CRAWFORD | Senior Night approaching, Ellis says adversity at Louisville made him better

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- El Ellis will tell you the version of himself that he watches on tape from early this season is that of an angry player, frustrated and pressing, passes flying into windows quickly closing, shots forced, drives into the lane into spaces already occupied.

And while Louisville fans, too, may have been frustrated, they also understood. Ellis was Options No. 1 through 3.

And it has been that way for much of the season. But anyone who has watched Ellis closely knows that there has been a change in the player. His body language is more positive. He forces less, and passes more. His game still has an edge, and sometimes too much. You only have to roll back the tape to a meaningless 360-degree dunk at the end of a win over Clemson last week to know that.

But Ellis, more than anyone probably knows, has eaten a great deal of frustration during this worst of Louisville seasons. If that's the worst he does, it should be forgiven, or at least understood.

Ellis will be one of two Louisville players, with Sydney Curry, honored on Senior Night when the Cards conclude their home schedule against Virginia Tech on Tuesday at 9 p.m. He could return for an additional season, but says he will test the professional waters and make a decision after that. If the does return to college, he said, it would be at Louisville.

"I don't feel comfortable going to another school," he said. "I feel like Louisville is the place for me. Even through everything that's been going on, coaching change and record and everything like that, I feel like if I'm going to come back and go to college again, I'm going to come back to Louisville because I didn't finish the way I wanted to. I want to leave as a winner. And that's something I didn't get to do."

It won't be the first time Ellis has faced a stay-or-go choice at Louisville. Of course, he was one of those who had to make a decision at the end of last season. But though Ellis said he considered leaving, once Kenny Payne was hired as coach he was solidly staying.

"As soon as he got the job and I had those conversations, it was no way I was going to tell him that I wasn't coming back," Ellis said.

Still, the start was rough. In the season's first 4 games, Ellis had 23 turnovers and 12 assists. It took him a while to turn that around.

"It's been fun to coach him," Payne said of Ellis. "When I walked in here, everybody was saying, 'Can he play the position? Is he a giver?' To be honest, I brought it up with him and told him I believe that the best players are givers. The best players have an obligation, even if they are scorers, to sacrifice themselves for their team. I told him you will have the opportunity to score. You're the best scorer on this team. I'll run a lot of stuff for you to get off. But you have an obligation to the other four players that they'll walk away and love playing with you. And I think he's trying."

But by game No. 10, Ellis had 10 assists and 5 turnovers, and his assist-to-turnover ratio has been positive in 17 of the past 20 games. Since the calendar flipped to 2023 in January, he's had 75 assists to 47 turnovers.

"He's grown as a player," Payne said. "We start every pregame meeting right before we walk on the floor, 'What's your top priority?' And he says, "No. 1 thing, I'm playing to get 10 assists.' That doesn't mean he'll get it. But he's playing to get 10 assists. He's starting the game trying to get his teammates shots. So he's tried to do that and done a good job. He's grown as a player. He's played with more patience, more poise. He's shooting the ball well. He knows defenses are gearing to stop him because he's a primary scorer, and he's gotten better. I'm proud of him. He's been a joy to coach."

When you've won only 4 games all season, you take joy where you can find it. Ellis admits, it has been hard to come by at times this season.

The happiest picture I have of Ellis may have come after the season's third game, following a layup he hit at the buzzer that the Cardinals believed, briefly, had beaten Appalachian State. Ellis ran to the corner of the court and celebrated, right in front of former Louisville Hall of Fame coach and rap great Master P.

About a minute later, a video review showed the basket came a fraction of a second too late. The joy dissipated into disappointment.

"To be honest, the beginning of the year I was like, very frustrated," Ellis said. "But I had to grow up. I had to look in the mirror at myself and just stay level-headed, learn to control what I could control and go out and play hard each and every night. As the season went on, you can tell how much better I got. At the beginning of the season my turnovers were so high, and that was from my frustration, just getting lost in games. And that's something KP talked about with me. So now, no matter what the score is or what's going on, I'm out there trying to be positive and keep fighting no matter what. It's been a lot of ups and downs. But growing up this season is what has helped me a lot."

Only 19 players in the nation have a point and assist total as high as the 520 points and 130 assists Ellis has amassed this season. He ranks in the top 10 among Power 6 players in usage rate. He's drawn 28 percent of the fouls committed against Louisville. Since the 1993 seasons, only four times has a Louisville player averaged more than his 18 point-per-game average from this season. Russ Smith did it in 2013 and '14. Reece Gaines in 2001-02 and Clifford Rozier in 1993-94.

But this season's numbers are not destined to remembered in a good way by many, not even by Ellis.

He did say, however, that there have been deeper takeaways.

"Everything we've been through as a group will help us in the long run," Ellis said. "KP always says that what we're going through now isn't has hard as life is out there for us. And I can attest to that because I've been through a lot in my life growing up. And the way he treats us prepares us for that."

On Tuesday night, as has been the case all season, Ellis says the game will be a test of character. It tested the team a year ago when its coach was suspended. It was a test when he later quit, and when the team lost all but 3 games over a two-month stretch.

"I've learned that no matter what our record or what's going on, you have to go to practice and play hard, we still have to fight," Ellis said. "When things get hard in life, you can't just give up, you can't just fold. I feel like that was one of the things I told guys, that no matter how bad things are you're going to be judged on how you respond. Guys still have to stay level headed and continue to work on our game and get better and still try to compete as a team. . . . You can tell we've grown as a team. Every game, we're still fighting to the end. I would say we've done a lot better."

And in Payne, Ellis said, he's had a coach who will continue to be a resource.

"We have a really good relationship," he said. "I would say there is not a time where I don't come around him, and where we're not able to joke around and laugh. He's told me so much throughout this whole year. He's taught me to be a great point guard. Not that I wasn't already, but helping me be someone who is looking for his teammates more, trusting his teammates more, trying to make that right play almost every possession. That's something I can really thank him for, because that's going to help me at the next level. He's just been somebody that you can always go to, when you need to talk or when you need anything. He really loves his players, and that's one thing I can say to any kid that's going to come to Louisville. They're going to be in great hands with him and the rest of the coaching staff."

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