Kenny Payne took some of the blame for Monday’s exhibition loss to Kentucky Wesleyan.

But the head coach didn’t let his Louisville men’s basketball players off the hook.

“Attention to detail, knowing the play, knowing how to execute the play, playing with energy — all of those things were not up to par,” Payne said after the Cardinals fell to the Panthers, 71-68, for their second loss to a Division II program in as many seasons.

“A lot of it falls on me,” he added, “but it (is) also (about) getting them to understand exactly what I want, when I want it (and) how I want it.”

Time is running out for Payne to get his point across.

The regular season tips off next week; U of L scheduled three of its least intimidating opponents — UMBC, Chattanooga and Coppin State — out of the gate; and Payne’s rebuilding process can’t afford one loss spiraling into nine in a row, as was the case in his 4-28 inaugural campaign.

“It was just hard to gain that team confidence and get on our feet,” senior forward JJ Traynor said Oct. 25, reflecting on last season during ACC Tipoff. “That’s why these first couple of games will be big for us.”

The Cards’ losing effort against the Panthers doesn’t inspire confidence. It was, as Payne said six times during his postgame news conference, “unacceptable.”

Judging from three very early looks at his overhauled roster of eight newcomers and four scholarship returners, Louisville heads into 2023-24 with an identity as murky as the Ohio River. Let’s break down how what we’re seeing on the court clashes with Payne’s ideal style of play.

Connectedness offensively?

Payne’s offense — and any offense, for that matter — won’t work if his players aren’t willing passers.

During an Oct. 26 news conference, he said: “We look like we’re versatile and that we can score everywhere.” But you can’t tell when the ball isn’t moving.

Last season, U of L finished 354th out of 363 DI teams in assists per made field goal with 299 coming on 716 buckets. Yet another very low bar to clear in 2023-24.

Monday, however, was a step in the wrong direction for a group that has spent the preseason talking up its improved chemistry.

After running back the tape of his team’s 41-point win over Simmons College to begin exhibition play, Payne said his team was “overpassing,” which resulted in 22 turnovers but 13 assists on 30 field goals. He was fine with that, because it will typically take more than one pass to create an ideal shot attempt against stiffer competition.

Against Kentucky Wesleyan, the Cards tallied just seven assists on 16 baskets — and 10 turnovers.

Several times during the first half, they made only one pass, or none at all, before hoisting up a shot. Accordingly, they went 1 for 13 from the field during a stagnant opening six minutes and change and finished the game shooting 34% (26.3% from 3-point range).

“If there’s one pass and a shot, or a ball screen and a shot,” Payne said, “you’re not creating offense for your teammates.”

Sophomore point guard Skyy Clark led the team in scoring (24 points) and tied for the lead in rebounds (seven). But he had just one assist and accounted for only an additional 0.3 points generated on StatBroadcast Systems’ advanced analytics.

Had he and his teammates tried to feed the ball into the paint, where 7-foot-1 freshman Dennis Evans and junior Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (6-10) had an obvious size advantage, Payne believes the rest of the court would have opened.

Evans did not attempt a shot in 15 minutes. Huntley-Hatfield attempted two, and his only make was a transition layup. And then there was the lack of presence on the glass. Louisville had five offensive rebounds.

“A lot of the time tonight,” Payne said, “the shot (went) up, and I’m watching my 4 and 5 make no effort to fight to get the rebound.”

“We tried hard at times,” he added, “but, again, it’s not good enough.”

Desperateness defensively?

For as frustrating as U of L’s ice-cold shooting was to start Monday’s exhibition, the Cards made up for it early on defense.

They showed the desperateness Payne has been clamoring for since he took over the reins of his alma mater, forcing 10 Kentucky Wesleyan turnovers during the first half. They headed into the break with seven steals among six different players, four blocks between Evans and Traynor and finished with 11 and eight, respectively.

It wasn’t like the Panthers shot the lights out, either. Louisville held them to 36.1% (22 for 61) from the field and 25.9% (7 for 27) from behind the arc — although three of those treys came during the final five minutes of regulation.

And, again, U of L didn’t set the tone in the post and paid for it.

Kentucky Wesleyan grabbed 16 offensive rebounds (nine during the second half, six during the final 8:41) and converted them into 18 second-chance points. The Cards were outscored in the paint, 26-22.

Payne likes to emphasize getting “kills,” or three defensive stops in a row, and those are going to be few and far between this season if his players are, in his words, “ball watching.”

“There was a lot of talk about it,” Clark said of crashing the glass, “but talking only gets you so far. We have to actually go out and execute it. It’s just something that we have to go back to the drawing board and work on in practice.”

Clark was one of the players Payne said had “unacceptable” moments on defense. So, too, did his backup, freshman Ty-Laur Johnson.

But, to be fair, there were holes up and down the lineup — a lack of help here, no boxing out there — as Louisville got outplayed by a DII program in its final dress rehearsal.

“We got a little laxed,” the coach said. “Our bodies, or our minds, just sort of said, ‘OK, let’s hope. Let’s not impose; let’s hope. Let’s hope they miss a shot; let’s hope we get a steal; let’s hope that, (with) me just gambling on the ball, I can get the steal.’ You can’t. You have to be disciplined.”

He and his staff have less than a week to make sure that’s the case when the games start counting for real.

Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.