Louisville player almost sat out game for worst reason

Nov 19, 2023; New York, New York, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Ty-Laur Johnson (4) drives to the basket against Texas Longhorns forward Brock Cunningham (30) during the second half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Louisville guard Ty-Laur Johnson barely played in the first half of his team’s win over Bellarmine on Wednesday night, and you would probably never guess why.

The Cardinals defeated Bellarmine 73-68 at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville to improve to 4-3 on the season. Johnson played fewer than three minutes in the first half, leading many to wonder if head coach Kenny Payne was dissatisfied with the freshman’s play. It turns out Johnson was dissatisfied with his undergarments.

Payne told reporters after the game that Johnson “wasn’t sure” if he wanted to play in the first half because Louisville did not have the tights he wanted to wear.

Kenny Payne said Louisville didn’t have the tights that Ty-Laur Johnson wanted, so Johnson “wasn’t sure” he wanted to play in the first half.

“In the second half, he accepted the fact that we didn’t have the kind of tights that we’d never had for him, and he played well.”

— Eric Crawford (@ericcrawford) November 30, 2023

“In the second half, he accepted the fact that we didn’t have the kind of tights that we’d never had for him, and he played well,” Payne said.

Payne was not cracking a joke. As C.L. Brown of the Louisville Courier Journal noted, Johnson has worn a compression sleeve on his left leg all season. He also asked to come out with five minutes left in Louisville’s loss to Indiana two weeks ago because of a groin issue. Payne was not happy.

“These young kids now think, ‘I don’t feel good today, I can just shut it down,’” the coach said after the loss to Indiana. “Well, that affects a whole lot of lives.”

Johnson played a total of 19 minutes on Thursday, so he was on the floor for most of the second half. He finished with 8 points, 5 assists and 2 rebounds.

Louisville is hoping for vast improvement this year after they went 4-28 in Payne’s first season. You can understand why a player sitting out due to not having the proper tights might irritate the head coach.