Louisville basketball: Pat Kelsey on ’emotional game’ versus Winthrop
Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey said playing against his former Winthrop team was ’emotional’ after the Cardinals beat the Eagles 76-61.
The plane ride to paradise will not be a somber one for Louisville basketball.
But Pat Kelsey and the Cardinals (3-1) have a lot to clean up before taking the court for three games in as many days as part of next week’s Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis.
Glass half full: U of L fended off Winthrop, 76-61, on Friday night at the KFC Yum! Center to move two games above .500 for the first time since Jan. 28, 2022. After pesky mid-majors treated Denny Crum Court like their playground during the disastrous Kenny Payne era, there’s a lot to be said about walking away with an ugly W.
Glass half empty: If it plays like it did during the first half against the Eagles (4-3) when it battles No. 18 Indiana on Wednesday in the Bahamas, it could be dealt another lopsided loss like the beatdown it suffered at the hands of then-No. 12 Tennessee earlier this month.
“I don’t think any coach in the country is ever satisfied,” Kelsey said. “There are always ways that you can improve. I think this team continues to grow. There’s a lot of potential. There are still some things that we need to clean up; but every team in the country needs to do some things to improve.
“I love the mindset of our players; and I love the growth that we’ve shown. We’ve got a big test coming up, over the next couple of days down in the Bahamas, and we’re looking forward to it.”
Louisville led by eight, 35-27, at halftime. The rest of the box score wasn’t too kind.
Twelve turnovers — three off its season high of 15 against the Volunteers. Getting beat on the offensive glass, 11-2, and second-chance points, 12-4. A 3-for-9 clip from 3-point range.
Had Winthrop not been ice cold during the opening 20 minutes, finishing it 28.9% from the field and 21.4% from beyond the arc, the Cards would have likely been playing catch-up; because the Eagles got off 16 more shot attempts than they did.
“We haven’t been the best version of ourselves yet,” said Winthrop coach Mark Prosser — a former colleague of Kelsey’s and the son of his mentor, the late Skip Prosser. “Our opponents have had a lot to do with that.”
U of L led by as many as 17, 69-52 at the 4:57 mark of the second half. From there, it allowed the Eagles to score seven unanswered — their largest run of the evening — and pull within 10 entering the final three minutes of regulation only to respond with a 7-2 knockout punch.
“That’s a mature mindset,” Kelsey said. “It’s about how you respond; it’s the next thing. Our guys, for the most part, have that mindset.”
The Cards finished with a season-high 20 turnovers — 11 combined between two players, Terrence Edwards Jr. and Kasean Pryor — and a season-low seven 3s on 26 attempts. Five of those treys came from Reyne Smith, who led all scorers with 20 points in 28 minutes off the bench; while the rest of his teammates went 2 for 17 from deep.
“We knew, going into the game, that it was going to be scrappy,” the senior guard from Australia said.
To its credit, Louisville turned it up a notch on the rebounding front during the second half, finishing the period with a 25-18 advantage. J’Vonne Hadley led the way with a game-high 13 boards alongside 12 points to notch his first double-double in the red and black.
James Scott and Chucky Hepburn rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 and 10 points, respectively. The former accounted for half of the team’s season-high 10 blocks; while the latter had its best plus-minus rating, +16.
The Cards also forced 19 turnovers leading to 21 points. Through four games, their defense ranks fourth in the country on KenPom.com with a 25.9% turnover rate.
“Our guys played gritty overall as a team,” Kelsey said.
We’ll find out Wednesday if that grit travels, if the turnovers follow and whether U of L can shoot the lights out in another Bahamian resort ballroom like it did during its summer exhibition trip to Nassau. Kelsey, for one, is boarding the flight confident that his group has come a long way since then.
“We’re, at this point, an advanced team,” he said. “We’re (not) still trying to knock the rust off and implement things. Guys have a very, very firm understanding as to what we do and why we do it.”
Louisville and Indiana (4-0) will tip off at noon Wednesday in Game 1 of the Battle 4 Atlantis. Either No. 4 Gonzaga or West Virginia awaits in the second round. On the other side of the bracket: No. 17 Arizona, Davidson, Oklahoma and Providence.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
