MAUI JIM MAUI INVITATIONAL

November 21, 2022

Kenny Payne

Kamari Lands

J.J. Traynor

Lahaina Civic Center

Louisville Cardinals

Postgame Press Conference

Arkansas - 80, Louisville - 54

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with an opening statement from coach. And then take questions for the student-athletes.

KENNY PAYNE: They kept competing. They kept the pressure. They kept the energy and brought it more. And we fazed out. I thought they out competed us. They wanted it more. But that's what great teams do. There's a reason they're top 10 in the country and they showed it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for our student-athletes?

Q. How tough was that Arkansas defense for both you guys? I mean, especially in that second half when they kind of started to pull away?

KAMARI LANDS: I feel like, like I said, they play a great defense the whole time. Just like coach said, they're great athletes, great team. And they just kept the pressure on us all game. Respect to them for playing the defense they did.

J.J. TRAYNOR: Yeah, I would have to agree. Very aggressive team. Props to them. They're a good team.

Q. One of the keys that coach talked about was keeping turnovers down and trying to manage that. A lot of that comes down to trust. How are y'all trying to build trust and kind of building the process? What are the things that are keeping y'all strong, even though you're having these tough moments? How do you keep kind of the trust in the process in terms of down the stretch and taking care of the ball and doing the kinds of things that you need to do to win?

J.J. TRAYNOR: I would say just being confident. When you're not confident that's when turnovers come. So I feel like as a team that's something we try to work on and stay confident and be strong with the ball. It's just something we got to work on.

KAMARI LANDS: Honestly, I feel like it starts in practice. Like we, like as a team we got to build trust. We got to work hard with each other and we got to fight. We can't just -- I feel like in the second half we kind of just gave up and we just let them do whatever they wanted and we weren't tough. That starts in practice with us not giving up, no whatever we do, just working hard. That's how you build trust with each other definitely.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, guys. We'll take questions for coach.

Q. Building off what Kamari was just talking about as far as trust in practice. As you guys as a coaching staff, how do you try to encourage that in practice in these coming days?

KENNY PAYNE: You know, we're rebuilding a program. We're rebuilding a new culture. We're doing a new culture. The trust part of it is vital. And that's not going to come overnight.

When you talk about the greatest programs, the most winningest programs, the culture takes care of the trust. It's done already.

We're establishing that. We're trying to build that. We're trying to let them know you got coaches that's going to love you, that's going to push you, that's going to make your life -- coach you with love. Coach you with love so that you understand that no matter what happens in your life we're going to be there with you. And we're going to try to prepare you for life.

At times this generation of kids, they're already non-trusting. So we're trying to establish who we are. Regardless of what our backgrounds are, there are still times where young people are not going to trust what you say. Not going to trust how hard you have to play when you're telling 'em. Trust how vitally important it is that you practice a certain way.

Winning basketball is all the little things. The torture that you do to your body and conditioning, the work ethic that you do to continue to pass the ball to each other and trust that your teammate will make the right play. That comes with time. We're trying to build that. We got a long way to go, to be honest with you.

Q. I was just wondering what was your impression of the atmosphere in the building? How cool was that for you guys?

KENNY PAYNE: It was good. I thought that it was, you know, you're playing a top-10 team. We had a bunch of fans from Louisville here. We had a bunch of Arkansas fans here. They cheered their team on. I think Louisville did a great job of cheering our team on, fans-wise.

But Arkansas, give them a lot of credit. That length, that athleticism, they are tough to deal with. They're very well coached. Musselman does a great job with 'em. They're only going to get better. And they're young.