Brown: Louisville basketball passes quiz ahead of major test vs. Texas in Empire Classic

Louisville beat Coppin State 61-41, which marked the biggest margin of victory in coach Kenny Payne’s two seasons. The Cardinals’ dominating performance can’t be taken for granted given the struggles of the past year, but there's also little that can be taken from beating the worst team on paper, according to KenPom.com, left on the schedule.

The season for U of L really starts Sunday in New York.

Up until now, Louisville’s exhibition loss to Kentucky Wesleyan and home loss to Chattanooga last weekend only brought local rumblings and criticism. The nation hasn’t turned its attention to basketball yet as football plays out the final weeks of its regular season.

But there’s something unavoidable about playing at Madison Square Garden.

There’s nowhere to hide with a nationally televised pair of games on ESPN. The Cards will face an uptick in competition with No. 17 Texas on Sunday and either No. 4 UConn or Indiana on Monday. These are the big-boy games.

“I'm looking at it like, we got to go out and fight,” Payne said.

The Cards and Payne have plenty to prove that won't be achieved from beating a MEAC opponent ranked as the worst team among 360 NCAA Division I schools by KenPom.com.

If U of L plays poorly, these teams are capable of not just beating, but embarrassing the Cards. And being embarrassed in front of the entire nation is the kind of last-straw material that could have donors coming forward without hesitation or solicitation, even this early in the season, to begin entertaining how much they’d contribute to a buyout.

The everyday kind of “noise,” coming from social media and radio call-in shows, will only increase and will become harder for players to tune out. Payne said he realizes how hard it is for this generation to ignore the chatter.

“Every program in the country that's like a Louisville has young people that are affected by what people are saying about them,” Payne said. “… you better have the toughness mentally, to be able to handle what people are saying.”

Hope has come in small doses during Payne’s tenure. And so far this season, the Cards’ two early stumbles have done little to give fans hope that Year 2 will be much different than the first.

That’s why how U of L fares in these two games in the Empire Classic will go a long way to determining how the rest of the season will play out. The Cards could give pause to the doomsday predictions that started before the final buzzer even sounded in their second exhibition loss to a Division II opponent in as many seasons.

Payne showed during Wednesday’s win over Coppin State how he’s going to approach it. He replaced 7-foot-1 freshman Dennis Evans with 6-8 senior JJ Traynor in the starting lineup. And he stuck primarily with a core rotation that included starters Skyy Clark, Tre White and Mike James.

Ty-Laur Johnson was the only player who logged more than 15 minutes in the game outside of the starters.

Payne essentially is willing to streamline the rotation away from development and toward the players who will give U of L the best chance of winning in any given game. Against the Eagles, that meant Evans played only five minutes even though Payne would like to play him more.

Clark said the team had “some serious talks” after losing to Chattanooga and the practices have been more spirited since then. White, who had 10 points and 12 rebounds, said the Cards finally translated how they play in practice to the game.

“I don't know if it was just like, the first couple of games, nerves or something,” White said. “But we played together how we play in practice — sharing the ball, playing fast — and we mimicked that (against Coppin).”

Payne didn't harp on them attempting 15 3-pointers in the first half and said he still believes they are a better shooting team than they've shown in games. Payne said his focus is on allowing the Cards to play free.

Louisville won't have a burden of expectations in New York.

"This is going to be a great test for us to see exactly where we are," Payne said.

This is one field trip the Cards can't afford to return back home with a failing grade.

More: Reliving Louisville basketball's top Madison Square Garden moments ahead of Empire Classic

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's year hangs in balance in New York