It hasn’t always been easy to evaluate this Louisville men’s basketball team.

The competition has been good to great for close to three weeks. The schedule didn’t allow for a breather. The winless Cardinals clearly weren’t good, but it wasn’t easy to put their season in context.

Given that schedule, it was “hard to tell,” coach Kenny Payne said Friday, if the Cards had hit rock bottom.

But Louisville’s 75-53 loss at Florida State on Saturday provided some perspective.

And it’s hard to see how it gets worse than this.

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The Seminoles (2-9, 1-1 ACC) entered the day with only one win — by nine points against Mercer, the 190th-ranked team at college basketball analytics site KenPom.com. In its first nine games, Florida State had been outscored by an average of 8.9 points.

And FSU maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half Saturday against Louisville (0-9, 0-2). The Seminoles led by as many as 24 points, the sixth straight opponent to lead the Cards by more than 20 points in a game.

The game was bad enough that ACC Network halftime analyst Joel Berry II summed up Louisville’s problems as centered on its offense and defense — and that was at halftime, before Florida State did the worst of its damage.

El Ellis led Louisville with 15 points. No other Cardinals player scored in double figures.

The Cardinals made 9 of 21 3-pointers, two off their season high for 3s, set in the opener against Bellarmine. But U of L was 11 of 34 on two-point shots and 4 of 9 at the free-throw line.

Louisville committed 16 turnovers that led to 17 Florida State points.

Payne took some solace in his team's 14 assists — a season high — and the way it drove to pass and create quality jump shots, part of the Cards' gameplan coming in against an FSU team with strong rim protection. That part was "pretty good," Payne said.

"But then there was another piece it," he said. "The other piece is, they out-rebounded us. The other piece is they out-competed us. And we have to take that personal and address those issues."

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Key player

Matthew Cleveland is Florida State’s best player, and he was solid with 12 points and eight rebounds. But the Seminoles often haven’t given him enough help, and two teammates stepped up in support against Louisville.

Guard Caleb Mills and forward Cameron Corhen combined for 31 points and 10 rebounds, making 10 of 20 shots.

Mills and Corhen combined to make six layups against a Louisville defense that gave up 36 points in the paint.

Key stretch

Another Louisville game, another decisive first-half run. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Mike James midway through the first half had cut a 12-point Florida State lead in half.

But the Seminoles scored the next eight points to take a 14-point lead on Mills’ layup with 6:06 to play before halftime. FSU led 36-24 at halftime and steadily extended the lead in the second half.

The Cardinals trailed by double digits over the game’s final 27:12.

Though Payne appreciated his team's willingness to make extra passes Saturday, it didn't stay consistent. As has often been the case, an opponent's run took the Cards out of their game plan.

"For me, I see the 14 assists and I can say 'OK, they tried,'" Payne said. "But then I see, the recurring theme to me is when they go on the run and we come down and (make) no pass and (shoot) a 3; or one pass and a 3; or a turnover and they make a basket."

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Key stat

Florida State was the sixth consecutive team to lead Louisville by 20 or more points in a game. Five of the six have gone on to beat the Cards by 20 or more. Cincinnati led by 20 in the second half and won by 19.

Louisville has lost those six games by a combined 151 points, an average margin of 25.1 points.

Key quote

Louisville guard Mike James on Louisville's inability to repeat its opponents' big runs:

"Each individual player, you just got to look at yourself in the mirror and say are you giving 100%? Are you completely bought in and doing the change and being the change? And once that happens I think we'll see a change. But … each and every player got to look at theirself in the mirror to see what they can do better and go out there in practice and try and change it and bring it over to the game."

Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brett Dawson at mdawson@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @BDawsonWrites.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville men's basketball loses to Florida State: Takeaways