Raleigh, North Carolina – Louisville’s men’s basketball team suffered a shocking defeat to Duke in their season’s final true road game, dropping 84-59 to end their run of consecutive 20-loss campaigns.
Following the defeat, head coach Kenny Payne said the following:
I believe that if you’re playing in this stadium or arena, you already know that you need to enter with grit, determination, and awareness of your opponents. to understand the difficulty of coming here and winning. Very seldom occurs. Top-10 group. Thus, a struggle is necessary when you enter this building and are prepared to play as this team. That duel implies that discipline is more important than perfection for 40 minutes. You have to be precise in your offensive playmaking, tough in your handling of situations, and resilient.
Having said that, we came in and discussed the rebound, which is a crucial component of the game. We were defeated, 24 to 43. If you don’t rebound, you can’t defeat this team. We entered the game predicated on how we caused them trouble in the last one by moving the ball and attacking the lane. They needed a half hour to work that out. We discussed playing strong defense, creating opportunities, and forcing them to miss shots because they have a lot of skilled shooters who score frequently. They are an excellent passing squad with a number of players that can score the ball. As opposed to our 11 assists, they had 23.
I believed that the fight was the cause of the problem rather than the communication. I believed it to be the ability to strike first and strike hard. to let them know that we’re going to be the ones to initiate the aggression and that you won’t merely control us on the boards. Then ascend there, and following a forceful blow to them, proceed to capture the ball with both hands above the rim. They got to us first, though, and they pulled down 13 offensive rebounds. That was not our topic of conversation. That wasn’t the strategy. We discussed playing to get deflections, pressing them defensively, and maintaining consistency in our handling of ball screen movements.
At first, I believed that we had made some positive contributions, but not quite enough to have harmed them. We played rather badly in the first half, in my opinion, and the score was just 13 points. We moved the ball and created more attacking lanes more effectively in the second half, in my opinion, but we handed up second shots later in the game. Therefore, whatever good we accomplished, we enhanced it with something negative. If that is your strategy, you will not be able to defeat this team. This squad has a good chance of winning the national championship. They could be better than this team, which is ranked in the top ten. They possessed every quality necessary to succeed and succeed greatly. We don’t jiggle like that.
I went into the game thinking that we would just play pick-up basketball and shoot jump shots. We do not play that way. That’s not our conversation topic. Attacking you is how we play good basketball when we’re playing well. We can spread the floor with excellent spacing and attack the lanes numerous times, get stops, run out in transition, or throw it into the post in the half-court while they are double-teamed.
When Tre was hurt and had to miss some time, I believed he had an opportunity to make his own decisions without our having to tell him. He was able to witness it. His style of play has changed since his return. He’s not overdribbling or second-guessing; rather, he’s played attempting to get to places and trying to move north-south. Based on that foundation, he has improved. He’s had moments in games where he’s thought, “You are a very good basketball player,” and to be completely honest, that’s exactly what I told him in the locker room. You must desire our victory.” Filling out a stat sheet is what the scouting report is all about. Therefore, in place of three rebounds, I need to for 13 out of 14 rebounds. You are competent. You can get us 12, 13, and 14 rebounds if Brandon (Huntley-Hatfield), KG (Kaleb Glenn), and Manny (Emmanuel Okorafor) don’t put in the effort. Proceed to complete it. That’s the extent of your ability. You must want us to succeed. I must get 13 of the 14 rebounds. You are competent. You can get us 12, 13, and 14 rebounds if Brandon (Huntley-Hatfield), KG (Kaleb Glenn), and Manny (Emmanuel Okorafor) don’t put in the effort. Proceed to complete it. That’s the extent of your ability. You must want us to succeed.
