Louisville basketball done in by defensive lapses, wastes golden opportunity at Syracuse

Rarely have things gone Kenny Payne's way since he's taken over the Louisville men’s basketball team.

Wednesday night's 94-92 loss at Syracuse was no exception.

This track meet was decided by a goaltending foul on Cardinals freshman Kaleb Glenn with 3.8 seconds remaining in regulation. After a lengthy video review, the call stood. Then, Skyy Clark's attempt at a game-winning 3 as time expired didn't go.

The officials, Payne said, believed Glenn's block of Quadir Copeland at the rim was "definitely" goaltending. He and the others sitting on U of L's bench felt differently.

"But I don't expect to get breaks," Payne told reporters afterward. "I expect us to make our breaks. It's unfortunate if it was not goaltending, but there were enough plays within that game that we still should have come out of here with a victory."

Failing to do so, he said during a postgame interview with Bob Valvano of the Cardinal Sports Network, further showcases his team's "inexperience" and "lack of discipline."

"We got to learn from it," he said. "I wish we could learn and walk out of here with a victory."

Per statistician Kelly Dickey, Louisville (7-16, 2-10 ACC) entered Wednesday with a 49-0 record over the past 36 seasons when it's scored 90 or more points in regulation.

Had it played better defense, it might have improved to 50-0 and secured its first two-game conference winning streak of Payne's tenure.

Clark got the Cards across the 90-point threshold by draining a 3 that knotted the score at 92 with seven seconds to play. The clutch shot gave him a team-high 23 points, 16 of which came during the second half.

But, in the blink of an eye, the Orange (15-8, 6-6) had the ball at midcourt. Copeland's path to the basket was clear until Glenn came crashing in from behind.

This breakneck pace was the norm with 18 lead changes Wednesday night at JMA Wireless Dome. U of L matched Syracuse stride for stride, and held a 79-73 advantage with 5:55 to play, but had too many costly stumbles.

Louisville committed 17 turnovers, 11 of which were steals, leading to 23 points for the Orange. It got torched on fast breaks, 33-6.

It allowed head coach Adrian Autry's team to shoot a season-high 60.8% and to score on 60.6% of its possessions. And it didn't have an answer for sophomore Chris Bell, whose career-high 30 points were powered by eight 3s.

Bell entered the game averaging 10.3 points. Two of his treys came at key moments, when the Cards had either drawn level or within a point during the final 3 minutes, 21 seconds.

Syracuse also drew seven more fouls, 20-13, leading to the disqualification of freshman Ty-Laur Johnson and redshirt sophomore Mike James. The former committed his fifth while closing out on J.J. Starling beyond the arc, which let the Orange build a two-possession lead, 87-81, with 2:25 on the clock.

The Orange won the final 5:28, 18-13.

After poise was an issue down the stretch of last weekend's win over Florida State, Payne said he saw "progress" Wednesday night. Instead of playing not to lose like it did during crunch time against the Seminoles, his team was "playing to win" this go-around.

"But we have to be smarter," he said.

For example: after Clark's game-tying 3, Payne noted players were celebrating — not "sprinting back and getting a stop."

"We have to make sure that everything that we're doing the stretch of games is tight," he said. "That's just the reality of it."

In the loss, U of L squandered a night in which it got hot against a zone defense.

Unlike his predecessor, Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim, it's not Autry's weapon of choice. But it's stifled the Cards recently.

"We work on it every day," Autry said, "but, to play it this much, that was the first time we did it all year."

Louisville shot 53.8% — second only to its 54.4% clip against FSU as the best of the season — with 15 assists and four players scoring 12 or more points.

It also dominated the glass, outrebounding Syracuse, 40-21, and second-chance opportunities, 23-3.

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (19 points, 13 rebounds) and Tre White (17, 12) both posted double-doubles; while James finished with 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting — the most field goals he's made in a game since Jan. 20.

Johnson had a team-high six assists, followed by Clark with five. They had four of the team's six steals.

Per Dickey, this marked the Cards' first back-to-back games of scoring 90 or more points since the 2014 ACC Tournament. That feels like progress until you realize the last time they surrendered 90 or more in consecutive outings started one year to the date of Wednesday's back-and-forth thriller.

The result remains the same.

"We played good enough to win," Payne told Valvano. "We've just got to get a little bit better, a little bit more disciplined, a little bit tougher in critical junctures."

U of L is back at the KFC Yum! Center this weekend. The Cards tip off against Georgia Tech at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball falls at Syracuse on decisive goaltending call