What Louisville HC Pat Kelsey, J'Vonne Hadley Said After 74-64 Win vs. Clemson

Read what the head coach of the Cardinals and their starting guard said after their win over the Tigers:

Jan 7, 2025; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey calls out instructions during the first half against the Clemson Tigers at KFC Yum! Center. / Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program has now won five-in-a-row, earning another resume-building win with a 74-64 victory over Clemson.

Here's what head coach Pat Kelsey and guard J'Vonne Hadley had to say following the win:

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

(Opening Statement)

“I want to give Clemson credit, they are a very good team. They are very well coached. I have known Coach Brad Brownell for a long, long time. He is the longest-tenured coach in the ACC, if I am not mistaken. I just have so much respect for him. I am proud of our guys. Our three leading scorers go 4-for-33. We still score a point per possession to beat a very good team by 19 points. I think the big story should be J’Vonne Hadley. He was sensational. Somebody said 32 points is the most anyone has scored in the ACC so far this year. What is crazy is that is not even his calling card. He is a jack of all trades and in so many ways he was dominant tonight on the backboard and scoring the ball. When it comes to our defense, in our last three games, I think it is very, very important to mention the dominant defensive performance of Terrence Edwards in the last three games. I think it is so important to mention and makes sure that he gets praise for the job that he is doing guarding the best player on the other team night in and night out. His shooting numbers aren’t what they typically are, and as you know he is a very talented scorer. He has been sensational, just terrific on defense. We are fortunate to beat a very good team.” 

(About the good interior defense despite giving up size)

“We might have given up a lot of size, but I don’t know that we gave up a lot of physicality.  It is not how big you are but how big you play.  We got guys that play big. A big part of Clemson’s offensive schemes is to attack you at the basket. We call it the box, the 12 by 8 rectangle around the basket. You can duck in, go high-low or go right at them. You gotta fight. You gotta fight. You have to have the support of your teammates too. You have to have great ball pressure, great passing to be able to do that. The fight is not over, then, the shot goes up. Now you have to hold you own in a one on one, two on two battle down on the post. Our guys did a great job of that night in and night out. All those guys, J’Vonne fought off the bows. Kader (Traore) did a great job down there as did James Scott. Noah (Waterman) and Khani Rooths, those guys went at it hard. “

(About how players can get a hot hand in a game)

“I think it is the makeup of our team. If you would have seen J’Vonne was out there doing TV media and the guys were in there waiting for them. The coaches were in the hall waiting on him because J’Vonne wasn’t in there yet. When J’Vonne walked in, they just erupted. They went nuts. Obviously, it is because they love J’Vonne who is a phenomenal teammate. He is the ultimate blue collar, lunch pail guy. There are a lot of guys with higher scoring numbers and stuff like that but the job he does fly under the radar a little bit. But he is huge, a major, major piece of why we are really good. Tonight was his night. What was fun was the guys on the floor were like, ‘go to him, give him the ball, Chucky’ and at the end of the game said ‘clear out and get out of his way’.  So, it was great to see. As you know, Chucky (Hepburn) has had big, big nights scoring. Reyne (Smith) has had big, big night scoring. J’Vonne has had a big, big night scoring. We can hurt you in a lot of ways. The contributions were there from other guys, too. I thought Khani’s (Rooths) three was huge at a point in the game where we were reeling a little bit. He stepped up and knocked that down. I thought Kader (Traore) gave us great energy off the bench. James Scott is Inspector Gadget with his go-go arms. I don’t know if anyone in this day and age know who Inspector Gadget is. He plays so hard. He had a double-double tonight and had a big steal at the end of the game. I could go down the roster and name a bunch of great guys. That is what makes our team good – the power of the unit.”

(About their level of confidence? How have you noticed it rise?)

"Confidence is a powerful thing, right? We have some momentum right now. You can feel it. Feel it in the fan base. I mean, heck, it's nasty out. It was hard to get out of my driveway the last couple days. Back roads are still messed up. I mean, everything's frozen over. Schools are out, I think again tomorrow. And we had a bigger crowd tonight than we had against North Carolina. That's momentum. You could tell our guys, they've always been close knit. We've always been the power of the unit. We've always had really good chemistry. But you can just kind of feel the pieces coming together, the confidence, as you mentioned, you know, comfort level with each other, with the system. Just feel it momentum. You feel it rolling a little bit. Now, you guys know me. I'm so, so, so, committed to the next thing in the process because momentum can stop like that if all of a sudden you have a bad day of preparation. Go up to Pittsburgh and get your butt kicked, that's like a screeching halt. So, we'll celebrate this one tonight, as I tell guys, we celebrate everyone, whether we're playing Spalding in the preseason, we celebrated that win that night. When they wake up tomorrow morning, we turn the page and we get ready for a really, really good Pitt team. These are two huge games back-to-back against some of the best teams in our conference, and we have to be ready on Saturday.”

(About Khani Rooths’ big three-pointer and kind of helping to jump start that momentum again. What can you say about his poise as a freshman to have the ability to do that in that moment?)

“Yeah, he's the only freshman on the team, which isn't an easy role. You can say no man is an island, except for Khani Rooths. I'm just kidding. Those guys love him. He's like their little brother. I’ve said it many times, he's a very mature freshman in his approach and his professionalism. He's got good guys to look up to and to learn from. His minutes might not have been what they've been the last couple of games. I don't know, I haven't looked at it. But, when you look over at the bench – and I think the way that your bench carries on, the way your bench interacts, the way your bench gives energy, is kind of a good indicator of the caliber of culture in your program. And our bench is elite every night, and he (Rooths) leads the charge. He's got a smile on his face, jumping around. He supports his teammates, and when you call his name, he runs in there, plays his butt off, not afraid. And we all know he's ultra-talented with a huge, huge future.”

