What Kenny Payne, El Ellis Said After Louisville's 93-85 Loss at Miami

(Opening statement)

Tough game. I thought Miami was prepared, played really well. We knew it'd be a tough game, but we were hoping that we could come in here and defend them, and make a tough for them. Be able to keep the ball in front, not allow them to get the ball in the paint and spread out the shooters. But defensively, we just didn't bring the effort we needed to beat a team like this. A team that's really versatile, got good shooting, got good post play and multiple scores. The only way you beat teams like that, is if you defend them. I didn't think we did a good job of just really getting into them, keeping the ball in front, and then rebounding. The other piece to it: when you're playing a team like Miami, you can't give them 20 points off your turnovers. Then on top of that, you give them 19 Points off their offensive rebounds. Impossible to win when you're giving up that much..

(On what he saw in his team when they were coming back from being down double digits)

I just think whenever there's adversity, we compound the mistakes. In winning basketball, you can't (do that). You turn the ball over, they get a layup. You come back down, a guy takes a bad shot, then they go down and score again. That's one area that you're talking about specifically where we got to get better. We can't compound mistakes, especially on a night when we're scoring the ball real well. Because down at the end, when you look back over the course of the game, there's too many mistakes and too much game slippage. You take those two different segments out of the game, then you're talking about a pretty close game. Maybe it goes in our favor.

(On the importance of building on this performance offensively)

I liked what we did offensively, I liked the way we moved the ball, I liked the way we attacked the rim, I liked the shots that we got. I want to continue to play that way. I want to continue to get the ball moving, and play free, and play confidently. But at the end of the day, I look at these stats, and I see three of their players with 20 points or more. That's impossible. When three players have that kind of impact on a game, you're not winning. That's what I'm about. I want us to win. The offense is great. I'm happy with what we did offensively. But we play this game to win.

(On if he saw signs of progress against Miami)

I saw progress. I mean, you look at our stats: 58 percent from the field, 43 percent from three, 81 percent from the free throw line. That's progress. But on the other side, I'll say it again, winning basketball. Did we fight? Yes, we fought. We made Miami uncomfortable at times. But we need to do that consistently. This isn't "just give a good effort." We got to come out of games trying to win. We need W's. We're playing this game to win. Let me give credit to my team, because they're coming off a game where they were embarrassed by what Pittsburgh did to us. So we came out, and we fought. El (Ellis) led us in that regard. El played a great game, and that's what he has to do. We just need more guys to step up. We're not a team that can have two or three guys that aren't playing the way we need them to play. Every person that steps on that floor is vital to us. We don't have a team where we can depend on two guys and not win. You have to be productive. You don't have to be the most talented team, but you better be fighting to get a win, or you won't win. The conference is just too good.

(On his message to the guys down the stretch)

Well, the first thing is that it's not over. I want them to believe that we can beat anybody. I want them to believe. I want them to come into practice every day and try to get better. It's not a choice. El will be the first to tell you that if you're not thinking that way, I will drag you. I'm not allowing them to quit. I'm not allowing them to not bring energy and not to fight through practices. I'm making this as hard as we can, and I don't care until the last day of the season or whenever our last game is: every single day, we're going to work hard. We're going to try to get better every day. We're going to try to win the day, day by day. I can't look ahead and say six games. I can only worry about right now, tomorrow. Build on what we did today. Then the next day, we worry about that day.

Guard El Ellis

(On if their bad performance the first time against Miami motivated him)

I will say, at the beginning of season, I was still trying to adjust to playing the way that coach wanted me to play. I feel like, lately, I've been coming along. I'm really just going to the game, really trying to get my teammates involved first, and then looking for mine second. I just felt like tonight, that was one of those games where I'll just let the game come to me. When you do that, the rim just gets even bigger.

(On the response between teammates when facing the double digit deficits)

Really just staying together. Just try not to let the game get out of reach. Even if they go on a run, we got to come back. We got to continue to try to get stops, you got to continue to be solid on offense and not turn the ball over, and get really good shots. That was a game plan for us.

(On what he can do to help the team during the final stretch of the regular season)

Just continue to lead guys each and every day, and it starts with me. If I'm not coming into practice ready to get going, and be that guy that that my teammates look to see, if I don't bring good energy, then we won't have a good practice. Every day I got to come in and ready to go. I gotta get on guys and make sure that they're paying attention and are locked in, because we still got games that we can win. I'm not going to give up until the season's over. Until then, I'm gonna stay on guys, I'm gonna continue to go out and play hard each and every night, and I'm continuing to bring guys along.

(On what the team's belief level is)

Honestly, I feel like guys are starting to play even better. That just goes to show how much work that we've been putting in. You can see the growth from the beginning of season to now. I just feel like guys continue to keep the conference that they have, and just continue to want to get better. Even though practices are hard and the games are hard, if we just stay together and continue to fight, we're gonna win some games.