Louisville head coach Kenny Payne admitted Wednesday that freshman point guard Ty-Laur Johnson was reticent to play during the first half against Bellarmine because he didn’t have the tights he wanted to wear.
The player stayed on the sidelines for much of the first half, but by the end of the game, he finally achieved two rebounds and made eight points to help the Cardinals win 72-68, according to Fox News.
Ty-Laur Johnson #4 of the Louisville Cardinals fights for the ball against Tyrese Hunter #4 of the Texas Longhorns during the first half of the Saatva Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 19, 2023, in New York City. (Photo by Porter Binks/Getty Images).
“You ready for this? I probably shouldn’t tell you this,” Payne told the media. “We didn’t have the tights that he wanted, so he didn’t know if he wanted to play.
“Oh ya. You heard it. We didn’t have the tights that he wanted, that we’ve never had for him, and he decided, ‘I don’t feel like I can go.’ That’s what young people do,” he said.
“But he figured it out in the second half,” Payne said. “He accepted the fact that we didn’t have the tights that we’ve never had for him, and he played, and he played well.”
The coach said he had a discussion with the player during halftime and insisted that young people are learning how to interact with people.
“This is a new day and age, a new generation of young people,” Payne explained. “They are learning what it means to be a part of a team. They are learning what it means to be kids of character. They are learning. They are learning. All of them are learning.”
Ty-Laur Johnson is #4 of the Louisville Cardinals against the Coppin State Eagles at KFC YUM! Center on November 15, 2023, in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
He added that many kids today think that they can just “shut it down” if they don’t feel good today.
“Ty-Laur Johnson is a great kid. A great kid,” Payne said. “He is learning for the first time of his life what it is to be held accountable. To be on time. To be a part of a team and be his responsibility to the team. I’m proud of him for fighting through it but I also know that I cannot ever take my foot off his neck. I know that.”
Payne, a second-year coach with the Cardinals, had a disappointing 4-28 season in 2022 and is currently at 4-3 this season.
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