Finally! Louisville men's basketball beats Western Kentucky for first win of Kenny Payne era
There was an unmistakable joy in the noise. And some relief.
Jae’Lyn Withers had thrown down a two-handed fast-break dunk to put the Louisville men's basketball team 18 points in front of Western Kentucky on Wednesday night, and the roar that followed was a full-on Cardinal catharsis.
The home crowd — peppered with Hilltopper faithful — cut loose with the kind of clamor that comes when the end of a nine-game nightmare is in sight.
It wasn't the first time the Louisville faithful made themselves heard in the Cardinals' 94-83 win over WKU and it wouldn't be the last. When El Ellis had signaled for more noise in the first half, the folks in the stands had obliged.
They had reason to.
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Kenny Payne’s first career win at Louisville would have been cause for celebration whenever it came. But that it was so long in arriving — the Cards improved to 1-9 and won for the first time in 281 days — made it something more.
The win goes on Payne’s record, but Ellis was its chief engineer.
The Louisville point guard played his most complete game, his energy endless and his command of the Cardinals' offense complete. He finished with 30 points and 10 assists — both career highs — and countless claps and enthusiastic shouts.
Freshman Kamari Lands added a career-high 15 points, and three other Cardinals players scored in double figures, but so much of what worked offensively stemmed from Ellis, who had a feeling Wednesday was the night for the Cards to get right.
"I told the guys this was gonna be the game and it was," Ellis said. "Like, I felt that in my soul. That crowd, man, it was amazing."
It wasn’t perfect Wednesday, but it was about as close as Ellis has come, attacking off ball screens in the middle of the floor to get into the paint and score or kick out to shooters.
"Ellis was elite," Western Kentucky coach Rick Stansbury said. "Elite."
Though Ellis had five turnovers, he maintained his aggressiveness into the second half. He made clutch buckets down the stretch. He continued to find open shooters in the Western Kentucky zone.
"That's what he has to do," Payne said. "El Ellis is a dynamic guard who can really score the ball, and he's learning that, 'I have to be a giver as well. If I want to be a great player, I want to make money at this game, if I want to be the player that I say that I am, I got to be able to give and create shots for others as well as get my own. I thought he was great tonight."
Brett Dawson can be reached at mdawson@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BDawsonWrites.