UK assistant Payne braces for meeting with alma mater Louisville

The University of Kentucky arranged a meeting last summer for new assistant coach Kenny Payne and reporters to get acquainted. Inevitably, and immediately, the conversation fast-forwarded to the game this Friday. Many basketball conversations around here touch on UK-U of L, but that's especially so when one of the participants played for the University of Louisville and now coaches for the University of Kentucky.

"I'm a Wildcat," Payne said before repeating himself. "I'm a Wildcat."

When a reporter asked him if he ever thought he'd utter those words, Payne smiled and said, "Never. Not in a million years."

Payne, a freshman contributor on U of L's 1985-86 national championship team and a 1,000-point scorer for the Cardinals, acknowledged some uneasiness about being in the KFC Yum Center on Friday as a member of UK's coaching staff.

"I'm a little nervous about it," he said before adding, "You know, I love Louisville. It's mine. It's my alma mater. The experience I had at that institution was unbelievable. An NCAA Tournament championship at the University of Louisville, people still talk about that."

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