Kenny Payne on DePaul loss: 'We played for ourselves, not for Louisville'

Louisville and Kenny Payne dropped to 4-6 on the season with a 75-68 loss to DePaul Saturday. The head coach chalked it up to some selfish play on the court.

It’s been a whirlwind of struggles for Payne since he returned to his alma mater. A 4-28 debut season followed by this start has many questioning if there will be significant improvements this winter.

So far, it’s been a rollercoaster and Payne revealed why.

“We’re very disappointed in how we came out today,” Payne said postgame. “You know, I went into this week of preparation and talked about what I saw in DePaul and what I thought their team was. Don’t look at their record and I’m watching them, they’re scoring points. They shoot the ball at a high percentage. They should get three at a high percentage, they play with energy, they fight. 

“And so we went out and everyday we prepared for that. Then we get in the game and to me it felt like we played for ourselves not for Louisville. That’s a problem. And no, nothing against DePaul they played a really good game. They did what they typically do and we didn’t handle it. I thought we did in the second half, some things pretty decent. But we dug ourselves a hole and it was hard to get out of.”

Kenny Payne chalks up loss to selfish play

The Cardinals trailed 38-22 after the first 20 minutes. While Louisville outscored DePaul by nine in the second half, it wasn’t enough to erase the deficit.

Mike James led the way for Louisville, scoring 18 points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out two assists. Skyy Clark added 16 points and four rebounds.

However, it was such an uneven game for an uneven team under Payne.

“Very disappointing,” Payne said. “You know, I can tell you that we work on zone own every day for 20 minutes to start practice. The ball is zipping around and we get good shots and we make them and we get the ball and gaps and we drive it and we do it confidently to where when the team plays what’s going on I’m expecting to see the same thing. 

“But also, you know more than just a zone, the mentality of no matter what somebody throws at us, we have to handle it. The mentality of I’m playing for Louisville, I’m not playing for myself. Not just one player, multiple players. That’s probably the most disappointing and that’s on both ends of the floor.”