Kenny Payne on Louisville attempting too many threes vs. Bellarmine: 'That's not who we are'

Kenny Payne had a lot of criticisms regarding how his Louisville team played in their 67-66 opening loss to Bellarmine. Beyond some of the individual performances, he said there’s one team statistic that frustrated him more than anything. That number would be three-point attempts and, based on how many they had, Payne says that doesn’t reflect what his team is.

Payne shared his thoughts on the Cardinal’s three-point shooting during his postgame press conference. After his team took 28 attempts from deep against the Knights, he says that isn’t what he wants to see because that isn’t even what he and his staff teach.

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“I think in the first half, I can’t remember the number, (but) we had 16 threes and 10 twos. Something like that. That’s not who we are, that’s not the way we practice, that’s not the way we play,” said Payne. “Since the day that I got in here, I’ve been talking about multiple lane touches. There was 10 possessions where we did not have a lane touch today. That’s not what we teach, that’s not what we do.”

Louisville averaged 24.8 three-point attempts per game last season. That was a Chris Mack and Mike Pegues-led team, though. It wasn’t a group led by Payne and, by his words, that many attempts isn’t what he’s looking for.

However, Payne did want to cut his Cardinals some slack. One part of it was because Louisville was attempting a comeback and tried to even the score from deep. The other part of it is how Payne is asking them to play. He understands his style is difficult, but that doesn’t mean he wants them to take the easy way out by hoisting three balls. In the end, it’s a lesson that he hopes they’ll learn from because of Wednesday night’s result.

“As I say that, understand this is a hard game. If it was easy, everybody would be winning,” Payne said. “I’m asking them to change, to do things that are uncomfortable for them right now. That’s why I say we win or we learn. Today is a hard lesson to learn. It’s that simple.”

Come their next game against Wright State on Saturday, Payne is hoping to see some better balance on offense. If they can even out their field goal attempts, he thinks they’ll have a much better chance at winning their first game of his tenure.