NEW YORK — Kenny Payne bumped into Mike Woodson on his way out of Madison Square Garden's interview room.

Their interaction behind the scenes at the world's most famous arena Monday evening was a lot like the one on the court that preceded the Empire Classic's third-place game. Smiles and handshakes all around.

But Payne walked away knowing his former New York Knicks colleague had just tricked him. And because of that trick, his Louisville men’s basketball team (2-3) fumbled a good chunk of the momentum gained during this trip to the Big Apple with a 74-66 loss to Indiana (4-1).

The trick? Woodson threw a zone defense at the Cardinals with his Hoosiers trailing late in the second half.

U of L wasn't ready for it and didn't adjust accordingly.

"I knew Woody wouldn't play zone," Payne said. "Or I thought (he wouldn't)."

Playing on less than 24 hours' rest, Louisville rallied from nine points down with 14:44 to play in the second half to hold a 64-61 advantage heading into the final 4:23. The Garden's magic appeared to be working in the Cards' favor after they fell to No. 17 Texas, 81-80, on a last-second shot Sunday.

The Hoosiers responded with 13 unanswered to take control for good and improve to 12-9 in the cross-state rivalry series. Payne said their zone made his team become stagnant and telegraph passes.

"To be honest with you, that would be the last thing I think we would have a problem with," he said. "Because we have been really, really good versus the zone, even in practices. We really have a good feel for it."

That wasn't the case Monday. U of L turned the ball over four times between the 6:15 mark and the 3:11 mark of the second half. The most crucial was when Skyy Clark lost the ball and IU's Xavier Johnson capitalized with a fast-break layup that gave IU a 65-64 lead with 3:06 to go.

"The zone saved us," Woodson said. "We made plays down the stretch."

Louisville made only 2 of its last 10 shot attempts. It allowed a team that entered Monday corralling just 21.1% of its missed shots while allowing opponents to come down with a rebound on 35.3% of their misses to win the battle of the boards, 39-35. It held the Hoosiers to just one 3-pointer but went 5 for 19 from distance itself.

"The guys are hurting," Payne said. "I'm hurting."

He later wondered aloud, "If we tighten up a few things, where would we be sitting now?"

Proving you can compete with anyone, as U of L did against the Longhorns, is one thing. But eventually, moral victories have to lead to tangible W’s.

Payne knows this. His team nearly did just enough to make it happen Monday. But there's still plenty to clean up.

Louisville trailed at halftime, 34-29, after going 9 for 30 from the field during the opening 20 minutes and having two scoring droughts totaling more than six minutes.

The 30% first-half clip tied a season low set during a Nov. 10 loss to Chattanooga.

"When you talk about lulls in the game, we settle for jump shots," Payne said. "And a lot of the jump shots are one pass and a shot or no pass and a shot. That's losing basketball."

Clark scored a game-high 19 points but did so on 5-for-15 shooting (2 for 9 from 3-point range) while committing a team-leading four turnovers and recording just two assists. In the two games at Madison Square Garden, the second-year Illinois transfer totaled 39 points on a 41.4% clip.

He and Tre White (10 points) were the only Cards to break double digits Monday. The sophomore transfer from Southern California saw his production dip in half from a 20-point outing vs. Texas.

Freshman Ty-Laur Johnson again provided a spark off the bench. His six second-half points were second only to Clark's 10 after the break as Louisville made its comeback. He added four assists and finished +5 to boot.

But Payne said the Brooklyn native asked to be subbed out with 5:01 to play because he was dealing with a groin injury. Johnson returned to the game with 1:16 remaining but fouled out with 10 seconds on the clock.

Up next for U of L is a 1 p.m. tipoff Sunday against New Mexico State at the KFC Yum! Center.

After his players saw their full potential in the Big Apple, Payne's hoping a breakthrough isn't far behind.

"That's what we're preaching, 'You're so close. You're really close to being a really good team.'"

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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 vs. Indiana: Kenny Payne's Cards go 0-2 at Empire Classic