Kenny Payne explains continued faith in Louisville to turn things around

There’s not much to say when, at this point of your season, you’re 2-17 and 0-8 in your conference. Each loss has become more numbing than the last for Louisville as, through Kenny Payne’s first season at the helm, he now has a pair of eight-plus game losing streaks to show for it so far. Still, while everyone else has already counted them as a win on their schedules behind closed doors, Payne still has faith that his team can make this season into something.

Payne opened up on that belief during his postgame press conference after their latest 75-54 loss to Pittsburgh. He said he and several others trust in the Cardinal’s roster to find ways to win more games. However, Payne says he needs them to believe in it too as well as to buy into the idea that it’s going to take every single one of them to get that job done.

“The one thing that gives me faith is that the kids keep trying,” said Payne. “We’re having tough practices. Before the game, I told them I got 25 text messages saying we’re gonna win this game. How do you feel? I feel like we’re winning this game. (But) it does not matter what they think, what I think. It’s you in this room.”

“Are you willing to fight to get a win? If you are, we’ll walk out of here with a win. If you don’t think that we can, if we got one guy that lets down? We’re not winning,” Payne said. “We’re not a team that has the components to where two guys can make up for eight. Every single person that has a jersey has a job to do. That job is to produce when you’re on the court.”

After the loss to the Panthers, Louisville now sits in dead last in the ACC by a full game. Those losses haven’t necessarily been close either as they’ve come from teams all over the standings by an average of 15.6 points. A massive part of the problem is still offensively as they’re scoring just 61.8 points per game in league play, which is why Payne is so big on them finding a way to step up as a unit rather than individuals.

At the end of the day, this season for the Cardinals is likely long gone. However, with 12 games left in the regular season, they can’t just throw in the towel. All they have left to lean on is that belief Payne is talking about. From there, Louisville just has to try to pick up as many wins as possible down the stretch while also finding things they can use to build the foundation of the rest of Payne’s tenure with the program.