Pat Kelsey brought energy back to U of L basketball. Can the Cards be competitive with UK?

Pat Kelsey’s offseason arrival brought much needed energy to the Louisville basketball program and its fan base.

Frankly, how could it not.

Two much-maligned seasons of the Kenny Payne era — during which the Cardinals went 12-52 (18.8%) and suffered numerous embarrassing defeats — were more than enough.

Now Kelsey, the former Winthrop and Charleston head coach, has the Cardinals playing with a cohesion and toughness that had been sorely lacking.

There have been undoubted positives this season for Louisville, which brings a 6-4 record into Saturday evening’s rivalry matchup against No. 5 Kentucky (9-1) in Rupp Arena.

Wins in the Thanksgiving week Battle 4 Atlantis event over then-No. 14 Indiana and West Virginia, before falling to Oklahoma in the title game, showed the competency that Kelsey has brought to the Cardinals.

Of course, those victories were offset by a major loss: Senior transfer forward Kasean Pryor (12 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 blocks per game) suffered a torn ACL in the Oklahoma game and is out for the rest of the season.

Pryor is one of several U of L players who are now sidelined. Junior guard Koren Johnson, who transferred from Washington during the offseason, played in only two games for the Cardinals this season before undergoing surgery for a shoulder injury and also being ruled out for the remainder of the campaign. Senior forward Aboubacar Traore (a Long Beach State transfer) played in two games this season before breaking his left arm, although he’s expected to return in the coming weeks.

Additionally, two other players on Kelsey’s first Louisville roster are redshirting this season due to injuries. They are senior center Aly Khalifa (knee) and senior guard Kobe Rodgers (leg). Khalifa previously played for Kentucky coach Mark Pope at BYU and was recruited from the transfer portal this offseason by UK.

In short, Louisville will be walking wounded into Rupp Arena, something that will hinder the Cardinals’ chances of defeating Kentucky for the first time since the COVID-19 impacted 2020-21 season.

“It changes, obviously, because of the depth piece and guys moving into new and expanded roles and things like that,” Kelsey said of Louisville’s team identity Wednesday night after the Cardinals snapped a three-game losing streak with a three-point home win over UTEP.

“It’s been an interesting week-and-a-half because we’re figuring some stuff out. And a little bit of it is on the fly.”

Kentucky has won five of the last six meetings against Louisville, and the last two triumphs by the Cats over the Cards weren’t close. John Calipari’s penultimate UK squad beat Payne’s first Louisville team by 23 points in Lexington in December 2022. Last season, Calipari’s last Kentucky team beat Payne’s final Louisville team by 19 points in the Derby City.

Despite Louisville’s injury woes, just about everyone agrees this season’s meeting between the rivals figures to be closer on the scoreboard.

Even with Pryor out of the picture, Louisville has three players — guards Chucky Hepburn (14.1 points), Terrence Edwards Jr. (12.9) and Reyne Smith (12.1) — who are averaging double-digit scoring per game. Another guard, J’Vonne Hadley, isn’t far behind at 9.8 points per contest.

“Chucky Hepburn, I say all the time — just because of our depth situation, and our roster makeup right now with the injuries — if our point guard play was a pitching staff, it would be Chucky Hepburn and then pray for rain,” Kelsey quipped Wednesday.

The 6-foot-6 Hadley, who previously played at Northeastern and Colorado, leads U of L in rebounding with an average of 8 boards per game.

Sixth-year Louisville forward Noah Waterman (6.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game) spent the last two seasons playing for Pope at BYU after previous college stops at Niagara and Detroit Mercy. Waterman has started eight of Louisville’s 10 games this season.

While it’s clear that the gap between Kentucky and Louisville is closer than it’s been in years, the Cardinals are deficient in several key areas when compared to the Wildcats.

Depth is first and foremost in this conversation.

Kentucky will be without experienced backup guard Kerr Kriisa for Saturday’s game. During his Friday afternoon press conference, Pope also cast doubt over the availability of starting point guard Lamont Butler, who has missed Kentucky’s last two games with a right ankle injury.

“Lamont was on the court a little bit (Thursday), he didn’t do anything with us, but he was on the court a little bit (Thursday),” Pope said. “We’ll kind of see how it goes (Friday). Trying to roll him out there. I would love to have him. He would really help us. I just don’t know if he’s going to be quite ready.”

Still, Kentucky is a team designed to wear down opponents in waves. And Pope expects this to continue against Louisville.

“We hope every game is that way,” Pope said Friday. “We’re kind of built to try and do that, to try and make that one of the factors that impacts games. So that will continue to be a staple for us all through the season.”

There’s also the matter of the 3-point line. Per KenPom, Louisville ranks 341st in the nation (out of 364 teams) in 3-point shooting percentage: The Cardinals make just 27% of their tries from deep.

“The process has been great,” Kelsey said. “The guys’ process. The shooting. Getting the reps up every day. Keeping their head up. Staying confident. Those results are going to start to show.”

U of L is allowing opponents to make 33.9% of their 3-point attempts. This perimeter defense ranks 213th in the country.

Compared to expectations, Kentucky is in a 3-point shooting rut, having made only 28.3% of their shots from deep over the last five games. Still, the Cats are shooting 35.5% from 3-point land for the season.

Plenty of meaningful advantages will be in Kentucky’s favor come Saturday, and KenPom projects an 11-point win for the home team.

But Kelsey’s Louisville team will have a fighting chance to win the game, and that’s a better outlook than the Cardinals have had in some time.

Saturday

Louisville at No. 5 Kentucky

When: 5:15 p.m.

TV: ESPN

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Louisville 6-4, Kentucky 9-1

Series: Kentucky leads 39-17

Last meeting: Kentucky won 95-76 on Dec. 21, 2023, in Louisville

This story was originally published December 13, 2024 at 6:30 AM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-242-5257

Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription