Pat Kelsey Says Louisville is 'Not a Very Good Team Right Now' Following UVA Loss

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Entering the 2025-26 season, the Louisville men's basketball program was generating a lot of buzz at both the local and national level.

Most fans and pundits alike were in lockstep that the Cardinals had the best backcourt in all of college basketball, and one of the most talent rosters overall in the sport. Based on how the season began, with UofL winning their first seven games and starting the year at 9-1, it seemed like they were beginning to cement their case as a team that was a bona fide contender for the both the ACC and a national championship.

But over the last month, Louisville has barely looked like an NCAA Tournament team. Since that 9-1 start, they've lost four of their last seven and three of their last four, most recently falling 79-70 to Virginia this past Tuesday night. The Cardinals never posed a serious threat against the Cavaliers, falling behind 14-0 in the opening segment.

Following that loss to the Hoos, second year head coach Pat Kelsey didn't hold back when voicing his displeasure on how his team played both that night and over the last month.

"That first four minutes wasn't why we lost the game," he said. "There's a laundry list of 9000 other things that we need to do better to be a championship level team. We're not a very good team right now. We're not. I think we have the capacity to be a very, very, very good team. But the team with Louisville on their chest right now isn't good enough."

Arguably the biggest reason why Louisville hasn't looked the same over the last month is because of the absence of Mikel Brown Jr. The star freshman point guard - who is averaging 16.6 points, 5.1 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game - has had to miss the last seven games due to a lower back injury.

Not having their projected NBA Draft lottery pick at their disposal has certainly impacted their offensive efforts. Louisville was shooting 47.9 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent on threes with 19.7 assists and 10.8 turnovers per game with Brown healthy. In the last seven games, they're shooting just 43.4 and 29.3 percent, respectively, while averaging a 14.4-12.0 assist-to-turnover ratio.

But where not having Brown shouldn't impact them is on the defensive end, and Louisville's efforts there have certainly been slipping as of late. Over the last seven games, Cardinals opponents have shot 41.8 percent from the field and made an average of 8.9 three-point shots per game. In the first 10 games, UofL was allowing just 37.8 percent of opponents' total attempts and 7.1 threes per game. They've also gotten bad about not being able to defend without fouling, as they've averaged 20.8 over the last five games.

Louisville's losses have also coincided with an uptick in competition and start of ACC play. So far, the Cardinals are just 2-5 against Quad 1 teams in the NET, while they are a perfect 10-0 against everyone else. While it's natural to not be as efficient when you start playing the better teams on your schedule, Kelsey believes his squad has not been desperate enough when facing the best teams on their schedule.

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog - like desperate," he said. "We need to be more desperate team. That's how I feel. It wasn't that they were just bigger than us, in my opinion. I thought they played more desperate, and give them credit."

The good news is the season is far from over. Louisville still has 14 regular season games left, eight of which are Quad 1 opportunities, as well as their run in the ACC Tournament. While the Cardinals haven't been playing great basketball as of late, he doesn't think it's something that will persist all season long.

"We've been doing this a long time since we all got together in June. Sometimes you're trending like this [points downward], sometimes you're trending like that [points upward]. We definitely aren't trending like that right now.

"It's what teams that are struggling like we are, can you catch yourself and fix stuff and turn this thing around? My money's on those guys in there. We're gonna get there. We're not there right now, but we're gonna get there."

Louisville will be back in action this weekend, traveling to the Steel City for a matchup with Pitt. Tip-off against the Panthers is set for Saturday, Jan. 17 at 8:00 p.m. EST.

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