The first season of the Pat Kelsey era at Louisville helped bring the Cardinals back into the national spotlight, as it won 27 games for the first time since the 2014-15 season and clinched a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
The success didn’t come without growing pains however, as the second game of the season marked a massive disappointment for a program thirsting for relevance. In front of a sold-out KFC Yum Center, No. 12 ranked Tennessee ran Louisville off the court by a score of 77-55. The Volunteers led 40-26 at halftime after jumping out to a 10-0 lead and outscored the Cards 37-29 in the second half.
Kelsey joined “Inside College Basketball Now” with CBS Sports‘ Jon Rothstein this week, where he discussed how that loss helped springboard Louisville‘s success for the remainder of the season.
“You (directed at Rothstein) put it very kindly that they beat us pretty convincingly,” Kelsey said. “They tore our face off. They beat the living crap out of us. It’s well documented in several interviews that I’ve said that was a great turning point for us. Obviously we were playing against a Hall of Fame coach (Rick Barnes) and they played with physicality and tenacity that day.”
Kelsey reveals the Tennessee loss was a ‘great learning lesson’
“This is an old Skip Prosser saying and he may not have come up with this quote, but he used it a lot. It’s ‘never accept a victory in which you wouldn’t accept a defeat.’ Even when you win, I think coaches watch the tape and address their team after those wins when you get into the film sessions in the same mentality you would win you lose. You’ve got to be consistent with that.”
“When you face adversity like that and get beat convincingly, it’s a great learning lesson. The good thing is we got better from it.”
Following that embarrassing 22-point loss, Louisville went on to win 25 of its next 31 games until it lost to Duke in the ACC Championship Game and dropped its NCAA Tournament Round of 64 matchup to Creighton. This included downing West Virginia and No. 14 Indiana in the Battle 4 Atlantic and winning 18 of its 20 games in ACC play.
Kelsey’s first season helped plant seeds of hope in the Louisville basketball program, which has now brought on big expectations for the Cardinals in 2025-26.
