At halftime of Saturday's game between Louisville men's basketball and Pittsburgh, a magician walked onto Denny Crum Court and escaped from a straitjacket in less than three minutes.

Kenny Payne faced a tougher task. He didn't have enough magic to pull it off.

With only seven scholarship players at Payne's disposal, the Cardinals (5-9, 0-3 ACC) trailed for all but 48 seconds, and by as many as 19 points, en route to a third consecutive loss by double digits, 83-70 — the 24th by 10 or more points during the second-year head coach's tenure.

"I did not see them let go of the rope," Payne said when asked to evaluate his team's mettle, something that was lacking more often than not during Wednesday's lopsided loss at Virginia.

"I thought they fought pretty hard. I thought we didn't play very smart."

Through a litany of mistakes, upon which the Panthers preyed, U of L kept within single digits at halftime, 40-34. Behind a 9-2 run, powered entirely by 3-pointers from Mike James, it sawed a 14-point deficit in half and trailed only 57-50 with 11:41 to play in regulation.

But the Cards, yet again, could not get over the hump. And that's despite their advantages in both field-goal (51.1%) and 3-point (47.6%) percentages and James leading all scorers with 23 points — two off his career high.

"If we shoot those numbers and are that efficient," Payne said, "how are we not winning the game?"

Everything that could go wrong for the coach continues to do so as he tries to prove to athletics director Josh Heird that he's worth keeping around at the helm of his alma mater.

Less than an hour before tipoff, Louisville announced that its lone senior, JJ Traynor, will miss the remainder of the season after he reaggravated during Friday's practice a shoulder injury that has sidelined him since a Dec. 9 loss at DePaul.

Team spokesperson Zach Greenwell told The Courier Journal that Traynor is expected to undergo surgery. Payne said he did not know if the Bardstown native will pursue a medical redshirt.

The Cards were also without sophomores Tre White (groin) and Emmanuel Okorafor (ankle) for a second straight game; and then there was Thursday's news of freshman Dennis Evans no longer being medically cleared to compete moving forward.

Each of the four players could have been useful Saturday; because, as Payne told reporters Friday, the bench isn't always a motivating factor when you’re as short-handed as he is.

"If you've got a great walk-on, send him my way," he said after the loss. "I need players."

Payne had to roll with the punches as U of L's turnovers piled up, 18 leading to 28 points for Pitt.

Freshman point guard Ty-Laur Johnson committed the most on the team with five. He and fellow first-year players Kaleb Glenn and Curtis Williams combined to account for 10.

Some turnovers, James said, stemmed from "dribbling to the defense" and "trying to force passes." Payne attributed others to players choosing the incorrect style of pass based on the situation — direct passes when they should have been lobs, bounce passes when they should have been direct.

"We talk about it. We teach it," he said. "They have to grasp it."

Fouls were also an issue. The Panthers went 19 for 21 from the free-throw line. Nine of those attempts came from Louisville fouling a 3-point shooter.

And the consistent defensive intensity Payne has been clamoring for all season didn't surface. Anyone who was watching knew that was going to be the case when Johnson quit on chasing down Pitt’s Zack Austin as he turned a steal into a fast-break dunk less than a minute into the game.

"A lot of this — in my notes, I've got, 'Self-imposed damages,'" Payne said. "It wasn't the scheme. It was somebody making a bad mistake."

Senior forward Blake Hinson led Pitt with 21 points, eight of which came at the charity stripe. Austin, a redshirt junior who entered Saturday averaging 6.9 points, scored a season-high 20.

For U of L, Glenn set career highs in points (10), rebounds (seven) and minutes (23). James, Williams (11) and Skyy Clark (11) were the only other players to break double digits.

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, meanwhile, had a second consecutive quiet performance after ending 2023 with three straight double-doubles. With yet another opponent making slowing him down a point of emphasis, the junior scored three points Saturday on 1-for-3 shooting. He grabbed three rebounds in 30 minutes.

Across two games in 2024, Huntley-Hatfield has totaled 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting with eight rebounds.

"I need more leadership from him," Payne said, "and I need more fight from him."

Up next for the Cards: a 7 p.m. tipoff Wednesday at Miami, a team coming off a trip to last season's Final Four.

Payne told reporters Saturday he did not know if White or Okorafor would be cleared to play by then but said he "put a little pressure on them" by telling them "they should be getting treated four or five times a day."

"We need them," he said.

And a few dozen abracadabras.

"I can't speak on what kind of job he's doing, because I'm not here with him every day, (but) I think Kenny's a good coach," Pitt head coach Jeff Capel said. "I think he's a great man. And I hope that he has some good luck in the future."

Until then, and amid all of the uncertainty surrounding his job status, Payne said he's committed to rebuilding the program "brick by brick."

"I'm going to do all the preparation," he said, "and I'm still going to take all the blame.

"In this business, all the wins — kids. All the losses — me."

C.L. Brown: Kenny Payne inherited a broken Louisville program. Saturday showed he can't fix it

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 drops ACC game vs Pittsburgh