As tough of a challenge as Louisville coach Kenny Payne has on the floor — and judging by Monday's 71-68 loss to Kentucky Wesleyan, it is substantial — there's an equally difficult effort in the seats of the KFC Yum! Center.

The atmosphere is no longer an intimidating one that can help the Cardinals win games. But to get the crowds back in attendance and in engagement, the Cards have to win games.

There’s a reluctance that comes with losing 28 games last season that the fan base isn’t over from simply the start of a new season. And their doubts and hesitancy to buy in won’t be helped much from games like Monday night’s exhibition.

It's not just that the Cards lost to an NCAA Division II school for the second consecutive season. It's how they lost.

This wasn't a Herculean effort from the Panthers. They didn't ride out some hot shooting from the 3-point line. In fact, they made just seven 3s and shot 25.9% from behind the arc. But the Panthers won in the areas that a fledgling, young team — like U of L has — needs to be better at than its opponent in every game.

"Are you really going to beat teams with your talent? Are you going to beat teams with the work ethic, with the toughness, with the fight?" Payne said. "We can't beat teams with talent. We're never going to be the most talented team. We can beat them with fight."

The clearest sign U of L didn't have enough fight?

Wesleyan outrebounded the Cards, 47-33, including a pair of offensive rebounds during the final minute, when U of L players should have been desperately blocking out to grab one. It led to Wesleyan enjoying an 18-2 advantage in second-chance points.

"It's good to get hit in the mouth early," U of L forward JJ Traynor said. "So now we know what it is. You got a lot of freshmen, a lot of guys, but not as much experience. So now they know what it is and know what we need to work on."

If you looked hard enough, signs of promise were there, too.

Wesleyan’s Borja Fernandez had used his 6-foot-7, 230-pound frame to back down U of L defenders and score over them. That led U of L’s Mike James to improvise and double-team on a possession when Fernandez began backing down Danilo Jovanovich. Skyy Clark made the right rotation to cover James, and the Panthers turned the ball over when Tre White deflected a pass.

There just weren’t enough of those kinds of plays.

There were more signs of why fans are frustrated.

With less than three minutes left and Wesleyan up four, the Cards went to a scramble defense, where after a trap, Clark and Traynor both ended up on the same player in the corner, leaving Fernandez alone under the basket for a layup.

U of L committed at least three turnovers in the first half just from moving screens. After hearing Payne say they overpassed during their first exhibition against Simmons, the Cards had too many first-half possessions where the ball wasn’t passed at all before a shot went up.

Last season, U of L ranked 354th in Division I in assists per made field goal at 41.8%. The Cards didn't show any signs of improvement in that area with just seven assists on 16 made baskets.

"If there's one pass and a shot, or a ball screen and a shot, you're not creating offense for your teammates, and the offense becomes stagnant, which we saw some of that," Payne said. "We tried hard at times, but again it's not good enough."

There’s almost a tangible heaviness in the air at the Yum! Center, the residual damage left over from last season. It can be felt whenever the Cards have a scoring drought that lasts too long or in the middle of a tight game. That cloud won’t go away if U of L plays more games with an effort like Monday night.

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Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter atprofile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball exhibition game: Kenny Payne faces uphill battle