Louisville basketball: Pat Kelsey on J’Vonne Hadley’s ‘phenomenal year’
Louisville Cardinals basketball coach Pat Kelsey discusses J’Vonne Hadley’s performance in the 89-81 win over FSU and the phenomenal year he’s had.
Coverage from the game:
Louisville basketball escapes Virginia Tech with win, ACC Tournament double bye
Coverage during the game:
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Louisville basketball refers to wins in enemy territory as “roadkill.” More often than not during Year 1 of the Pat Kelsey era, the No. 17 Cardinals (21-6, 14-2 ACC) have showed up, showed out and left a lot of carnage in their wake.
Today at Virginia Tech‘s Cassell Coliseum, they will try to secure the most dominant season on the road in program history. Per statistician Kelly Dickey, that title belongs to the 2013-14 campaign; during which U of L had a 13.82 average margin of victory. But Kelsey’s inaugural team is not far behind at 13.80.
And then there’s this: A win of any kind over the Hokies (12-15, 7-9) will not only give the Naismith Coach of the Year hopeful sole possession of the program’s largest turnaround ever, +14 victories, but also tie its record for the most successful run through the ACC — and clinch a double bye in next month’s conference tournament.
Led by sixth-year coach Mike Young, the Hokies are coming off an 81-68 win over Miami last weekend and are 3-3 during February. One of their players, senior forward Ben Burnham, suited up for Kelsey at Charleston from 2021-24; currently, he’s averaging 7.4 points on 44.3% shooting (44.6% from 3) with 3.5 rebounds across 27 games off the bench.
Louisville holds a 36-12 advantage in the all-time series vs. Tech but has lost four straight since March 1, 2022; which snapped a 17-game winning streak for the Cards over the Hokies. The last time U of L emerged victorious from Cassell Coliseum was Feb. 4, 2019.
Follow along with live updates from Blacksburg below:
Here are U of L’s starters:
Here are Virginia Tech’s starters:
The Cards vs. the Hokies will air on ACC Network, which is channel 610 on AT&T U-Verse; channel 612 on DirecTV; channel 402 on Dish; and channels 524 and 937 on Spectrum.
Wes Durham (play-by-play) and Jim Boeheim (analyst) will be on the call.
If you subscribe to a cable package with the ACC Network, you can livestream today’s game via ESPN.com and the ESPN app. If you don’t have cable, you can livestream it via Fubo, which offers a free trial here.
Paul Rogers (play-by-play) and Bob Valvano (analyst) will have the call today on the Cardinal Sports Network (WLCL 93.9-FM and WGTK 970-AM in Louisville).
You can also listen online via GoCards.com.
Betting odds: Louisville is a 9 ½-point road favorite today (-118) on DraftKings, which set the over/under at 146 ½ points (-112). The money line odds are U of L -600, Virginia Tech +440.
Score predictions: KenPom.com gives the Cards an 84% chance of winning and projects a 78-67 final score in their favor. BartTorvik.com is also forecasting a Louisville victory (83%), with a projected final score of 78-68.
The officials for today’s game are Roger Ayers, Bill Covington Jr. and Brent Hampton.
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Questions can also be submitted via email (bholton@gannett.com) and X, formerly Twitter, to @brooksHolton.
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Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
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