Louisville Falls Short at Kentucky in Pat Kelsey's Rivalry Debut

The Cardinals allowed the Wildcats to shoot 58.2 percent from the field.

Dec 14, 2024; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Chucky Hepburn (24) shoots the ball during the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

This story will be updated.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The first chapter of a new era of the Battle of the Bluegrass has now been written. But unfortunately for Louisville, it wasn't an entry that ended in their favor.

Pitting first-year head coaches against one another for the first time in the history of the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry, Pat Kelsey and the Cardinals could not overcome Mark Pope and the Wildcats, falling 93-85 on Saturday at Rupp Arena.

The Cardinals (6-5, 0-1 ACC) have now dropped three-in-a-row against the No. 5 Wildcats (10-1, 0-0 SEC), having not won since a 62-59 decision back on Dec. 26, 2020. Louisville's losing streak against Kentucky in Rupp Arena extends to eight games, last winning on the road back on Jan. 5, 2008.

Thanks to both a lack of available bodies due to injuries and Kentucky's own electric offense, Louisville struggled immensely on the defensive end of the court. They allowed the Wildcats to shoot 58.2 percent from the floor, 11-of-21 on three-point attempts, and gave up 24 fast break points. Of their 32 made shots, Kentucky assisted on 23 of them despite turning it over 11 times.

UK's Lamont Butler torched UofL, scoring 33 points on a perfect 10-of-10 shooting, including 6-of-6 from three.

Conversely, Louisville was just average from the field, connecting on 44.3 percent of their field goal attempts, and assisting on just eight of their 31 made baskets. While they did make 14 threes, they needed 39 tries to do so. They also were just 9-of-14 from the free throw line compared to Kentucky's 18-of-28.

Louisville had five players crack double figured, led primarily by Terrence Edwards Jr. and Chucky Hepburn. The latter had a team-high 26 points and five assists, while the former poured in 23 points. Noah Waterman has a 12-point and 12-rebound double-double, while J'Vonne Hadley and Reyne Smith each had 10 points.

Louisville got off to about as poor of a start against Kentucky as they could have possibly had, particularly on the defensive end. The Wildcats made their first five baskets of the game, including a pair of threes, and got seven points in transition over the first three minutes. This forced Kelsey to call a timeout just 2:57 into the game after going down 14-5.

UK hit 12 of their first 15 attempts, and shot 16-of-23 percent for the first half overall, leading by as much as 12 points less than 10 minutes into the contest and seemingly positioning themselves to put the game away by halftime. But Louisville had other ideas.

The Cardinals didn't have nearly as hot of a shooting start, going 15-of-36 during the opening period, but this did include a 7-of-19 mark from deep. Despite giving up 16 fast break points during this time, they countered this by getting eight second chance points on five offensive rebounds and seven points off six UK turnovers. Put it all together, and UofL went into the break trailing just 46-40.

On the other side of halftime, Louisville had another sluggish defensive start in the second half. Kentucky hit four of their first seven shots of the period, including a 3-of-4 mark from deep, forcing Kelsey to burn another timeout just 3:28 into the half after the Cardinals went down 10.

Like after their first slow start, Louisville was able to claw their way back from the double digit deficit. They connect on nine of their first 13 attempts of the second half, including a 5-of-6 spurt that helped them fire off a 7-0 run and get within three points.

A critical stretch of the game came immediately afterwards. James Scott fouled out with 11:37 left, leaving the Cardinals with just seven available scholarship players. Soon after, an 0-of-6 cold stretch by the Cards led to a 7-0 run by the 'Cats, to which they pushed the lead back out to ten with just over ten minutes left.

Louisville was able to trim their deficit to as little as five points down the stretch, and even found some energy following a late game kerfuffle, but couldn't overcome inconsistent shooting. Including their aforementioned cold streak, they hit just six of their final 20 attempts of the game, while Kentucky shot an even 16-of-32 for the period.

Next up, Louisville will hop back into ACC play and stay on the road to face Florida State. Tip-off against the Seminoles is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 21 at 2:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Chuck Hepburn: Jordan Prather - Imagn Images)

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