Brown: Kenny Payne inherited a broken Louisville program. Saturday showed he can't fix it
Kenny Payne called the Louisville basketball program he inherited “broken” during the times he’d reference what he walked into.
A season and a half into his tenure, it’s still broken, and Saturday’s 83-70 loss to Pitt was another indication he doesn’t have the tools in place to fix it.
Less than an hour before tipoff, U of L announced senior forward JJ Traynor, who played the first eight games and averaged 10.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, was lost for the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury.
“Yesterday in practice, he got bumped the wrong way and had the reinjury to the shoulder,” Payne said. “Devastating to this team, devastating to this program, but he did everything in his power to get back and help us win games, and I commend him for that.”
It’s just the latest bad news in a season that’s been full of it.
The Cardinals are down to seven scholarship players. Payne said he hadn't thought about adding walk-ons, but added, "If you've got a great walk-on, send him my way. I need players."
What that means is any of the game’s vicissitudes can force Payne to use lineups more suited for the informalities of a pickup game than trying to win in the ACC.
When forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield picked up two fouls in the first half, the Cards rolled out five players — all under 6-foot-6 — including three freshmen in Ty-Laur Johnson, Curtis Williams and Kaleb Glenn.
When guard Skyy Clark added to the foul trouble, Payne went with Johnson, Glenn, Mike James, Danilo Jovanovich and Zan Payne.
Perhaps the combinations of players who have spent little time on the court together were to blame for the 11 first-half turnovers the Cards committed. Their 18 total turnovers in the game led to 28 points by the Panthers.
Those lineups aren’t built to win any games, they’re just more masking tape to try to get by. Payne pointed out the Cards shot 51% from the field and nearly 48% from beyond the 3-point line, but their "self-imposed" mistakes were too much to overcome.
The list of those mistakes included making the wrong reads on offense and too many defensive lapses even Payne said they had thoroughly reviewed a few of the plays they made mistakes on.
"In this business, all the wins — kids, all the losses — me," Payne said. "That's what this business is."
The personnel Payne thought he’d use is either currently unavailable or no longer on the roster.
Sophomore guard Tre White missed his second straight game with a groin injury. White’s the second-leading scorer at 12.7 points per game and second-leading rebounder at 6.1 per game for the Cards.
The 10th-ranked recruiting class that was supposed to make this season substantially better than last year never materialized for Payne.
Trentyn Flowers was the highest-ranked player in the class. He never played. He left Louisville just prior to the start of classes in August, choosing instead to play professionally in Australia.
Dennis Evans, the second-highest-ranked player, barely played. He started five games before a shoulder injury kept him out all of December. After missing the loss at Virginia, the school announced on Thursday he would not gain medical clearance from U of L, effectively ending his career at the university.
Koron Davis never played. He was actually seen more in the stands at the KFC Yum! Center than on the sideline with the team. He played the exhibition game against Simmons before mysteriously being suspended — without being in trouble — before his dismissal from the team last month.
The progress Payne needed to make from last year’s 4-28 record has been incremental, but there are some discernible differences.
Johnson earned his way into the starting lineup with his play. Huntley-Hatfield is rebounding at a higher rate, and when they show purpose in establishing him in the paint, has been effective scoring inside.
Payne hasn’t lost the locker room. The Cards were still fighting even when Pitt grabbed a 19-point lead. But that's not enough to make this season any better than last or the program from taking any step closer to being fixed.
More: Short-handed Louisville basketball, beset by injuries, drops third consecutive game
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball: Kenny Payne unable to fix broken program
