What Louisville HC Kenny Payne Said After 91-57 Loss at Pitt

PITTSBURGH - The Louisville men's basketball program was once again destroyed by Pitt, this time 91-57 to hand them their 21st loss of the season - setting a new program single-season record.

Here's what head coach Kenny Payne had to say following the loss:

Head Coach Kenny Payne

(Opening statement)

In my mind, I wrack my brain over what we could have done different. There's something else that I have to say. We've played a lot of good teams in this conference. Guys, I'm just here to tell you that, probably the most complete, the toughest team that we've faced in this conference, is Pittsburgh. Tough, they have fight, can score a multitude of ways, they share the ball, they talk on defense. When one guy is down, I hear four others talking to the one that's down. When the play happened when the big guy (Federiko Federiko) threw Mike James to the floor, that's what they live for. It wasn't really a dirty play, and if it was, it's competitiveness. I watched their huddled as they huddled up after that play, and I saw what I want my guys to be. I want my guys to be tough like that, to fight like that, to be one like that. I could talk about what we didn't do right. I can just tell you we didn't come to a fight. It was a fight, and we didn't show up, and I blame myself for that. I tried really hard to explain to the players exactly who you're facing. Exactly who you're playing against. Out of all the teams that we've played, again, none better than Pittsburgh.

(On what his team expected differently from Pitt after their first game)

I thought they felt like it would be a hard game. We knew they were leading the league in three point attempts, but it's how they get to those three-pointers. How they mix up driving the ball, to kicking out, to making layups, to if you're not at the split line or the low man under the basket. and they run the ball screen action, they're reading that. If you're not there, that's a layup or a dunk. If you are there, they're reading the skip pass. If you are on the skip pass, and you close out and you don't close out aggressively, the ball is going in the hole. If you're ever lackadaisical for coming to a shooter, they either gonna blow by you or they're gonna shoot the ball and they're probably going to make it. They are a very good team, a very good offensive team, a very tough team, a very connected team. They got a chance to win this conference.

(On what caused Pitt to get 13 blocks)

Again, I'll just say that if you get your spacing isn't right, and they have really long and tall players, and you shoot the ball, you're probably gonna shoot it in their hands. They're the type of team that can go deep into the NCAA tournament.

(On getting 16 offensive rebounds but only 10 second-chance points)

We got to convert. At times when you get an offensive rebound, you got to kick it out for a three. One of the easiest threes to get in the game. Second thing, when you get an offensive rebound, you just can't go up. You got to find a body if you are going up. We got two or three offensive rebounds in a row, and we never looked for a body. We just tried to put it in the basket. Again, they have long and tall players. Tough players. We could have converted on some of those a little better. But still, at the end of the day, they brought the fight and we didn't.

(On getting El Ellis to bounce back after scoring just seven points)

I'm not worried about El bouncing back. He will bounce back. He's a competitor. He wants to be well, he wants to play well, he wants to do the right things. He's a competitor. Probably right now, like me, he's embarrassed. There's another way of saying it. When you're on the basketball court, and the team is just punching you, and then punching you, and punching you, and you come down and there's five or six possessions in a row where guys can't remember the play, or don't know the play, it's frustrating. El went through some of those frustrations tonight. But at the end of the day, it's about Pittsburgh and what they did to us. They put us on our heels. It had nothing to do with anything other than what they did to us.

(Photo of Kenny Payne: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleReport
Twitter - @UofLReport
Instagram - @louisville_report

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter