Kenny Payne says Louisville's losing skid is 'very hard'

Kenny Payne and the 2-19 Louisville Cardinals are approaching historic levels of bad basketball. There’s a real possibility they finish with two wins at the end of the season, and that’s not lost on the first-year head coach.

After losing to Notre Dame 76-62 on the road, Payne voiced his displeasure with the lack of effort his guys continue to give him a nightly basis. You can tell with the player’s body language during the game that their hearts aren’t into it — and Payne is pulling teeth trying to get them to buy into his system.

“It’s very hard. You have to have faith, you have to know that you can get through anything that’s put in front of you,” Payne said postgame. “To be honest with you as a coach, there are days where I feel like I’m dragging. More days than not.

“I would say 75 percent of this is me pushing, fighting, scratching, clawing to get them to be competitive. To get them to work hard, practice, and play a certain way, play with energy and fight with energy. That can wear you out sometimes, but I’m not giving up.”

Payne was brutally honest with his players postgame. He told his guys that he needs them to have fight and energy — these are non-negotiable, he told the media postgame. Payne said his players have to be man enough to give him those two things, otherwise they will not play.

If Louisville doesn’t win another game this season, they’ll go down as one of the worst power conference teams of all time, and they’re running out of time.

You have to go all the way back to the 1944-45 season when Baylor finsihed 0-17 to find a worse team, though a number of mid-major conference teams have finished with two-win seasons since the turn of the century. Louisville can be categorized right there with them if the current trajectory holds.

It’ll be tough sledding for the Cardinals in search of win No. 3 before the season ends, although they have their best hope coming up on Wednesday.

Next up, Georgia Tech (8-13, 1-10 ACC) will come to the KFC Yum! Center in a battle of ACC bottom-feeders. With a fairly tough schedule remaining, Louisville needs to win this game. Tip-off is scheduled for Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. ET.