Louisville basketball throws first punch but UK rolls to win in key game for Kenny Payne – Courier Journal

Kenny Payne walked through the tunnel alone. 
Waiting for him on the other side: the biggest stage of his head-coaching career. 
For all the uncertainty surrounding Payne’s future at the helm of the Louisville men’s basketball team heading into Thursday’s rivalry game vs. No. 9 Kentucky at the KFC Yum! Center, he had the next 40 minutes to live in absolutes. 
Starting with the biggest non-negotiable of all — fight like hell, no matter what. 
“The only way for us to win is to go out and be the aggressor,” the second-year coach said Wednesday, “to go out and fight for what you want, to go out and understand, ‘You’re protecting your home.’ 
“We don’t want Kentucky to come in here and feel like everybody’s with them and nobody’s with us. We need them to know we’re going to fight to protect our home.”
His Cardinals (5-7, 0-1 ACC) threw the first punch. But that merely delayed the inevitable. 
UK (9-2) led for more than 33 minutes and by as many as 26 points en route to a 95-76 victory.
U of L won the second half, 43-42, but suffered its 22nd double-digit loss across Payne’s first 44 games at his alma mater. 
A snapshot of where the program is right now: With 10 minutes, 3 seconds to play in the second half and the Wildcats leading 71-47, Kentucky fans filled the Yum! Center with a Blue-White chant. A Louisville fan sitting in the student section wore a frowning paper-bag mask over their head. 
It was a different story out of the gate. 
With U of L athletics director Josh Heird sitting courtside, the Cards got stops on UK’s first five possessions and led, 5-0, at the 17:48 mark to bring the home portion of a divided crowd alive. 
They clung to a 12-11 advantage with 13:46 to play before halftime. 
It felt like, for a brief moment, Payne could actually accomplish a goal he outlined Tuesday night during his weekly radio show. 
“I just hope that we go out and compete hard and show that we’re capable of winning the game,” he told play-by-play announcer Paul Rogers. “I believe that we can if we do the things that we need to do.”
The problem was, Louisville eventually stopped doing those things.
That defensive tenacity from the jump? It didn’t last long. Kentucky shot 50.8% from the field and made half of its 24 3-point attempts, outscoring the Cards from long distance, 36-12. 
The Wildcats also won the battle of the boards, 37-33, the paint, 40-26, and scored 19 points off 13 U of L turnovers. 
They built an insurmountable halftime lead, 53-33, behind runs of 15-1 and 14-2. 
UK’s Antonio Reeves led all scorers with a season-high 30 points on 10-for-16 shooting. He was one of five Kentucky players to break double digits. 
Skyy Clark paced Louisville with 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Brandon Huntley-Hatfied posted a third consecutive double-double: 16 points, 11 rebounds. 
Louisville won’t take the court again until Jan. 3, when ACC play begins in earnest with a 7 p.m. tipoff at Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena.
This story will be updated.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

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