Louisville Rains Three-Pointers in Exhibition Blowout over Young Harris

The Cardinals shot a white-hot 24-of-56 from beyond the arc against the Mountain Lions.

Louisville Cardinals guard Terrence Edwards Jr. (5) scores one of his six three-point shots as the Cards easily defeated Young Harris College 106-59 in the Louisville Cards' first exhibition game at the KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville, Ky. Oct. 21, 2024. Edwards finished with 24 points. / Matt Stone/Courier Journal/USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - While we still have a couple weeks until the 2024-25 college basketball season gets underway, the Pat Kelsey era of the Louisville men's basketball program got it's unofficial start back over the summer. The Cardinals traveled down to The Bahamas for a pair of exhibition games, easily cruising past a pair of overmatched opponents, and providing our first true glimpse at what a Kelsey-led team at Louisville will look like.

Earlier this week, we got another first with the Pat Kelsey era at Louisville.

Before the regular season tips off next month, the Cardinals kicked off exhibition play, facing Division II foe Young Harris College on Monday in the first of two exhibition matchups. It marked Kelsey's first ever matchup inside the KFC Yum! Center as the head coach at Louisville. As expected, Louisville rolled to an easy victory, taking down the Mountain Lions to the tune of 106-59.

To anyone who watched the game or simply checked out the box score after the fact, it's pretty easy to see why Louisville won by nearly 50 points: the three-ball.

By the time the final horn sounded, Louisville had connected on a blistering 42.9 percent of their three-point attempts, eventually sinking a whopping 24 threes on 56 attempts. Had this been a regular season game, it would have set the school records for both made and attempted threes, which are 22 and 40, respectively.

“We don’t talk about shooting threes," Kelsey said after the game. "Everybody talks about how we value three-point shots. I like three-point shots because they are efficient shot – points per shot. Our major focus is playing off the attack and threes kind of present themselves. If we touch the paint, attack the rim, put foul pressure on the defense and threes present themselves. Our guys gave up good for great. We always say we ‘are hunting great shots’ – that is getting to the free throw line, finishing at the rim and kicking for threes. ... We ran hard and made some space, and the guys made selfless plays finding open shooters and guys stepped up and knocked them down.”

The three-point party was sparked by fantastic efforts from Reyne Smith and Terrence Edwards Jr., who combined to connect on half of Louisville's total threes made. Edwards went 6-of-11 from downtown and had a team-high 24 points, while Smith was 6-of-8 for 20 points.

"“He’s a winner… cat’s a winner," Kelsey said of Smith. "People mistake him sometimes - Skip Prosser used to call them ‘suburban jump shooters’ - that's not Reyne. That’s his deal and shoots the blood out of the ball, but he’s tough as nails. He’s on every single scouting report. He’s exactly where he needs to be at all times. It’s almost like having another assistant coach. Just because he knows what we do and how to do it so well. He’s selfless, he’s a team dude. It’s a shame I only get to coach him for one more year, because he’s a joy.”

Of course, the three point success was a team-wide effort as well. In total, eight different Cardinals connected on a three-pointer, with six of them hitting multiple threes. In fact, the only scholarship players to not even attempt a three-pointer were centers James Scott and Frank Anselem-Ibe.

This type of performance, while incredible, wasn't completely unexpected. Down in The Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League, Louisville shot 32-of-78 from behind the arc over the two combined exhibitions. As his two prior head coaching stops, Kelsey's teams have ranked in the top-60 in percentage of total field goal attempts (3PA/FGA) eight times in 12 seasons.

That being said, even Kelsey said that the insane amount of threes taken was a bit of an aberration. While the three-ball is a big part of what his team's offensive philosophy will be, it was also a product of how Young Harris College was playing them. The Mountain Lions packed the painted area, and basically dared Louisville to shoot it - to which they happily obliged.

"With Jeremy [Currier]’s philosophy, he was probably worried about a lot of stuff because we have a very talented offensive team," Kelsey said. "They were going under on a lot of pick and rolls and daring us to shoot behind them, and we stepped up and knocked those down. They were super help-oriented when we drove so the kicks were there.

"Our guys were simply doing what the game told them, and when they drew two and the help came, they sprayed it and got open shots. It was good. It looked like a connected offensive unit.” 

Louisville will play their second final exhibition matchup on Monday, Oct. 28 when they host Spalding at the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals will officially tip-off the 2024-25 - and Pat Kelsey era - on Monday, Nov. 4 at home against Morehead State.

(Photo of Terrence Edwards Jr.: Matt Stone/Courier Journal/USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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