Louisville men’s basketball coach Kenny Payne walked away from a 41-point exhibition win over Simmons College earlier in October wondering, “Exactly how good are we?"

He found out Monday night, when a Division II opponent walked out of the KFC Yum! Center a winner.

In its final dress rehearsal before the 2023-24 campaign officially tips off, U of L started slow and got outplayed by Kentucky Wesleyan down the stretch. The Panthers handed the Cardinals their second exhibition loss in as many seasons, 71-68, one year to the date they fell to Lenoir-Rhyne of the DII ranks.

Payne said afterward he "needed" this to be a tough game so his players could learn "exactly how hard we got to play against good talent."

Kentucky Wesleyan is coming off a 15-14 season in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and was picked to finish eighth out of 13 teams this year in a poll of the league's coaches. Last week, the Panthers opened exhibition play with a 10-point loss at Saint Louis. They hadn't beat Louisville since Feb. 19, 1958.

Payne gave credit where it was due to coach Drew Cooper's bunch. But the Cards clearly played down to their opponent — and their margin for error is only getting thinner from here with stiffer competition looming.

"We can't beat teams with talent," Payne said. "We're never going to be the most talented team. We can beat them with fight."

It was lacking Monday night.

Louisville didn't turn the ball over 11 times in the opening 10 minutes and change like it did against Simmons but started 1 for 13 from the field, needing nearly six minutes to make a shot, and allowed Kentucky Wesleyan to hang around. The teams were tied at 26 apiece at halftime.

"We got a lot of great looks," said sophomore point guard Skyy Clark, who scored a game-high 24 points but tallied only one of the team's seven assists. "A lot of shots weren't falling."

Added Payne: "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 — we saw some of that. We tried hard at times, but again it's not good enough."

U of L took its last lead, 49-47, with 6:07 to play in regulation. The Panthers outscored the Cards from there, 24-19.

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This was the difference-maker: Louisville got outrebounded, 47-33, and scored just two second-chance points to Kentucky Wesleyan's 18. Twelve of those came during the second half. The most crucial was a layup from third-year guard/forward Edward Jones Jr. that gave the Panthers a 64-59 advantage with 37 seconds on the clock.

Kentucky Wesleyan had more points in the paint, too: 26-22.

"It's not acceptable to go out and the other team is more physical than you, plays harder than you, plays tougher than you as if you don't understand what this is," Payne said.

The Panthers' Borja Fernandez, a 6-foot-7, fifth-year Spaniard, was the most forceful post player on the court. He had a team-high 19 points and seven rebounds to show for it.

Louisville's bigs, freshman Dennis Evans (7-1) and junior Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (6-10), combined for six points, attempted two shots and totaled six rebounds. They played a total of 13 minutes during the second half. Sophomore Emmanuel Okorafor (6-9) didn't see the court at all.

When asked why Evans played only five minutes after the break with his team getting hammered down low, Payne said it was because Kentucky Wesleyan went smaller, which "negates Dennis a little bit.

"But, again," he added, "between Brandon, JJ (Traynor) and Kaleb (Glenn), we should be able to handle whatever somebody throws at us."

Except they couldn't. And now Payne has less than a week to correct mistakes and rebuild confidence before the regular season begins at 7 p.m. Nov. 6 against UMBC of the American East Conference at the Yum! Center.

If he doesn't, the record will reflect it.

"It doesn't count, thankfully," Traynor said when asked how he and his teammates plan to ensure Monday's loss doesn't linger.

"It's good to get hit in the mouth early."

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Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball: Kenny Payne's team loses to Kentucky Wesleyan