you. I just want you guys to know that. Just like any other family, you go through things. I don't know what type of family you come from, but I come from a family where it's not always peaches and cream, and our program hasn't been any different this year. We've all been at fault -- myself included. Our guys have struggled with the loss of our leader, with me taking over the reins again. I've struggled with some of my decisions. We've gone at each other like any other family. And I'm just proud of our guys for hanging in there, sticking together and getting a really good win."
Pegues has tried a little of everything. He's been good cop and bad cop. He has spoken hard truths and shut up and listened. He's tried tough talk and tough love. After Louisville's loss to Miami on Wednesday, he came into the locker room and talked about his players lacking coachability, about pouting and "sucking their teeth."
But sometime after that, Pegues brought his players together for what he termed a "come-to-Jesus" meeting, and he began by apologizing for where he had come up short.
"I was blatantly honest with our guys in terms of wanting to show some vulnerability and wanting to show them that, 'Hey, this isn't on you.' A big part of this is on me," Pegues said. "They're kids. They're going to make mistakes. They want to talk back at times. They don't want to do the right things. And as a leader, I have to find a better way to manage that and have a feel. And I haven't always done that. I'm learning on the fly as well. We all are. And I just wanted them to know that we're in this together. We can have a clean slate. We can start over. We agreed to that. We hugged it out. And it resulted in us being on the same page today and getting a win."
Louisville (12-14) didn't come out and execute flawlessly. But with a small lead and the game on the line, it saw itself drifting into an old pattern – quick threes and pressing a bit on offense – when Pegues called timeout and told them individually to stop trying to be "the" guy who wins the game.
He told them to stop trying to throw daggers, and just try to throw some darts.
"I just told our guys that we needed to hit singles," Pegues said. "We have been there before with some guys taking some hurried threes. You know, trying to break the other team's back and put us over the hump on their own, and that's not what we need. We need the best shot for Louisville. We need to move the ball. Obviously there are certain circumstances where you want a guy to step into one if he's wide open, but primarily we wanted to move the ball. We wanted to see if we could get the ball in the paint. If we couldn't score on the first touch we wanted to get another paint touch. At the end of the day. We just want to get a good shot for Louisville, not for individual."
And on Saturday, they scored a victory for Louisville. We can stop talking about the longest losing streak in forever. Maybe this team will give fans more to talk about.
Malik Williams, Pegues said, worked a significant turnaround in practice. He finished with 12 points and 5 rebounds in 28 minutes.
"Honestly, I was lost and confused, frustrated, a lot of things of that nature," Williams said. ". . . It took time to truly open my eyes to know my doing in the suspension, but I do accept it. I did my time and I'm back."
Louisville forward Malik Williams (5) attempts a shot over Clemson forward Ian Schieffelin (1) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. Louisville won 70-61. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Williams went out to dinner on Friday night with former Cardinal Jordan Nwora, who also was at the game on Saturday. Nwora had a clear message for his old teammate.
"He just told me to keep going and remember where I'm at, and the tradition of this school," Williams said. "Just Louisville and trying to set that standard. And as I walk out the door just setting that standard again, so that whoever is here next year knows that no matter what is happening we have to work hard, give maximum effort and have a winning attitude and mindset."
The incidentals of the game don't matter much. Clemson is struggling. It's loss on Saturday was its sixth straight. It lost its best player, PJ Hall, just over a minute into the game. Louisville got one of the best games of the season from Noah Locke, and 11 points from El Ellis. Jae'Lyn Withers pulled down 10 rebounds.
But it's the win that matters. And it's the win that gives Louisville something positive to hold onto as they turn it around quickly for a Monday night game at North Carolina.
As he walked off the court, Pegues put his hand over his heart and looked into the stands and motioned to fans. Every game, win or lose, there has been a group cheering him and encouraging him. He usually gives a quick nod or wave. On Saturday he acknowledged them a bit more, then talked about them after the game.
"I was just thankful," Pegues said. "There's some fans -- and I have no idea who they are, I try my best not to look back -- and my mom and my uncle, my aunt in the stands and my wife, and I know that they are supporting me and they want to help me and I'm just trying not to pay attention because I got a job to do. But there's some fans that are constantly coming down even after losses to say 'Hey, good job, Coach. Good job.' So I just wanted to acknowledge them. Because I rarely am able to do that. I certainly don't want to do it after a loss. I feel so guilty. But I wanted to just acknowledge them and tell them thank you. It was heartfelt and I meant it and I'm just grateful again to be a part of such an organization with the passion that this fan base has."
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