Watch: Louisville HC Pat Kelsey Discusses First Half of Season

The Cardinals are roughly at the midway point of the 2025-26 season.

Jan 6, 2026; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey reacts during the first half against the Duke Blue Devils at KFC Yum! Center. Duke defeated Louisville 84-73. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images | Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The middle section of the 2025-26 season for the Louisville men's basketball program has certainly had some ups an downs.

The Cardinals started the year at 9-1, and ranked as high as the No. 6 team in college basketball. However, they've since split their last eight games, and are only 3-5 against Quad 1 opponents on the season overall. This past week was a microcosm of the season, as they lost 79-70 at home to No. 16 Virginia, but then turned around for a 100-59 blowout win at Pitt.

"Never accept in victory which you wouldn't accept in defeat, even after coming off of a 46-point win," head coach Pat Kelsey said. "I always have a list of offense, defense, special teams, things that we can improve on. In the Duke game and the Virginia game, you give both of them credit. They were better than us on those nights, and there are always things on both ends of the four that we can improve on."

Louisville has a little bit of time to gather themselves and build on the momentum from the win at Pitt. They only have one game this week, when they host Virginia Tech at the KFC Yum! Center this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EST.

"When you always have a bye week, you have an opportunity to focus just on yourself and not an opponent. At least on the outset and the beginning of the week. So we'll do that. This time of the year, you always have guys nicked up and banged up, and you always use that additional time off to get guys healthy that need to get healthy. Then obviously, we'll get ready at the end of the week for a very, very talented and well coached Virginia Tech team."

On Monday, Kelsey took time to meet with the media on the weekly ACC Coaches Call. He discussed the previous matchup at Pitt as well as the first half of the season overall, previewed the showdown against Virginia Tech this weekend, and more.

Below is the video from his press conference:

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

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

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