What Pat Kelsey, Louisville Players Said After 78-76 Win vs. Eastern Kentucky

Read what the head coach of the Cardinals, Terrence Edwards Jr. and J'Vonne Hadley said after their win over the Colonels:

Dec 28, 2024; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey reacts during the second half against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at KFC Yum! Center. Louisville won 78-76. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images / Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program was able to avoid a complete disaster on Saturday, needing some last-second heroics to take down Eastern Kentucky 78-76 on Saturday. Noah Waterman hit the go-ahead layup with 1.2 seconds left.

Here's what head coach Pat Kelsey, guard/forward Terrence Edwards Jr. and guard/forward J'Vonne Hadley had to say following the win:

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

Opening Statement

“First of all, I’ve got my best friends in the world here who came to the game tonight, which was such a treat. I love you guys. I give Eastern Kentucky a lot of credit. They played a heck of a game. I’ve known A.W. Hamilton for a long time. He started at Wake Forest his first year. My first day in college coaching, I arrived on campus and didn’t know where the heck I was and the first person I met was A.W. Hamilton with a big smile on his face and a firm handshake and we’ve been friends ever since. He does a heck of a job. They had a great game plan. Those two guards were terrific tonight and we’re very fortunate to come out with a win. I thought our guys competed, our guys played hard, didn’t play our best but I credit them for the way they defended us, so we didn’t play our best. I look at the offensive rebounding total, I always look at that as an indicator as grit, tenacity and toughness and we got 50% of our misses; James Scott had seven offensive rebounds. We turn the ball over too much. We played against Florida State the other day who is a ferocious defensive team with great length and athleticism. They turn people over as good as anybody in the country and we played very well, very poised. These guys have a similar defensive philosophy, a little different, but in a lot of ways they want to create turnovers, and they did that today. We didn’t play with the same poise and had a negative assist to turnover ratio. Fortunate to come out with the win, it’s not always going to be pretty, it was a little ugly tonight. Noah Waterman stepped up. He’s a little banged up, but like all of our guys he’s tough as heck and continues to fight through it and made a shot that he’s going to tell his grandkids about. You play your entire career and some guys don’t make shots at the buzzer to win a game, I know it wasn’t right at the buzzer, but it’s a buzzer shot. So it’s a big time, big time shot and I’m proud of him.”

On if there was a loss of focus due to the holiday break

“I don’t think we had a loss of focus. If you were at practice the last couple of days, you would see a team that was engaged, locked in, leaning forward in scouting report, on it in every single repeition, going as hard as heck the other day, they were like that yesterday, they were like that today at the walkthrough early this morning. They never cease to amaze me in that regard, our guys are pros in the process and that’s what we focus on. You can’t always truly control the outcome but I thought our process and our preparation was great. There was no holiday hangover, there was no nothing. I’d be honest with you, if they came back and full of crap in practice, I would tell you. They were great. You credit Eastern Kentucky. They were good tonight. They did some really good things and, in many ways, deserve to win. That’s the way it goes sometimes. We found a way at the very end. I’m proud of our guys for how hard they played, they didn’t play their best, but they played hard.”

On the team’s defensive effort over the whole game

“I always use the word process and we’re really big on that. We always say the next thing we do is the most important thing in the history of our program, that’s always the case. The game is broken down in to 10 four-minute segments. We really, really focus on being great in our system in those four minutes. And then in the end, we come into the media [timeout] and we talk about what’s broken, how we got to fix it and how to move forward. We get to the last eight minutes, we talk about that being winning time and that’s when we have to be at our best. That’s when we have to be the best in our system, our grades, our rebounding, our block outs and defensive system and all that. I challenge them with that all of the time. In the next thing we do which is the weight lifting session tomorrow, I’m going to huddle them up and say let’s make this the best weight lifting session in the history of Louisville Basketball. That’s focusing on the process and I firmly believe that results take care of themselves. I challenge them in that regard. I’ll have to go back and watch the film, I don’t think we were at our best in those eight minutes, but there’s a lot of teachable moments from today, a lot of mistakes we made, a lot of situations that we were in that we’ll learn from and be better for it moving forward.”

On potentially calling timeout on what would be the game-winning play

“The big thing was when we got that rebound and kicked it to Reyne (Smith), we had amazing numbers. Reyne had like a three on two. I’m like ‘let’s go’, we are not going to get a better situation than this, go play. Then he sat there and looked at me and hesitated and I’m like ‘GO!’ So, then he goes, I thought he got fouled. You know we had phenomenal officials; they do a great job, but you know you are not usually going to get a call like that late. But he drives and the kid bumps him, and he literally falls down and the ball kind of like bounces away and I’m like’ oh crap’ and Noah just picks it up and just goes and makes a big-time shot, in a big moment.”

On how he thought Aboubacar Traore looked and played coming back from injury

“It’s been hard, he has been out for six weeks and hasn’t practiced one time. You know he’s done stuff on the side, running and all of that. He didn’t get cleared until, let’s see, we practiced the twenty-sixth (December 26th) at three o’clock, he went to the specialist, the hand guy at like one o’clock and they’re like ‘okay, you’re cleared’. He jumps into practice. It’s just going to take a little bit of time, to get into a rhythm and stuff. Just good to get him out there, get a sweat, feel it. It's going to be a little bit about our process, getting him back into the fold. But he’s going to be really good for us.

Guard/Forwards Terrence Edwards Jr. and J'Vonne Hadley

(Backcourt with Noah, thought on the end of the game)

J’Vonne Hadley : “It wasn't exactly what we drew up. They did a good job the whole night, blowing stuff up and just being aggressive. We have a lot of guys out there that can just be smart, be themselves and Noah (Waterman) did exactly that. He saw the opening and took it and he got a bucket.”

(Around 20 points the last few games, felt different on the court)

Terrence Edwards Jr : “Being experienced and knowing that you are going to have ups and downs, just staying on course. My teammates always telling me that they believe in me when I was struggling, and my coaches are doing the same. So, it just gave me confidence to stay positive and keep going. That's what you guys are seeing. Just stay on course and keep believing in myself.”

(Stacking up in conference play)

Terrence Edwards Jr: “I see us actually doing well. We just coming back from break and we actually played a good team that was hungry. A couple guys played with coach in the past, so they came in with a little edge. That's a good team over there, and you'll probably see them in March. But moving forward, we know what's ahead, so we going to go to practice and get this thing right. I think we can come out in a good spot in the ACC and be playing in March.”

J’Vonne Hadley: “We're not afraid of anybody. In our eyes, we see the ACC as open. We were right there with Duke and we're gonna go into every game with that same mentality that we're trying to win. We're here for a championship and we're not gonna try to settle for less at all.”

(Photo of Pat Kelsey: Matt Stone - Courier Journal/USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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