What Pat Kelsey, Louisville Players Said After 93-45 Win vs. Morehead State

Read what the head coach of the Cardinals, guard J'Vonne Hadley and guard/forward Terrence Edwards Jr. said after their win over the Eagles:

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

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The 2024-25 season for the Louisville men's basketball program is off to a hot start, using a defensive masterclass to blow out Morehead State 93-45 in their season opener.

Here's what head coach Pat Kelsey, guard J'Vonne Hadley and guard/forward Terrence Edwards Jr. had to say following the win:

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

(Opening Statement)

“First thing I want to say is what an unbelievable win it was for Coach Jeff Brohm at Clemson. Do you know how hard it is to win at Clemson? I think they have lost three games there since 2014 at night. To go in there with their backs to the wall and get a win like that is unbelievable. That is a testament to who Coach Brohm is when you look at his track record, beating ranked teams. He is a stud. Just really proud of him and his guys. That was just unbelievable.”

“I thought the crowd was phenomenal tonight. 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 get to make these statements at the beginning before you guys ask questions so that I can say what I want to say. We say never to delay gratitude. I am just so blessed to be the head coach at Louisville. I believe that God has a plan. I believe I am sitting in this chair as the head coach at Louisville for a lot of reasons. I think I have this platform now at a really high level with a lot of cameras and a lot of people looking at me and listening to me, so it is important to me to acknowledge where I am centered. My devotion to my faith and to Christ and with all the craziness that is going on in the world today as crazy as it is, from the bottom of my heart I believe with everything I have that Jesus is the answer. Because He is love. I want to make sure when I have an opportunity like this, to be at this level and coach at a place like Louisville that I make sure that I glorify him first and foremost.”

“I am proud of our players. I thought they played really hard and paid attention to details on scouting reports meticulously over the last few days. We have an old, mature that amaze me in their attention to detail and focus and scouting reports. They did that for Young Harris and they did that for Spalding and they did that tonight for Morehead. I am 100 percent sure they will do the same thing for this huge, huge game here at the Yum! Center that the nation will be looking at as we get ready for a very, very good and well-coached team – a hall of famer – here on Saturday. I am looking forward to it. We are fortunate to have that opportunity and looking forward to it.”

(About previous big wins and how this felt different tonight)

“I don’t want to say this in anyway that would be disparaging about the home games I have coached before because every single one of them was special to me. Man, the exhibitions were cool but different tonight. They have this magic lighting that blacks out the upper deck so you can’t really tell if there are a ton of people are up there, but the lower bowl was packed. I am pretty darn sure that our fan base and obviously the fan base know the caliber of the game we play on Saturday, that if I squint at those blacked out areas they have there are going to be people up there too. We are going to need every one of them and this place, this arena when it was buzzing like it was tonight, is a difference maker. It is a factor. It was a factor tonight. We got those ovations, and the place got really loud it just absolutely changes things. I know our fans were phenomenal tonight. I know they will accept the challenge to make it one of the most hostile environments in college basketball on Saturday.”

(About the defensive effort in the first half with just three makes and 14 points by the opponent)

“We said it was really important to try to get the game on our terms. We play a very fast-paced game, and they are more of a slow-paced team. There are a million ways to skin a cat and a lot of different ways to win. Whether you are fast paced, slow-paced or play inside or outside – whatever it is – there are a lot of ways to do it. But we knew if we couldn’t get stops and they were getting to the free throw line and the tempo would get taken out, we talked about getting stops, making them miss and get offensive rebounds and defending without fouling – that ignited our fastbreak. That let us do what we do best and that is play out in the open court and our guys really did that. A lot of it was attention to detail because they are a team that runs a lot of set plays, complicated set plays that you have to really be on. We talked about having to disrupt them and disrupt their rhythm because they wanted to run set plays.  Then they have wrinkles with their set plays. They have a set, then they have a counter to the set and a counter to the counter and the counter to the counter of the counter. Our guys were on all those and did a good job of making wait on the score and limit them to one shot. I think at halftime they had a few too many offensive rebounds. That is something that we can clean up before the next game.”

