CHICAGO — Kenny Payne turned to his starters before tipoff and said, “Believe. Believe.”

Belief is going to be hard to come by after this one.

In Saturday’s battle between two of the worst high-major teams in college basketball, Louisville trailed DePaul for more than 36 minutes and by as many as 19 points en route to a 75-68 loss at Wintrust Arena.

That’s 21 straight L's on the road for the Cardinals (4-5, 0-1 ACC). And the Blue Demons' first two-game winning streak in the series since 2002-04.

"A little bit — well, very — disappointed in how we came out today," Payne said.

DePaul (2-7) entered the game dead last among high majors on KenPom.com’s adjusted efficiency rankings. But Payne said he implored his players to not take coach Tony Stubblefield's team lightly — not when they fared worse on the NCAA’s NET leaderboard.

"We knew they were going to come out and fight," Skyy Clark said. "We knew they were desperate."

The problem was, after having five days to correct mistakes from Sunday's loss at Virginia Tech and to prepare for one of the least intimidating opponents remaining on its schedule, U of L started the game in a manner that clashed with the mindset Payne on Friday told reporters he was asking his players to embrace:

"We're going to get stops." Nope. That was evident from the moment the Blue Demons cooked Tre White and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield on a pick and roll less than four minutes into the game. And when the Cards allowed a DePaul basket via a side-out lob pass with one second on the shot clock to take a 17-16 lead with eight minutes to go in the first half.

The Blue Demons shot 46.4%, with assists on 10 of their 13 baskets, during the opening 20 minutes. They finished the game above 50% from the field for just the second time this season and with 17 or more assists for just the third time during Year 3 under Stubblefield.

Senior Jeremiah Oden, a Chicago native who spent 2020-23 at Wyoming, led all scorers with 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting (3 for 3 from 3-point range). It was only the third time during his 96-game college career that Oden has eclipsed the 20-point mark.

"We're going to rebound." Quite the opposite. Louisville lost the battle of the boards, 36-32, against a team that entered the game averaging a -6.2 margin on the glass.

"We're going to attack them." Not before DePaul went for the jugular.

With his team clinging to a 23-20 advantage heading into the final 5 minutes, 30 seconds of the first half, Stubblefield shifted his players into a zone defense. It helped Indiana head coach Mike Woodson snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at the Empire Classic last month in New York; and the Cards collapsed again when faced with it Saturday in the Windy City.

"It's something we had talked about in practice over the course of the last couple of days, having the ability to change our defense to keep the opponent off balance," Stubblefield said.

U of L went 1 for 7 from the field (0 for 3 from 3), having two of its shots blocked, and turned the ball over seven times to end the half. The Blue Demons went on an 18-2 run and took a 38-22 lead into the locker room.

"We work on the zone every day for 20 minutes to start practice," Payne said. "The ball is zipping around and we get good shots and we make them and we get the ball in gaps and we drive it and we do it confidently.

"When a team plays a zone, I'm expecting to see the same thing."

Some misfortune exacerbated the massive swing in momentum. With JJ Traynor and Dennis Evans sidelined due to upper-body injuries and Huntley-Hatfield in foul trouble, Clark said the lineup on the court at one point — him, Ty-Laur Johnson, Mike James, White and Kaleb Glenn — was one that hadn't worked on attacking the zone together during practices.

"We've got to probably start mixing up the lineups in practice when we work on zone stuff," Clark said.

Louisville pulled within single digits eight times behind a 10-0 run out of the intermission and a game-high 14 second-half points from James; but the closest it got was 53-47 at the 9:33 mark. DePaul answered with a 7-0 run and built the lead back to as many as 16 heading into the final 1:53.

"We got to be consistent," James said. "Some games, we'll play good; some games we'll bring a lot of energy; and some games we won't."

"We're going to play for each other."

This, as Payne said Wednesday night to close his weekly radio show on WLCL 93.9 FM, is "the last piece" of the puzzle. Three days later, he said, "It felt like we played for ourselves, not for Louisville" against DePaul.

White embodied that sentiment during an 0-for-8 first half. At one point, Payne benched the sophomore Southern California transfer and yelled, "You're forcing!" at him as he grabbed a seat.

White finished with seven points on 3-for-11 shooting. He led the Cards with eight rebounds but posted the lowest plus-minus rating on the team, -13 across 29 minutes.

What's more concerning than White's stat line is that coaching consistent effort and intangibles out of Division I players is still an issue for Payne, who knows firsthand what it means to represent one of the most storied traditions in college basketball. That disconnect was a common theme during U of L's abysmal 2022-23 season, which he billed as "win or learn."

So, how much did he learn?

Louisville will try, again, to surpass its win total from that campaign at 8 p.m. Wednesday, when Arkansas State visits the KFC Yum! Center.

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: Kenny Payne and Louisville basketball team lose at DePaul, fall to 4-5