Louisville basketball mailbag: Previewing UofL vs. UK between Pat Kelsey, Mark Pope

Posted by Admin December 13, 2024 Basketball

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If you believe Pat Kelsey and Chucky Hepburn, Louisville basketball did not pay this weekend’s game against archrival Kentucky any mind until after it eked out a win over UTEP on Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center.

Now that the Cardinals’ (6-4) first true road game of the season, a matchup against the No. 5 Wildcats (9-1) and first-year head coach Mark Pope at 5:15 p.m. Saturday inside Rupp Arena, is on the horizon, though …

“The most important game in the history of the program is the next one we play,” Kelsey told reporters after his team rallied to beat the Miners, 77-74. “Three hours ago, it was this one right here. That’s the deal.”

“Me, personally, I’m going to start watching film tonight,” Hepburn added, “because I really want this game.”

This edition of The Courier Journal’s U of L basketball mailbag sets the table for the 57th installment of the Cards vs. the Cats; and this one will be unlike any other since the rivalry game became an annual blockbuster on the sports calendar during the 1980s. That’s because, for the first time since 1930, both programs weathered coaching changes during the same offseason.

Louisville has lost two in a row, and five of the past six meetings, against UK. As of Thursday morning, KenPom.com gave Kelsey and his band of eight healthy scholarship players only a 15% chance of upsetting Pope’s team, which is dealing with some injuries of its own.

How will the first chapter of this new era in the commonwealth unfold? We’ll start with a question from a reader who’s curious about the frontcourt matchups:

Louisville will be at a disadvantage. With Kasean Pryor sidelined for the remainder of the season, it’ll be like that more often than not for the Cards the rest of the way.

Kentucky’s Amari Williams and Andrew Carr will be a handful. The former, a 7-foot, 262-pound Drexel transfer, is averaging 10.6 points to go along with a team-high 9.2 rebounds and a block rate (8.5%) that ranks 48th in Division I. The latter, a 6-11, 235-pound Wake Forest transfer who went for 18 points when the Cards visited Winston-Salem, North Carolina, last season, is averaging 11 and 6.2, respectively, with an offensive rating (135.8) coming in at 62nd nationally.

Both players have tallied 20-plus assists through 10 games, too. Ditto for Brandon Garrison, a 6-10, 250-pound Oklahoma State transfer who’s chipping in six points and 5.2 rebounds per appearance off the bench. Then, there’s Ansley Almonor, a 6-7, 244-pound Fairleigh Dickinson transfer who’s shooting 37% from 3-point range.

Kelsey can’t match Pope’s depth when it comes to bigs. He’ll have to hope U of L’s leading rebounder, J’Vonne Hadley, can continue punching above his 6-6 frame; that James Scott can build on his double-double against UTEP; that Noah Waterman can rise to the occasion amid a 2-for-24 slump from 3 over the past five games; and that his lone freshman, Khani Rooths, can provide a spark while avoiding rookie mistakes.

With the frontcourt as thin as it is, it’s telling that Frank Anselem-Ibe was the only scholarship player who didn’t log a minute in Louisville’s loss to then-No. 9 Duke last weekend — and that he got only five minutes of run, during the first half, against UTEP. This is an all-hands-on-deck game, but he hasn’t done enough to inspire confidence.

For as hard as the news of Pryor’s injury hit, this is the most obvious silver lining — more meaningful minutes for Rooths, who should only get better as the season progresses.

“He has no ceiling,” assistant coach Thomas Carr said during an appearance on Kelsey’s radio show Monday night. “He’s driving around, figuratively, in a convertible with no ceiling. He can be as great as he wants to be.”

After logging season highs in points (10 vs. Duke), rebounds (six vs. Duke) and minutes (22 vs. Ole Miss) in the past two weeks, Rooths was limited to only four points and two boards across 12 minutes and committed a team-high three turnovers against UTEP. But the 6-8, 205-pound Washington, D.C., native out of IMG Academy had two big baskets: back-to-back dunks that capped a 9-0 run giving Louisville its largest lead of the night with 7:38 remaining in regulation.

He’s also brought an edge to the court that’s been lacking since Pryor went down, Kelsey said when recounting a timeout during the Cards’ loss to the Rebels in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

“He came out of that timeout angry and played really, really hard,” the coach said. “(It) gave us a little bit of juice and a lift, but we needed more than just that.”

He’ll get more as Rooths’ minutes increase.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way — and Kelsey does not lack will.

“Everything’s on the table,” he said when asked a version of this question after Louisville’s loss to Duke. “I don’t sleep figuring out what buttons to push to get this team to be the best that they can be. We’ll scour every inch of the Earth to figure out how we can improve our team. Whether that happens or not, I have no idea; but I’m willing to try anything.”

There are hoops to jump through, but it’s possible. Remember, former coach Kenny Payne was able to get Emmanuel Okorafor over from NBA Academy Africa in January 2023 — 19 games into the season.

If Kelsey were to add a player, I think he would take the international route, too. He and his staff have, to borrow his words, scoured “every inch of the Earth” while recruiting at Winthrop and Charleston. That could pay dividends here. I can’t say with certainty there will be an addition, because everything has to line up perfectly. But, if there’s not, it won’t be for a lack of trying.