(About the 3-point shooting being down a bit but still scoring 93 points)

“Man, I thought when we are hunting great shots, and great ones are shots at the rim and getting to the free throw line and limiting threes – things that we really value – I don’t get caught up in the makes or misses. We are generating great ones by sharing the ball. We had 25 assists and five turnovers. Guys were giving up good for great. They were touching the paint.  They were getting open shots and generating greatness. It is going to hit. They miss four or five in a row, but they keep hunting great at the end of the day, the consistency of playing that way is going to end being a very, very efficient offense. I didn’t even know that we only shot 30 percent made 11 threes, I just know one thing – we were generating really, really good shots because we were playing selflessly.”

(On how he went about scouting for Morehead State)

“You really [have] got to dive into tendencies of personnel, right? Most of their players come from other places and things like that, you really study, you study the places that the head coach had been, and we had all summer to [scout], right? So, our staff, and I want to make sure I mention our staff, because all those details on personnel and on preparation, and on scouts, it’s the job our staff does. I mean those guys are relentless in their attention to detail and preparing our guys. I’m just the type where I don’t prepare for the next game until this one’s over. I didn’t start talking about Morehead, honestly, until Spalding was over, I didn’t. The assistant coach that had that scout, they do all the work, and then when I walk out of here, they’ll give me the folder with all the information on it, they give me my computer, it’ll have all the breakdowns, it will have all the information needed. Then my sole focus is on Tennessee, I just operate better like that, like if I try to spin too many plates and I lose focus on what’s right in front of me, and I’m less effective, my adult ADD kicks in, I think I got it.”

 (On how important it was to make a statement first game of the year)

“Nobody in our organization focuses on anything but right now and what we’re doing moving forward. 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. There was a ton of momentum today. So, you always like to come out of games feeling good about all those things, but we go back to work tomorrow in preparation. We always say, ‘Never accept in victory, which you wouldn’t accept in defeat’. There’s a lot of things we can clean up, [I] can’t give you all of them right now, but once we watch tape and pour over that, we’ll put this game to bed the first day when we come back. So, our guys will be off tomorrow, academics and recovery, and then we’ll have three days to get ready for Tennessee. The first thing we’ll do is focus on this game, clean up all the stuff, and then we’ll turn our attention to Tennessee.”

(On if there was any pent-up frustration that needed to be let out in this game)

“Our sole focus is now, I know the stuff that will be written about how it was and how it is now. I mean, it’s the new era of Louisville Basketball and that’s all we’re focusing on. I just know the crowd was elite tonight, the energy was elite tonight. The standing ovation for being up forty something at the end of the game was awesome. It's because we have the best fanbase in the country, you can’t convince me otherwise. I think as the fans watch our team, I think it’s a team that is endearing to the minds and hearts of the people of Louisville. This is a town that values toughness, that values family, togetherness, community. We think we play a brand of basketball that this city is going to be very, very proud of. It's not going to be perfect all the time. The season [lasts] a lifetime. There's going to be the ups, there’s going to be downs, but we’re excited to be on this journey, we’re excited to have our fan base in the city of Louisville on this journey with us, it’s going to be fun.”

(On what Louisville’s defensive process is)

“Well, we value very much, playing hard. When you’re playing active defensively, everybody is playing active defensively, it’s almost like there’s an extra defender out there. So, we talk about stance, length, activity, talk, at all times, and I thought we did that today. We have a lot of guys with great defensive instincts as well. Just a couple of them to name, Chucky Hepburn is elite in his defensive instincts. Kasean Pryor is another great defender. He’s got elite defensive instincts. Sometimes those guys kind of go out of the system a little bit, but you got to let them be who they are, right? You don’t want to put those guys in a box and take away one of their, or some of their true, true gifts. So, sometimes they’ll get a little crazy and gamble a little bit, and it costs us on the backside, but again, I’d rather try to reel them back in a little bit, than try to inject that into them.” 

