One step forward, two steps back for Louisville men’s basketball.
Four days after starting Year 2 of the Kenny Payne era with a victory, U of L fell to Chattanooga, 81-71, on Friday night at the KFC Yum! Center.
The Cardinals’ comeback win Monday against UMBC was nothing more than a red herring.
Their glaring issues, which allowed a mid-major opponent to walk onto Denny Crum Court and lead for more than 26 minutes, were not corrected. And the fight they showed to pull out a victory against the Retrievers in the dying embers resurfaced only when it was too late.
Instead, a team with 10 new faces picked to finish fifth in the Southern Conference led for more than 34 minutes and by as many as 21 points. It made 14 3-pointers and converted 15 Louisville turnovers into 22 points.
With the win, Chattanooga improved to 1-19 on the road against ACC teams and 3-24 overall against the league. It was the program’s first ACC win since 1985.
U of L, on the other hand, had two field-goal droughts totaling 10 minutes, 42 seconds during the first half. And coming out of the locker room at halftime trailing 33-27, it allowed Chattanooga to go on runs of 8-0, then 11-0, to pull away for good.
Fans began heading to the exits with the Mocs leading by 20, 61-41, with 8:07 to play in regulation. Had they stuck around, they would have seen the Cards go on a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to seven, 70-63, with 1:30 remaining.
But, again, it was too little, too late.
Tre White and Mike James tied with a team-high 17 points apiece for U of L. They and Skyy Clark (12) were the only home players to crack double digits.
Chattanooga sophomore Honor Huff, who was playing in his first Division I game since following head coach Dan Earl from Virginia Military Institute after the 2021-22 season ended, poured in a game- and career-high 25 points on 9-for-19 shooting. He made more 3s by himself (seven) than U of L did as a team (six).
Louisville next plays at 7 p.m. Nov. 15 against Coppin State, wrapping up a three-game homestand to open the 2023-24 season before heading to New York for the Empire Classic.
This story will be updated.
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Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.