Pat Kelsey: Louisville Debut was Full of 'Goosebumps Moments'

Kelsey guided the Cardinals to their largest margin of victory since 2018.

Nov 4, 2024; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey reacts during the second half against the Morehead State Eagles at KFC Yum! Center. / Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Two weeks ago when Pat Kelsey coached his first ever game inside the KFC Yum! Center, the new head coach of the Louisville men's basketball program was more than willing to admit that, leading up to the Cardinals' game against Young Harris College, he might be the most nervous I have been as a head coach. He described it as the "culmination of a crazy seven months or so," not to mention that he was still in the process of establishing his pregame routine at his new job.

Of course, that game - as well as Louisville's next game against Spalding - didn't count. Despite winning in blowout fashion in each matchup, both games were exhibitions as warmups for the start of the regular season.

The real thing finally came on Monday night.

Louisville welcomed in-state foe Morehead State to the KFC Yum! Center for their 2024-25 season opener, and like we had seen in both their summer foreign tour and in exhibition play, promptly delivered a 93-45 beatdown in front of 12,490 Cardinal faithful in attendance. Afterwards, the team doused Kelsey with water in the locker room in celebration of his first win at Louisville, and athletic director Josh Heird also presented him with the game ball.

The Eagles are far from the best team Louisville will play all season, or at home for that matter. The announced attendance was also roughly half of the KFC Yum! Center's 22.090 listed capacity. But even with that in mind, Pat Kelsey said his first official game as the Louisville head coach was full of "goosebumps moments," and that it was "something I will remember the rest of my life."

“I thought the crowd was phenomenal tonight," he said. "Goosebumps moments for me were when our teams made a run and they called a timeout and the place went nuts. I have coached for a long time and lots of home games and I never had a home game like that. It is something I will remember the rest of my life.

"I don’t want to say that in anyway that would be disparaging about the home games I have coached before, because every single one of them was special to me. But man, the exhibitions were cool, but it was different tonight."

While Kelsey's teams at Winthrop and Charleston were more so known for their high tempo offense and three-point shooting prowess, which we saw in the leadup to the opener, this game was won more so by a stout defensive presence. Louisville held Morehead State to just 23.1 percent from the field, forced 21 turnovers for 29 points off of them, and nabbed 12 steals.

"We talked about getting stops, making them miss and get offensive rebounds and defending without fouling – that ignited our fast break," Kelsey said. "That let us do what we do best and that is play out in the open court and our guys really did that.

Much like the first exhibition was a cathartic experience for the head man in charge, the same can be said for the fanbase and the first official game of the Pat Kelsey era.

The last decade or so has been rough for Cardinals fans. The Brian Bowen scandal and ouster of Rick Pitino, losing the 2013 championship banner, the Chris Mack and Dino Gaudio debacle, Mack's decline and eventual mutual separation with UofL, plus the entire Kenny Payne era.

For the first time in several years, Louisville fans were treated to competent and high-level basketball. The 48-point win was Louisville's largest margin of victory since taking down Southern 104-54 back on Nov. 13, 2018. It was also their largest in a season-opener since a 92-38 win vs. South Alabama on Nov. 18, 2001 - which coincidentally, was Pitino's coaching debut at Louisville.

While it was a great step towards healing and re-uniting the fanbase, Kelsey said he didn't go out to intentionally make a statement in game one. He and his program are simply focused about to immediate task at hand.

“Nobody in our organization focuses on anything but right now and what we’re doing moving forward," he said. "I know there’s been a lot said about how it was and how it this, like that’s over, that’s in the past. It's about the next thing. It’s about Louisville Basketball moving forward, and you come out of a game like that, the crowd was great, our players fed off the crowd, we played well, we shared the ball, and there were a lot of good things."

Now, Louisville's attention shifts to game No. 2, and it's a big one, as No. 12 Tennessee is coming to town for a marquee showdown with the Cardinals. Kelsey is hoping to see an even more juiced crowd for his second official on the sidelines

"Josh (Heird) promised me the place will be rocking and almost packed," he said. "You guys got to have Josh’s back and let have 20,000 people at the Yum on Saturday. ... We're going to need the sixth man and I know white Louisville fan base and the city of Louisville will step up. Let’s make Saturday really, really special.”

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