(About being nervous and getting into his pregame ritual)

“I’ll be honest with you, I was more nervous for the exhibition games. I don’t know if it’s because I’m in a routine a little bit now. I prayed a lot this morning and asked for calm and for clear mind. God is great. It was awesome. Had a ton of family in from Cincinnati, my siblings, my parents, aunts and uncles. So many people here to celebrate a really cool day. The guys doused me with water in the locker room. Josh (Heird) presented me with the game ball for my first official win at Louisville as the head coach. I’m very grateful for that. It was an awesome time, but I’m just a part of this. I have an elite staff and a fun team to coach. The support we get from our organization with Josh as the leader. We have great tools here, have great resources, and we have great human resources. I’m grateful to be a part of it.”

(On the game against Tennessee)

“People in this town know, Josh [Heird] and Brian [Kloman] came to me and said ‘game two Tennessee’.  I’m like Tennessee game two? Josh said, ‘I’m telling you PK, do the game, let’s play it, the city will show up the place will be packed, it’s going to be rocking.’ So, Josh promised me the place will be rocking and almost packed. You guys got to have Josh’s back and let have 20,000 people at the Yum on Saturday. We play a great team, phenomenal, and well-coached, with an All-American point guard. It’s like Noah’s Ark, they have two of everything and we’re going to need the White Out. Were 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.”

Guard/Forward Terrence Edwards Jr. and Guard J'Vonne Hadley

(On how ready they were to start the season)

J’Vonne Hadley, Fifth Year, G

“I think it was huge to have that environment, especially out there for our first game as well. Just playing a game that counts, made us go that extra mile. So it felt good playing a game that actually counted.”

Terrence Edwards Jr, Fifth Year, G/F

“Picking up what J’Vonne (Hadley) said, it just feels good to be able to prepare for something that counted and you can actually see our hard work on the record, so we're just trying to move on to the next one.”

(On the extra effort defensively)

J’Vonne Hadley, Fifth Year, G

“I think this team’s defensive ceiling is as high as it goes. One through five we can switch, we’re tall, athletic and get after guys. We have multiple guys that can guard the other team’s best players every single night. We are a versatile offense and defense, but on defense we’re going to get after you, that’s a focal point of our team."

(What is the message from Pat Kelsey to get you to play with such relentless effort?)

J’Vonne Hadley, Fifth Year, G

“It’s the three things we go by: relentless effort, competitive excellence, and power of the unit. So, we take that to the court, and we play as a team like that, in everything we do, we do it with great effort and we depend on each other. We’ve got good defenders like Chucky [Hepburn] and [J’Vonne Hadley]. They pass it down to me and Koren [Johnson] - we weren’t really defensive guys at our last school. So, practicing with those guys every day in practice makes us want to really be a two-way guard.

(On what it’s going to be like to face a ranked Tennessee team at home?)

Terrence Edwards Jr, Fifth Year, G/F

“I think it’s going to be great for the program. I think it’s going to be great to get the fans in here, we’re playing a ranked team. We’re not thinking too much about that, but we’re going to be ourselves and we’re going to prepare hard this week and get ready for it. We know it’s going to be a big game. We’ve just got to come ready and settle in and go out there and go after them.”

(Starting the season unranked what are people missing about this team?)

Terrence Edwards Jr, Fifth Year, G/F

“I’d say, just our togetherness. And farther down the road, you’re going to see teams fall off, and I feel like this team is just going to get better as the season goes. We have only been together, for seven, or eight months, and I think we’re not even close to where we want to be just practicing every single day. I just feel like we’ve just got to take it one step at a time, practice by practice and game-by-game and I think our ceiling is really high.”

J’Vonne Hadley, Fifth Year, G

“We’re a deep team as well. You don’t see that with too many teams across the country, I feel like we’re going to separate ourselves as the seasons goes on. Like [Terrence Edwards] said, we’re going to get better, you know, one through fifteen, we’re going to get better all the way down the line.”

(Photo of Pat Kelsey: Jamie Rhodes - Imagn Images)

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