Yahoo Sports Louisville basketball gave UK all it had in narrow defeat. Pat Kelsey discusses the game.
Pat Kelsey’s first taste of the UK vs. U of L men’s basketball rivalry was, ultimately, a losing one.
But nevertheless, the first-year Louisville head coach has plenty of positives to take from what was a 93-85 loss to No. 5-ranked UK on Saturday night inside a raucous Rupp Arena.
Despite fielding a team significantly limited by injuries, Kelsey’s Cardinals stayed with the Wildcats for the duration of Saturday’s contest.
U of L got big scoring nights from both Chucky Hepburn (26 points) and Terrence Edwards Jr. (23) and also saw significant improvement in team-wide 3-point shooting (35.9%). Louisville might have led for only 10 seconds in Saturday’s game, but the Cardinals were competitive throughout, a stark contrast to what this rivalry was during the last two seasons when Kenny Payne led the Louisville program.
Kentucky has now won eight straight games against Louisville in Rupp Arena, and six of the last seven meetings between the teams overall.
Following Saturday’s game, Kelsey met with media members at Rupp Arena to break down the good and the bad from U of L’s performance. The Cardinals are now 6-5 on the season, with an 0-1 mark in ACC games. Louisville plays again next Saturday at Florida State in an ACC game.
Here’s everything Kelsey said after the rivalry loss to UK.
Opening statement.
I want to give Kentucky credit. They played a great game, great college atmosphere. I thought it was a great college game. Lamont Butler was magnificent.
I still see that kid in my nightmares. We played against him when I was the head coach at the College of Charleston and he was the point guard at San Diego State, and we played an epic battle in the first round. He’s just a warrior. A winner.
He’s been out the last couple games and there was all these, people were talking about whether he was going to play or not and I said, ‘Nah, that cat is playing in this game.’ He is a stone-cold killer and a really, really, good player.
He’s obviously a good shooter but he’s more of an attacking downhill driver. I want to say, I might have this wrong, he had seven made 3s on the year and he made six tonight. He made tough shots, big shots.
We had momentum, and he stopped the momentum with a lot of those 3s. We had a couple really bad defensive breakdowns on a couple of his wide-open 3s. I know I spent a lot of time on him, (Kentucky) has a very, very good team. They’re very deep.
You guys have heard me talk about the job that I think Mark’s doing. He’s doing a great job with this group. I’m proud of our guys.
It’s no secret that we’re a little shorthanded in terms of the depth. We had a lot of guys that played a whole lot of minutes tonight, but they never quit. Kentucky made some huge runs on us, and I thought our guys responded with resiliency every time and brought the game back to a one or two possession game.
That last big burst that they made, the plays that they made. You know, it was just too much for us. Proud of our guys, but I give Kentucky credit.
Question about the importance of Louisville playing a competitive game against UK.
It’s a great, great rivalry, I said it the other day at our press conference. Not only in collegiate basketball, but I think it’s one of the really cool rivalries in all of American sports.
We have to do our part and we’ll win some to continue to make it a rivalry, obviously we came up short tonight. It’s hard to truly describe, and I think you guys out here who are Kentuckians, you guys understand, but nationally, especially our city of Louisville, and here in Lexington as well, how much this rivalry means.
It is house divided, obviously. They reminded me, early and often, every single day, every time I get gas, every time I get something to eat in the community: ‘Hey coach, how are you doing? Are you going to beat Kentucky this year?’
So I get it. I get it. What a great thing it was. It was awesome. You have to, sometimes, get above the trees and have a little bit of perspective of what you’re doing and where you’re at. I try to stay present every single day. Keep blinders on and work and keep helping our team become the best they can be, but I’m going to be honest with you. When I walked out there today, the pageantry of the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry hit me.
I looked around. I saw the atmosphere, and this is before the jump ball went up. I did take a minute to truly appreciate how special it was.
But, whatever it is, 365 days until the next time we play again, and I’m going to be reminded about four million times, when that game’s coming up. And we’ll be looking forward to it.
Question about how Kentucky looks with and without Lamont Butler.
Well, your point guard is your quarterback. Obviously the kid, (Jaxson) Robinson, is a point guard as well, and Lamont is the head of the snake.
To beat (UK) you’ve got to cut the head of the snake off and it’s hard because he’s a warrior. He’s a disciplined player. He’s a phenomenal defender.
I don’t know if he remembered me or not, but he came over and he was dapping everybody up at the scorer’s table and he walked past me and I said, ‘Do you remember me?’ and he said, ‘Oh, I remember you.’
A lot of respect for him. I mean, yeah, it’s like us. If Chucky Hepburn went out, we’re a different team without Chucky Hepburn. The best point guards, I believe, you give them the ball at 5:15 in the afternoon and they give it back to you safe and sound at 7:15.
That’s what that kid did tonight. You know what, we’ve got one too. Because Chucky Hepburn is one of the best point guards in the country, so is Lamont Butler. And oh by the way, the kid sitting next to me (Terrence Edwards), he was a beast tonight.
