Chattanooga deals Louisville embarrassing 81-71 home loss

The latest new low of the Kenny Payne era came Friday night, when a Chattanooga team picked to finish fifth in the Southern Conference walked out of the KFC Yum Center with an 81-71 victory.

The loss marked the first double-digit November home defeat at the hands of an unranked opponent in the history of Cardinal basketball. Chattanooga had also been 0-18 all-time on the road against ACC opponents. Hooray for more history.

The nation’s leader in three-point rate last season, Chattanooga wasn’t shy about launching from the outside right from the jump. The Mocs built a 10-point first half lead thanks in large part to five made three-pointers by sophomore guard Honor Huff. At the break, UTC led 33-27, and 23 of its 35 field goal attempts had come from beyond the arc.

Things only got worse for Louisville after the two teams returned from the locker room. The Mocs continued to launch from the outside. The Cardinals continued to refuse to guard them. The result was the visitors building a lead that would grow to as large as 21.

Chattanooga finished the game 14-of-34 from beyond the arc, becoming the 14th Louisville opponent ever to connect on at least 14 three-pointers in a game against the Cards.

Mike James and Tre White led U of L in scoring with 17 points apiece.

On this day two years ago, Louisville hadn’t lost a November home game since 1972. Kenny Payne is now 1-5 in November home games, with a pair of home exhibition losses to boot.

At this point, it’s hard not to feel like this is all just an embarrassing waste of time.