Cardinals, now 0-7, state they aren’t giving up

Louisville’s tough start to the males’s basketball season appeared to hit rock bottom on Tuesday, with coach Kenny Payne stating, “At times, it looked like we quit,” in a 79-54 house loss to Maryland.The Cardinals

dropped to 0-7 on the season, joining this season’s California Golden Bears as the only significant conference groups in the past 40 years to begin 0-7. According to ESPN Statistics & Information research, it’s the second-longest losing streak to begin a season in ACC history and Louisville’s worst start given that the 1940-41 season.

“We did not complete. We did not battle. We didn’t satisfy their intensity. At times, it appeared like we gave up,” Payne said.Payne said he asked his players after the game whether they have actually quit.”They said they’re not giving

up,”he stated.” They said there are times when difficulty hits and they panic and they don’t play together. They haven’t understood completely how to deal with difficulty.”

“We told him no,” Cardinals guard El Ellis said. “We’re competitors; why would we give up? Things happen, we’re going through a bumpy ride today, but that does not mean we’re going to stop. We just need to keep playing.”

Louisville’s first season under Payne has gone downhill rapidly. The Cardinals opened with three straight one-point home losses, to Bellarmine, Wright State and Appalachian State, followed by 3 noncompetitive blowout defeats at the Maui Invitational to Arkansas, Texas Tech and Cincinnati.Then came Tuesday

‘s house date in the ACC/Big 10 Challenge against the Terrapins.Louisville kept it competitive in the first half,

resisting from an early 14-point deficit to cut the lead to 8 points late and ultimately going into the break down 11. However Maryland struck 5 3-pointers in the very first 3 1/2 minutes

of the 2nd half and pushed the cause 25 points within 8 minutes.”The last thing I said to the people prior to walking on the court

[ for the 2nd half] was, the first 5 minutes, fight. Be desperate, “Payne stated.”Don’t let them make a run. Those were latest things I stated. And after that Maryland made three or four straight 3s.”The lead grew to 33 points with 6:08 staying

before Louisville ended up the game on a 14-6 go to provide the final margin. The Cardinals shot 33.9 %from the field and 25.0 %from 3, dropping them to No. 298 nationally in 3-point portion and No. 318 nationally in 2-point portion. They likewise rank in the bottom 10 nationally in turnover percentage.It will not get easier in the coming weeks for Louisville, as the Cardinals host Miami on Sunday before taking a trip to Florida State next weekend and inviting Western Kentucky to town on Dec. 14. It’s most likely they will not be preferred to win a game up until they host Florida A&M on Dec. 17. By that point, they could be 0-10. “They require to have some success, and it needs

to come in the kind of a W, “Payne said. “However any challenger that we’re going to play is not going to sympathize with us and offer us a W. They’re going to come in here and attempt to beat our head in by 30 or 40. And we’ve got to have pride and understand what it is. We got dropped off in the jungle, and we’ve got to make it out. That’s what it is.”