Louisville Basketball: Exhibition loss a sign of struggles to come in 2022-23

Every year, there’s always a program that loses to a D-II program in the preseason. This weekend, it was Louisville Basketball that suffered defeat.

Throughout the offseason, there were a number of winners and losers when it came to the transfer portal. One of the teams that were the biggest “loser” in my mind was Louisville Basketball, which started off with a bunch of holes and finished with a bunch of holes.

New head coach Kenny Payne did add a former five-star prospect in Brandon Huntley-Hatfield from Tennessee to bolster the frontcourt but it was the backcourt that had concerns. El Ellis was the lone returning guard and the Cardinals only added three-star freshman Fabio Basili and walk-on and Tennessee State transfer, Hercy Miller.

The lack of proven guard depth is concerning for Louisville, with preseason expectations ranking them anywhere from 10th in the ACC to potentially last. We got out first look at the team this weekend, playing an exhibition matchup vs D-II opponent, Lenoir-Rhyne. The Cardinals had an early first-half lead and looked like they’d be fine but a disastrous second half created a rough result for the team.

You try not to put too much into exhibition games but scoring 47 points when just about fully healthy is a problem. The only brightspot for the Cardinals was a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds from forward Jae’lyn Withers. But no one else was in double figures. And as feared, the backcourt was a problem.

Ellis finished with just two points on 1/7 shooting. He did have six assists, with the rest of the team combined for one more. Basili played just 10 minutes total and freshman wings Devin Ree and Kamari Lands were non-impactful. Another positive to notice is the return of Mike James, who missed all of last season with an injury. He had eight points and made a couple of threes.

This is a roster that makes little sense on paper and this weekend was a live example of what can happen. If Ellis doesn’t play well in the 35 mpg he’s set to have, then Louisville has no shot at winning much this season. Again, you don’t want to make declarations until the real games are played in a week. But let’s be honest, this result isn’t too shocking if you’ve been following their lack of guard additions this offseason.