Two for one: Louisville basketball searches for answers after JJ Traynor done for season
The Louisville men's basketball team has an injury problem that has only gotten worse.
U of L's inactive report doubled ahead of the Cardinals' 77-53 loss at Virginia on Wednesday, with sophomores Tre White (groin) and Emmanuel Okorafor (ankle) joining senior JJ Traynor and freshman Dennis Evans, who were both dealing with reported shoulder injuries that sidelined them for weeks.
By the weekend, Traynor and Evans had been ruled out for the rest of the season.
On Thursday, the team announced that Evans will, indefinitely, "not be medically cleared to compete" due to a medical diagnosis it will not disclose out of respect for the 7-foot-1 freshman center's privacy. Then, less than an hour before tipoff Saturday against Pittsburgh at the KFC Yum! Center, it was announced that Traynor had reaggravated his injury and will be sidelined for the remainder of the campaign.
Kenny Payne could use all the help he can get after athletics director Josh Heird in late December did not offer much reassurance that he'll remain head coach through the entirety of his second season at the helm of his alma mater. He couldn't have been more blunt about it when discussing Traynor and Evans' injury outlooks two days before Heird spoke with WDRB's Eric Crawford about his job status.
"We need bodies," Payne said. "We need good players."
Payne on Tuesday told reporters Traynor was "pretty close" to returning, which the 6-8 forward conveyed by suiting up at John Paul Jones Arena only to sit on the bench for the entirety of UVA's rout. Before the team's practice Friday, he said the Bardstown native's "influence on this team is vital."
"The funny thing about JJ is, nobody's really talked about the 10 points and five rebounds that he's brought to this team," Payne said Tuesday. "We need him back, (and) he's been working hard to get back."
Louisville needs a whole lot more than just 10 points and five rebounds a night, especially if White and Okorafor's absences are prolonged and considering now that Evans' time with the team is, by most estimates, over. But, to Payne's point, Traynor's experience, length and athleticism will be sorely missed, particularly on offense.
Among players who were averaging 20 or more minutes per game, Traynor ranks second on the team in field-goal percentage (51.6%) and leads the way with a 36.8% (7 for 19) clip from 3. And the shots he's taken have been some of the Cards' most efficient.
In an era of basketball where dunks and 3-pointers are valued far more than midrange jumpers, Traynor has scored close to 61% (49) of his 81 points by either slamming the ball home or connecting from beyond the arc. He accounted for 14 of U of L's 28 dunks through the first eight games of the season; and the team has totaled only 13 since he was scratched from a Dec. 9 contest at DePaul.
Finally, per data from CBBAnalytics.com, Traynor as of Thursday still ranked second on a squad struggling to share the ball in baskets scored off assists (25), trailing only Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (28). Mike James is third with 20.
Momentum-shifting hot streaks are still tormenting Louisville basketball
The crowd at John Paul Jones erupted Wednesday night when Virginia's Reece Beekman and Ryan Dunn turned an intercepted pass from James into a thunderous alley-oop dunk to cap a 9-0 run that took the Cavaliers' lead from six points to 15 in 3 minutes, 4 seconds.
The scoring barrage effectively iced the game before Louisville could regroup in the locker room. It was just the latest in a long line of momentum-shifting stretches the Cards have endured in Year 2 under Payne; and if you check out this story from former Courier Journal reporter Brett Dawson after the first eight games of his tenure, you'll see it's par for the course at this point.
"I think it comes from us kind of taking forced shots," James said Tuesday when asked about the source of opponents' hot streaks. "When we come down and take a bad shot, they get out on the break (and) get a layup or two. That kind of starts the run, and then we keep taking not very good shots (while) they keep coming down and scoring.
“Our defense could help counter that, (if) we get a couple of stops to end those types of runs," he added. "If we just keep sharing the ball, hitting the open guy, taking good shots, those runs won't happen; (because) we'll be scoring, too."
U of L has allowed six teams to go on runs of 10-0 or more thus far: UMBC, Chattanooga, Indiana, Virginia Tech, DePaul and Kentucky. It came away with a win in only one of those games, the season opener against the Retrievers; and it has lost every contest in which it has taken the biggest punch.
The largest? Surrendering 13 points in a row during its loss to the Hoosiers at the Empire Classic.
Its best? A 12-0 streak during the dying embers of a loss to Chattanooga in November — one of its five runs of 10 or more unanswered this season.
The other four occurred against UMBC, New Mexico State, DePaul and Pepperdine.
Louisville basketball's stock valuation? Not great
Wreaking havoc defensively has become so engrained in the culture head coach Tony Bennett has built at Virginia that the Cavs' pregame notes for Wednesday's game included a section dedicated to stocks.
On the hardwood, stocks are valued by combining a team's steals and blocks. And it should come as no surprise that Louisville, which as of Thursday morning had the worst adjusted defensive efficiency in the conference (106.5) on KenPom.com, isn't seeing the best returns.
Entering its game at UVA, U of L had amassed 107 stocks (69 steals, 38 blocks) through 12 games, which equated to 8.9 per contest but dropped to 8.5 after Payne's team had only two steals and two blocks against the Cavs, who turned the ball over just three times Wednesday after combining for 29 between two 20-point losses, at Memphis and Notre Dame, during an 11-day stretch in December.
The Cards are tied with the Fighting Irish for second to last in the ACC when it comes to stocks. The only team faring worse is Virginia Tech (8.4).
The conference's top dogs in the stock market? Syracuse (14.3) and Virginia (14.1). Ten of its 15 members are averaging in double figures.
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: Kenny Payne loses JJ Traynor for rest of season