And I love what (Edwards) said about staying resilient, staying in the gym, continuing to be consistent and just work. And it’s starting to pay off. He’s had a tough month, month and a half. He came out of the starting lineup. He’s still out of the starting lineup.
Phenomenal attitude. Plays in an atmosphere like this and plays darn near the game of his life. I’m really proud of him.
Question about what Pat Kelsey learned from Louisville’s performance in a difficult road environment.
I was pretty clear (in) the makeup and the fabric of our guys. They say the game doesn’t build character, but it reveals it. Our guys continue to show character. I thought we (fought through) some adversity.
We’ll have (Aboubacar Traore) back soon, (not for next Saturday’s Florida State game). But we’re hoping right after Christmas he’ll be back. That’ll be a big boost from a depth standpoint. Obviously he’s a very versatile player and we need him.
So we’re looking forward to that. And having an extra body and having a little bit more depth. It’ll help us moving forward.
Question about Terrence Edwards Jr.’s scoring production over the last three games since moving to the bench.
I don’t know, you’d have to ask him. People ask me, (ESPN’s) Dan Shulman asked me, ‘Why did he come out of the lineup?’
And I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ I’m just trying to figure out buttons to push and, hey, I make a bunch of dumb decisions but he’s played pretty well the last two games coming off the bench.
Now every player, players are competitors. Terrence is a team guy. He’s about the team first and foremost. (But) that cat wants to start now. He wants to start. He’s a decorated player. He’s a winning player. Championship player over the years at James Madison.
We’ll see how it is moving forward.
Noah Waterman is a guy that’s had some struggles lately, made three big 3s for us tonight playing against his former coach. Got 12 stinkin’ rebounds, six offensive.
You talk about how many minutes our guys have to play and the standard of their hustle, of their grit and tenacity. I’m proud of them. I’m proud of them.
I’m proud of Noah. 12 rebounds in a game like this. Made three big 3s. That was big for him.
Question about whether Louisville just had to live with Lamont Butler having a career scoring night.
Obviously, we had him (marked as a) driver and attacker first. He’s a freight train, a bowling ball getting downhill, applying pressure and getting to the rim.
We obviously knew that he was a good open, feet set 3-point shooter. Obviously we didn’t adjust fast enough. Because, man, he got looks today, the ball got in the air it was like touched by god that thing was going in. By like his sixth one, somebody, Chucky, fell down, and he was kind of mad at himself because he kind of gambled in the huddle, gambled off the ball, and the ball lands in Lamont’s hands and I just turned around and I just stared at my staff and I just looked and I go, ‘No way this one’s going in.’
Bang! The crowd goes nuts and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ Give him credit. Tip the cap. Made big shots tonight. And he was the difference in the game.
Question about what went wrong with Louisville’s defensive lapses.
It was a lot of things. I’ll have to watch the tape and go back. A couple times, like I said, were just complete gambles where we, I think one time there’s a post mismatch, we thought it was a post mismatch, Noah had him, we didn’t want to trap, kind of ran him at the ball, kicked out for an open 3. Got a wide open look in transition.
I’d have to go back and look at it, but it was kind of a lot of things. I don’t think it was as much like we didn’t respect (Lamont Butler’s) ability to shoot, we just had several lapses in transition, ball-screen defense, off-ball screening defense. And the kid stepped up and made big ones.
Question about the second-half skirmish between UK and Louisville near the U of L bench.
You know, the kid (Brandon Garrison) made a hustle play. Kind of fell into our bench. I don’t think it was any big deal.
It was funny, Lamont, I’m acting like me and Lamont are boys... So (Garrison) goes into the bench, and Lamont goes over and he’s grabbing him and I’m grabbing him and I look at him and we both smile like, ‘We’re good. We’re good. We’re good.’
Officials did a great job with it. It was really no big deal.
Question about the durability of Chucky Hepburn given the offensive load he has for Louisville.
He’s played a lot of minutes. He’s played a lot of minutes. We need Chucky right now to be our point guard for 38 minutes, to take tickets, to make hot dogs, to sell tickets, sweep the floor after the game. He’s doing a lot.
He’s got a big responsibility, so playing that much, especially on the defensive end, to stay engaged and to stay consistent with your defensive principles when you’re exhausted sometimes. We’re trying to use our timeouts intelligently to get him some extra rest form time to time.
But as I said once before from a point guard standpoint, if we were a pitching staff it would be Chucky Hepburn and pray for rain. But he’s doing a great job handling all that responsibility. He’s an absolute warrior, he’s a phenomenal point guard. One of the best I’ve ever coached.
Lamont Butler’s career night leads UK past Louisville in new era of basketball rivalry
Five things you need to know from No. 5 Kentucky’s 93-85 win over Louisville
Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s victory against rival Louisville
UK basketball won an action-packed rivalry game vs. Louisville. Mark Pope unpacks it all.
Box score from No. 5 Kentucky basketball’s 93-85 win against Louisville
UK basketball’s Lamont Butler returned from injury to star against Louisville in rivalry win
Pat Kelsey brought energy back to U of L basketball. Can the Cards be competitive with UK?
