Louisville Falls To Chattanooga By Double Digits

Louisville lost by double digits to Chattanooga to fall to 1-1

The Louisville Cardinals lost last night to Chattanooga by 10 points in a blowout loss, 81-71. There is not much that can be said than what was said all of last season.

The Cardinals were favored by -3.5 going into the game, and as soon as the first media timeout hit all Cardinal fans knew this was going to be a tough game. The fact is, that Chattanooga at home for Louisville should not be a tough game. Even in the last year of the Chris Mack era things were not this bad. Mack took care of business against these smaller schools, and teams like Chattanooga were never a problem. Louisville had not lost a home game in the month of November since 1972, that is just the type of program the Cardinals are, Kenny Payne clearly is not getting the type of results that fan deserve, or even are used to.

The Cardinals were at one point down 21 to Chattanooga in the 2nd half, and the fact that “being down to Chattanooga by 21 in the 2nd half” is even a sentence, is the exact problem.

The only time the Cards seemed to pick up was the last 4 minutes of the game, where they started to cut the lead, and even cut it single digits at a point (I know that seems insane). Payne’s team never seemed like they wanted to be there and they simply got out hustled, and looked like they were severely out talented. The sad part is that Payne pulled in a top 6 recruiting class and revamped the entire roster, and things looked the exact same.

Louisville matched Chattanooga with 41 total rebounds, which is extremely sad, considering that Louisville is a much bigger team. The Cardinals also shot 33% from 3 and made 65% of their free throws. Which is barely improved from the 61% from the UMBC game on Monday.

Mike James and Tre White tied for 17 point apiece to lead the Cardinals, while Skyy Clark was the only other player in double figures for Louisville with 12. The next highest player in points was JJ Traynor with 7. The bench also combined for a whopping 17 points.

Louisville gave up 48 points in the 2nd half, and nothing at all is looking well for Kenny Payne right now. I said from the beginning that if he wants to keep his job he needs to start 3-0. If they started 3-0 then they might have a shot at heading into ACC play with at least a decent record, and maybe even a shot at a bid for the tourney in March.

That does not look plausible at all through 2 games.

Louisville stands at 1-1 and Kenny Payne’s seat is smoking hot. It is going to be a long season for the Cardinals.