(About Kader (Aboubacar Traore), it seems like he's just continually not necessarily playing a huge number of minutes right now, but every time he gets into the game, he makes something big happen)

“Yeah, he's (Traore) a catalyst. I said it after the last game. You don't want guys to come in off the bench and maintain the status quo. You want them to raise the level of play. And he does that with his energy. I think Khani is another guy that does that as well, but he's Johnny on the spot. He's always right there, getting the deflection, getting the steal, getting the put back. And it's been big for us. He's given us a big boost, and it was good again tonight for us.”

(About how it feels as a coach to see J’Vonne get his name chanted by the crowd and have the fans going nuts for him at the end of the game)

“Man, he’s such a pro. I mean we got a team full of that. But it’s fun to really be able to talk about J’Vonne right now, because he’s so darn regimented in his daily process, like he’s twenty-two years old, going on forty. Every day he gets his work in, he eats right, he gets his sleep, he gets his reps in, he’s in the training room, he’s doing his recovery, takes care of his business in the classroom. He's the type of kid you hope shows up at your door, you know to date your daughter. J’Vonne Hadley is the real deal, and he had a game he is going to remember for the rest of his life tonight. Big time performance. Like I said, think about that, our three leading scorers go four for thirty-three from the field and we still win by ten. I thought our defense was terrific and obviously J’Vonne was awesome.

(About what has clicked on the defensive side of the ball recently for the whole team)

“Yeah, a big thing I think after that EKU game, the team collectively kind of you know made a commitment to each other, a decision to be like hey we have to up our game up on that end of the floor. I mean I think our guys always play hard and we grade every tick of the clock, and we watch the film, and the guys are locked in, but there was another level that we needed to get to. I give our guy’s credit, you know it started with them, the leadership we have, and it’s been the best defense we’ve played all year long. And obviously, with a guy like Kasean Pryor going down, who’s one of the better defenders in the country, maybe it just took a little bit of time for us to figure ourselves out, our new identity on the defensive end. But the last three games, we’ve been really, really good and that has to continue.”

Guard J'Vonne Hadley

(On the feeling of having the crowd chant his name)

“Honestly, I’ve been trying to describe it for a while since the game ended. It’s indescribable. Shout out to the fans for always just being themselves, always coming out and showing love. Even when we had a little though streak when guys went down, stuff like that. The fans still come out and show love, show support. And that’s just something we want to take advantage of, for sure.”

(On what went into making this his night)

“First of all, shout out to my teammates for allowing me to be myself tonight. Just kind of feed in, the hotter hand, I guess. But like I said, it could be anybody’s night any given night. And Clemson is a really physical, big team. And we knew that going into the game, they have like two 7-footers in at almost all times, so that someone had a mismatch on the floor, because we play five guards always. We call James (Scott) a guard because he moves like a guard. So, we have five guards against two 7-footers out there. So, we knew that was an advantage for us for sure.”

(On what point did he feel like it was his night)

 “I don’t know if I was necessarily ever a ‘give me the ball’ guy. My teammates were trying to give me the ball, but I was trying to make the right plays. Honestly, just trying to do what’s right for the team to win. Like I said, it could be anybody’s night. We have a really talented team. I would just say that I feel like I hit my second three or something like that. That’s when I started feeling hot, feeling good. I just tried to make the right plays.”

(On if his teammates having confidence in him gives him more confidence in himself)

“Yeah, it does. That's a really big strength that our team does have. Everybody's confident in everybody. Coach always talks about 300-100 every single day. 300 threes and 100 free throws. You see who's in the gym and you have confidence… The thing with that is everybody’s getting 300-100 in every day. There's confidence all around in everybody. And if somebody like Reyne (Smith) misses a shot, he’ll go shoot five more. That’s the way we think.”

(On how much he’s enjoyed the last five games)

“It’s kind of a speechless feeling. To be at this level, and playing with this team, with this amazing team. We lost a couple guys, and those guys are on the bench, cheering just as loud as the fans are. It's just an unreal experience that I'm grateful that God's blessing me with this opportunity to play here.”

(On the team focus on defense after the EKU game, what was said and how has the team changed defensively?)

“Just more attention to detail. We did watch that EKU game and we did a really good job at just looking at the little things. It’s the little things that matter – the details. Coach has done a really good job of making sure that we know that defense is our ticket. We’ve been watching a lot of film, getting after it, understanding that defense is our ticket and I think that every single one of us has taken a step in the right direction and there’s still a long way to go.”

(On his regimented approach to everything, where does that come from?)

“I think that really came in junior college, honestly, just not having the same resources. The things that we have here are the best in the country and I’m grateful for that and I’m taking advantage of that. Our elite trainers, our elite diets, just everything about it. I did learn that in juco and it’s something that will stay with me for the rest of my life, just being a professional in everything, not just basketball – schoolwork, sleep, recovery, take care of your teammates, being a pro.”

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

You can follow Louisville Cardinals On SI for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleOnSI
Twitter/X - @LouisvilleOnSI
Instagram - @louisvilleonsi

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter/X and @mattmcgavic.bsky.social on Bluesky