CRAWFORD | Spirited crowd sees Louisville's late bid fall short in 81-78 loss to FSU | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Here in the KFC Yum! Center, at the under-4 timeout of Louisville’s men’s basketball game against Florida State, this much is evident. Louisville fans are still showing up. It’s not a packed house, but it’s an engaged house.

A crowd of 12,966 came to watch a 3-win Louisville team face a 7-win Florida State team that had just been beaten by 28. You may hear a lot of vitriol on sports talk radio or see it on social media, but remember — a pretty sizable group of people were there and roaring when Louisville made a late run, ready to take the roof off the place for a team fighting to avoid an historic 20th loss on the season.

They were rewarded with a Louisville team that somehow stayed close despite a stat sheet would’ve suggested they should be down 20 at the half.

Early in the second half, Louisville trailed by 17. But when JJ Traynor slammed home a lob from El Ellis with just over two minutes to play, the place went crazy. That completed a 17-2 run, but the Cardinals could not get the important stops down the stretch.

In the final two minutes, Florida State scored on all four of its possessions, and when a Mike James 3-point try bounced off in the final seconds, the Seminoles emerged with an 81-78 victory.

The season is what it is. That’s not going to change. Florida State is not a good team, yet it had 72 points with eight minutes left to play. Defensively, Louisville isn’t where it needs to be. Offensively, it’s inconsistent but improving. It had more assists (15) than turnovers (11) for just the second time this season.

“I loved our fight,” Louisville coach Kenny Payne said. “I loved what we did to get back into the game. I loved what they were saying in the huddle. I love how they their eyes focused on me when I'm saying, ‘Guys we’re only down 11 and we’re not playing well. Just keep fighting. Get 3 or 4 stops in a row. Watch what happens. Move the ball don't hold it. . . . Pass the ball, move it, don't let it stick in your hands.’

“. . . We've gotten better as a team. I can sit here and tell you we've gotten better from Day 1 to today. And I know it's hard to believe. I will say we’re 70% better. Now you can look at me and say, ‘Well how bad were you?’ And I'll tell you we were really, really bad. For us to be competitive, from where we came from, it says a lot about these young men. I know nobody really wants to hear it. When you lose, live is over. But we've gotten better.”

It's been nearly two months since Louisville went to Tallahassee and lost by 20. On Saturday, the Cards got 22 points and seven assists from El Ellis. Jae’Lyn Withers had 14 points and Kamari Lands had 15, his career high.

They were bothered by FSU’s pressure early and some turnovers led directly to points. But the turnovers stopped as the game wore on, and Louisville played better defensively, holding FSU to 38 percent shooting after halftime. The Cards had just 11 for the game, but were outscored 19-5 in points off turnovers.

“I feel like we’re a different team from before,” Ellis said. “We’re a different team in the locker room. . . . At the end of the day, if we keep fighting, there’s no game we can’t stay in or win.”

Ellis sparked the late 17-2 run, with 10 of Louisville’s points in the stretch.

After the game, Payne said he appreciated the fan support Louisville is getting.

“I think our fans have been great,” Payne said. “I love the energy in the arena, especially when we play well. And I love the fact that when we don't play well, we can hear way up high, “boo.” Whatever. I like that. Because it's what I'm saying to our guys: Do you understand where you are? You're where you're around passionate fans. They love this program. They pay a lot of money to be a part of this program. You have an obligation. You're not just playing basketball. You have to play winning basketball. . . . I love what our fans are doing. I want them to continue to come and support us. Fight for us. And if we're not playing the right way, I want them to get on us. I do. . . . We do know there's a lot of pride that came from this program. A lot of love in this community that lives and dies with this program. We have an obligation to make these people happy.”

Next up for Louisville is a 7 p.m. road matchup at Pitt.