Louisville loses to Wright State at the buzzer

The Cards fall to 0-2 after their second straight 1-point loss.

Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

The Kenny Payne era at Louisville continued to get off to pretty much the most brutal start imaginable as the Cardinals fell to Wright State, 74-73, on a buzzer-beating jumper by the Raiders’ Trey Calvin Saturday afternoon.

U of L is now 0-2 for the first time since the start of the 1999-2000 season, with both of their losses coming by a single point. Dating back to last season’s loss to Virginia in the ACC tournament, the Cardinals have now lost three consecutive games by 1-point for the first time in program history.

Calvin’s jumper gave Wright State its first lead since the 8:59 mark of the first half.

Following back-to-back threes by El Ellis, who led all scorers with 29 points, Louisville owned a 70-65 advantage and seemingly all of the game’s momentum. Then, the same inability to close out games that we’ve seen for three seasons now, reared its head once again.

The Cards final three possessions included two turnovers and one atrocious trip that ended in a 25-foot attempt from Jae’Lyn Withers. Meanwhile, on the other end, U of L allowed Wright State to make its final four field goal attempts — one dunk, one layup, and two midrange jumpers from Calvin.

Wright State gained control of the game’s final possession by tying up Ellis, who appeared to be anticipating the Raiders giving a foul. Then, with fouls to give, the Cardinals elected to play straight up and allow Calvin to attempt a near identical shot to the one he hit in last season’s Horizon League tournament championship game.

I’m just going to end every one of these write-ups with “only place to go from here is up” until we actually win a game.