Kenny Payne issues clear message to guard El Ellis after difficult shooting performance

Bellarmine disappointed Louisville by a score of 67-66 last night in a cross-town matchup that opened the Cardinal’s 2022-2023 season. The offense was too little, too late for Louisville and some of that blame falls on the shoulders of El Ellis as the point guard. He had some inefficient moments in his team’s first game and it has Kenny Payne wanting to see better out of his lead guard

Payne spoke on Ellis’ performance during his postgame press conference following their loss to the Knights. As one of the few guards on the roster, Payne needs Ellis to realize how important his play his based solely on how much he has the basketball in his possession.

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“El has to understand the power of having the ball that much in his hands (and) what exactly that means,” said Payne. “It means that you can’t be emotional. You’ve got to be steady. You have to be so in tune to your teammates that you are controlling a game.”

Ellis averaged 8.7 points and 1.6% assists on sub-40% shooting as a freshman. He was one of Louisville’s leading scorers last night to start his sophomore campaign with 14 points. However, he shot just 5-15 on the night with the 15 shots being the most on the team by six attempts.

All the blame doesn’t fall solely on Ellis, though. Payne sees him as a leader but he wants to see more out of all his leaders across the board. The margin of error is so small for the Cardinals to start the season that he needs players like Ellis to be at their best every possession of every game.

“One possession. That’s what this team is. One possession (where) you break down can cost us a game. You have to be so in tune to being on point on everything that we’re doing. It’s the only way we can win,” Payne said. “We have no wiggle room. Our leaders have to be leaders and they have to lead by example. They can’t take a play off, they can’t miss something. In order for us to win, they’ve got to be really good.”

As one of the sole ball handlers for Payne, a lot of pressure is on Ellis to run the show. There’s also a lot being asked of him as a leader too. Whether Ellis can handle that pressure that his coach is applying to him will be seen in how he responds come Louisville’s second game against Wright State on Saturday.