Kenny Payne explains Louisville's defensive struggles against Arkansas State

Louisville lost another non-conference buy game in men’s basketball on Wednesday evening, falling to Arkansas State. After the game, head coach Kenny Payne explained some of the defensive woes as the Cardinals gave up 75 points.

Simply, Payne said, players didn’t do a great job of keeping drivers in front of them on the defensive end. He explained a drill that had been central to honing this part of defense that they’d focused on during the week.

“I think that we allowed the offensive player to get close to us. And we worked all week on a drill called retreat drill, where we never let — we keep the guy in front and just retreat and meet him in the lane and our hips stay square. So what we did is we let them get into us, then we opened up our stance, which gave them a free lane to the basket,” Payne said.

He acknowledged it’s not an easy ask, and takes discipline from possession-to-possession to get the results that Louisville wants. But sitting at 4-6 following a disastrous 2022-23 season, it’s unclear how much longer Payne and Co. will have to get this figured out on defense and, ultimaetly, altogether.

“It’s hard to do, but you gotta do it. You gotta find a way to keep that ball in front of you. You gotta find a way to not gamble, be disciplined, and then after that, we’ve gotta help each other. We seem to be disconnected defensively, as well as offensively, down the stretch,” Payne said.

Payne wants to see a more selfless style of play

For the second straight game, Louisville lost in disappointing fashion. Now, for the second straight game, Payne thought a lot of it had to do with some selfish play from his Cardinals.

Payne assessed his team’s play following the 75-63 loss to Arkansas State inside the Yum! Center on Wednesday. He started by saying his team was doing the right things at the start of the game but just didn’t do quite enough. However, in the second half, they started playing for themselves again and, as such, turned a back and forth game into a blowout.

“I think guys, in the first half? We didn’t play great but we did a decent job – not a good enough job, to be honest with you. But, in the second half? I thought we, again, played selfish,” Payne said. “Evident by three assists. Evident by guys just driving the ball, playing to score for themselves, and not their teammates.”

“The first half? I thought we did have a multitude of plays where the ball moved around, we got good shots, and we just missed good shots,” Payne said. “But the defensive effort, the gambling on the ball, not keeping the ball in front? It all played a part in us being on our heels on defense and them shooting 51%.”