Another second-half surge by its opponent doomed the Louisville men's basketball team Wednesday, as the Cardinals fell 81-62 in the seventh-place game of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational.
"They shoot 61 or 62 percent from the field in the second half," Louisville head coach Kenny Payne said. "You're not beating anybody when a team can shoot that kind of percentage. So hopefully it's another lesson learned. We walked out of this tournament 0-3, but hopefully we saw some of the best teams in the country and we learned from them.
"We learned that Arkansas rebounds, forces turnovers, fighting every possession. We learned from Texas Tech that you can win being a great defensive team and it's about your will, not your skill. Tonight, we learned that if you don't get the shooters and raise your hand and contest shooters hard and execute on offense and don't turn the ball over, anybody can beat you. So I can walk away and be doom and gloom, but I have to look at this and figure out a way to get this team better and get this team for these young men to go out and get a win."
There were 16 lead changes in the first half and the Cardinals trailed just 31-30 at halftime, but Cincinnati (4-3) seized control with an 11-0 run, capped by a dunk by Viktor Lakhin to make it 49-35 with 13:12 to play.
The Bearcats used another 7-0 run to take their largest lead to that point at 63-45 with 8:29 to go.
Louisville (0-6) chipped away at its deficit with a 7-0 run to cut it to 67-57, but Cincinnati answered with back-to-back 3s to end the threat.
"It has to start on the defensive end," sophomore forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield said. "We have to know our personnel. We have to close out on our shooters and be desperate once they put us in scramble situations. We also have to execute on the offensive end. Missing layups around the rim, it started with me. I've got to be better at that. But just really doing the little things for us to win and get by. We didn't do that tonight. We do it every now and then, but we have to do it over the course of the 40 minutes. But we're going to get better at that."
The Cardinals' last lead came at 30-28 on a layup by senior guard El Ellis with five seconds to play in the first half. Cincinnati guard David DeJulius sprinted down and banked in a heave at the horn to give the Bearcats a lead they never relinquished.
DeJulius finished with a game-high 26 points, including six 3-pointers.
The game was the 100th in the series between the old conference rivals, more than Louisville has played against any other opponent.
Huntley-Hatfield led four UofL players in double figures with 15 points.
Ellis added 13 points and six assists, while junior forward JJ Traynor and freshman forward Kamari Lands each scored 10 points.
The Cardinals return home to face their third ranked opponent in four games against No. 23/25 Maryland in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge presented by Continental Tire at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday at the KFC Yum! Center. The game will air on ESPN2.
"I don't worry about the outside clutter," Payne said. "But true leadership is how you handle adversity. True leadership is being an example for players. And I tell every player on this team, 'Don't you panic.' Don't panic until you see me panic. And I'm not panicking. I'm encouraged. I'm going to keep pushing and we're going to keep working harder. We're going to work harder on conditioning. We're going to work harder on defense and every single day we're going to keep fighting.
"I know that they know I believe in 'em. I love 'em. I know they know that. And they love me. That gives me great joy in knowing that through all of this adversity, we still are close. We haven't splintered. We have stayed together. It's disappointing because we put together great game plans, and all of that's fine until, like they say in boxing, until you get hit in the mouth by Mike Tyson. Well, we've been hit in the mouth. We got to dust ourselves off and keep fighting."
