Pat Kelsey can see what was invisible Saturday afternoon. Fresh from a 77-55 thrashing by the Tennessee Volunteers, which the University of Louisville’s new basketball coach variously described as being punched in the mouth, having one’s butt kicked, being exposed and getting beat in almost every facet, Kelsey insisted his team would arise from the ashes and be better for the beatdown.
“My message to the players after the game was I told them the one thing they don’t have to worry about is us being good,” he said. “We’re going to become a good team. I believe that deep down in my soul, with every fiber of my being.”
Some of this, of course, was spin. The last thing a coach wants to do after the second game of his season is to convey despair, no matter how hideously his team has played. And that goes double at Louisville, a place long accustomed to winning and aching for a reason to believe. Having attracted a crowd announced at 16,976 to the KFC Yum Center for a noon tipoff, persuading those people to come back commands high priority at this point in Kelsey’s tenure.
To that end, recent history should help.
In each of Kelsey’s last two seasons at the College of Charleston, the second game on the schedule proved to be his most lopsided loss: a 16-point defeat by North Carolina in 2022 and an 18-point shortfall against Duquesne last year. Both times, Charleston recovered to reach the NCAA Tournament and posted a composite record of 58-12. So when Kelsey reassured his players Saturday the sky was not falling, he had receipts.
Tennessee was too much for the Cardinals – too physical, too resourceful, too resilient. Though the visitors committed 20 turnovers – and U of L last lost a game when forcing 20 turnovers in 2014 — they scored the game’s first 10 points and would henceforth never lead by fewer than six points. They sank as many three-point shots in 19 attempts (10) as U of L did in 39 tries. They bludgeoned U of L on the boards, outrebounding the Cardinals, 40-26. They looked the part of the nation’s 12th-ranked team, if not better, one that had no business as a pre-game underdog.
The danger in playing so strong an opponent so early in the season is that the result can have an outsized impact on public perception and on players’ self-confidence. The value is in pointing out problems that might still be solved. Beating Morehead State by 48 points served to stoke egos and encourage euphoria, but it provided little in the way of useful lessons. Though getting humbled carries no guarantee of eventual exaltation, Matthew 23:12 notwithstanding, it has the benefit of revealing weaknesses camouflaged by inferior competition.
“Looking at a box score where we just got our stinking butts kicked, and it hurts like crazy, there’s no question we needed that today. As we’re walking in, (athletic director) Josh (Heird) said, ‘That’s a tough second game. I know I pushed for that.’ I said, ‘Thank you. Thank you. That’s exactly what this team needed.’ Because the things that ailed us today were exposed today by Tennessee and now we get a chance to fix them.”
How patient U of L fans will be during that process is the great unknown. Buoyed by Kelsey’s energy and his team’s encouraging season opener, Saturday’s crowd was reminiscent of happier days. Demand for premium seats was such that fans were asked if they carried extra tickets – a tell-tale sign of scalpers resurfacing. Even as Tennessee bolted to a 10-0 lead, spectators enthusiastically waved the white towels left on their seats. Whether they will regard Saturday’s reckoning as a one-off or an omen will likely depend on context yet to come.
Kelsey acknowledged that his players will likely play in front of fewer people as a result of Saturday’s game, and that they can expect to be “crushed” in their social media feedback by the same people who had praised them previously, but he vowed that fans will find reason to return.
“It stinks and it hurts, but if you attack it the right way, it becomes a positive down the road,” he said. “What happened today will be a positive for Louisville basketball moving forward I would ask our fans, I would ask our fans, I would ask out donors, just like I told our guys in the locker room: Don’t blink.”
His hope is that fans who keep their eyes open will see what he sees.
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This article appears in Nov 4-19, 2024.