Kenny Payne hung his head as he walked off Denny Crum Court.

A day earlier, the Louisville men's basketball head coach spoke of "a new start."

He told reporters he "hadn't thought" about the uncertainty surrounding his future with the Cardinals. He said his team is capable of "surprising people" at next week's ACC Tournament.

A 67-61 loss to Boston College on Saturday could have been the end of Payne's time patrolling the sideline at the KFC Yum! Center. A miraculous run in Washington, D.C., appears to be the only way to prevent, or at least delay, a changing of the guard that feels inevitable.

The problem for Payne is U of L (8-23, 3-17 ACC) doesn't look like a team hungry to wreak postseason havoc. In suffering their seventh consecutive loss, the Cards trailed the Eagles (17-14, 8-12) for more than 38 minutes and by as many as 16 points.

Payne described their play as "lethargic" and "uninterested." And for the second consecutive senior night, he said they're having trouble understanding what it means to represent his alma mater on the court.

"(When) you understand the jersey you're in — you understand what it requires, your obligation, of being in that jersey — (and) you understand the history of this program, then you react a little differently; you play a little differently," he said.

"You play with a swagger; and I don't feel like we played with that swagger."

Louisville fell behind 15-5 after committing six turnovers during the opening 5:40 of the first half. It pulled within three, 21-18, at the 9:01 mark; then went the next 7:02 without a field goal.

Boston College shot 53.6% from the field during the opening 20 minutes and held a 41-31 advantage at the break. The closest the Cards got from there was four, 41-37, with 17:53 remaining in regulation; but they promptly surrendered 12 unanswered over 3:49 to fall behind 53-37.

They pulled within single digits six times during the final 9:53 but couldn't come up with enough stops to make it a two-possession game until only just seconds remained on the clock.

Members of another sparse Yum! Center crowd began to head for the exits long before then. Some of those who stuck around until the end jeered Payne as he left the court.

The loudest ovation came when senior walk-on Aidan McCool scored the first points of his collegiate career at the free-throw line in the dying embers.

Payne, who fell to 12-51 overall with Saturday's loss, has acknowledged the possibility of losing his job several times this season — as early as December.

On Friday, he said, "I would hope that we get the runway to fix this program; but that's not my decision."

The decision falls on athletics director Josh Heird and other U of L leaders. Between the historically dismal on-court product and the financial impact of a mostly empty 22,090-seat arena over the past two years, one has to imagine their minds are made up.

Payne was asked Saturday if he would do anything differently given what he knows now. He said, "I can't worry about that. I have to do my job; I have to let the chips fall where they may."

He prefaced that by saying, "What I inherited was broken — more than I could ever tell you. It wasn't just basketball. It was broken. Beyond broken. When you walk into a situation like that, you're not coaching basketball."

Junior big man Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, who was a member of last year's 4-28 team, said the "dark cloud" over the program didn't go away for good "until the end of the season." Payne, he said, was "coming into uncharted territory and trying to make the best of it."

The head coach believes the Cards are "probably" one or two players away from being "a really good team." But one person he was eyeing for his 2024-25 roster, five-star wing Karter Knox, committed to archrival Kentucky during his postgame news conference.

And, at the end of the day, nobody wants to "hear about the process," Payne said.

“Nobody wants to hear about what this program has been through the last seven or eight years," he added. "They want it fixed now."

That, in all likelihood, will be someone else's job soon.

Louisville, as the No. 15 seed in the ACC Tournament, will play No. 10 seed N.C. State at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The Wolfpack beat the Cards, 89-83, on Jan. 13 at the Yum! Center — one of Payne's 24 home losses.

Sophomore guard Skyy Clark said U of L must "put the past behind us" if it wants to keep its season alive in the nation's capital.

The near future, however, may be much more distracting.

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, Cards drop KFC Yum! Center finale