What Pat Kelsey, Louisville Players Said After 68-48 Win vs. Stanford

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program is heading into the ACC Tournament on a nine-game winning streak, taking down Stanford 68-48 in their regular season finale.

Here's what head coach Pat Kelsey, forward Noah Waterman, point guard Chucky Hepburn and guard/forward Terrence Edwards Jr. had to say following the win:

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

Opening Statement

“It was a magical day. It was special. The atmosphere was unbelievable. We honored a phenomenal group of young men that have done a lot to lift up this city and to reestablish the Louisville basketball brand, which as we all know, its rightful place, is amongst the best teams in the country. I give the crowd today so much credit for, obviously, the impact they had in the game, their belief in us, I thought, the fact that they stayed, and it seemed like everybody was there. I mean, it was packed afterwards for that ceremony, and that meant a lot to those guys. It meant a lot to me as a head coach. Kyle's [Smith] done a great job with that team. I feel bad, and I want to say this publicly, and I'll say it to him privately as well. Probably didn't handle the substitutions the right way, where I was trying to get those guys honored in the end. Probably not the right thing to do in terms of, kind of disrespecting your opponent a little bit, so I apologize for that, and I'll be better moving forward. But you guys know me in these press conferences, you always want to ask me questions about postseason and things like that, and I'm only worried about the next team, the next team, the next team, the next team. For one day, you have me in a day where I don't know who the next team we're playing is.

So, this is kind of one time where I'm like, I don't know who I'm preparing for right now. So, you kind of take a deep breath and get above the trees. I always tell our guys, you know, perspective. And they walked in for summer one and June 5, we broke the year down into the segments, and we just focused on that segment. Summer one, summer two, then was fall pre-practice, then it was pre-season practice, then it was non-conference, then it was conference, and then it's ACC tournament, and the last one would be the NCAA tournament, which that one doesn't matter right now. Our sole focus is on the ACC. But when you look back over that journey, it's been a fun one with a really, really special group of men and women as part of our 25 strong, and I'm blessed to be their coach.”

Did you think 25-6, 18-2 was possible?

“I'm convinced we're going lose every single game. This is how I prepare. I think that fear of not preparing and not putting our guys in the best position, puts me in this maniacal mode to kind of do what I do. Sometimes your greatest strength and your greatest weakness, you got to kind of be able to balance that a little bit. I don't know if that's good or bad. It's probably not very healthy. I'd would always see all the ways that number 42 (Maxime Raynaud) could have 90 (points) on us, because he can't get 90, because nobody ever does, but he's a problem. So no, I never thought that we win a certain number of games or this or that. I have a great I have a confidence and a belief in who we are, what we do as a staff, and what we do in terms of building our program. So it usually works out for us. I didn't, I didn't think we'd be in this position right now, but it's been so much fun. I was just kind of Joe Bag of Donuts mid major guy, and Josh Heird took a chance on me, and the fear of letting your guys down in preparation is one of those things I think about, but we were just working your butt off every day to make Josh look good and that he made a good hire that motivates me every single day. He's a great leader, become a great confidant, friend of mine.

He's doing an unbelievable job leading this athletic department. So when I sit here today when I don't know who the next game is, and he could have hired a million other people that probably are more qualified than I, he took a chance on me. Now it's the next thing. Let's go to the ACC tournament and work our butts off to be able to climb up the ladder. We just have to be win that first game against whoever the heck that is (against)”

On putting together a whole new team and how it came together

“I've said this before. A bunch of guys are from parts all over, all over the world that didn't know each other from anything, and we asked them to love each other on day one. It's weird for a bunch of 21, 22, 19-year old guys that are … I got teenagers. They're too cool a lot, you'll love him, right? It's the uncommon commitment to the guy next to today's day and age with NIL, money involved, the aspect of professional sports that we're in. I don't know, is it going to change? And I’m like, we're not changing. It's about us. It's about winning. It's about your teammate. If you're not about that, don't come here. I give my staff a lot of credit for identifying those type of guys, they’re a joy to coach.”

On Chucky Hepburn and kissing the Cardinal bird

I feel, even though these guys are here for one year, I mean, I don't know. I can't speak for the fan base, but gosh darn. I think they're going to be beloved and revered and held up and remembered for a long, long time. How cool is that? I mean, Chucky had a magnificent career at Wisconsin. He had the shot to win the Big 10 title, maybe as a freshman, multiple NCAA Tournaments. Greg Gard is a phenomenal coach, and it's a great program. He was a major part of that, and he's got a special place in his heart for that place. But for him to come here and go all in on being a Louisville Cardinal, and to walk out there before he checks out for the last time and kiss the floor, that is storybook. I'm so glad that those guys and Chucky had that moment today, it was special.”

On defensive fixes throughout the game

“We took the post trap on and off because [Raynaud] is a very good post player, so sometimes we did and sometimes we didn’t. We varied our ball screen coverage. We were being aggressive and affecting the ball and jumping the ball, and then we kind of went to a curveball a little bit and didn’t jump it as much because they use the pick and roll to, obviously, attack and score. He is a major threat going gravity toward the rim and gravity away from the rim, because he could shoot it so well. You saw some of those threes he reigned in today. Kyle’s a really good coach and he makes you make tough decisions on how you’re going to guard that pick and roll, because you’re susceptible to the pick and pop and then it allows him to get into the post and get the post position. Our guys do a great job of adjustments, and sometimes our adjustments come from that. Brian, as you know, our defensive coordinator, does a good job with that, and they’re like I’ve got a bunch of coaches. James Scott took this game personally. Obviously {number] 42 is decorated. He should be, he’s a pro. I always just focus on the next thing. I found out that James was doing some Stanford scouting over the last two weeks or so, because there’s no way he could have come in 10 minutes after the game and already knew five or six things that he wanted to do to defend that kid in the post. That’s just the type of basketball savant that he is. They’re all like that, and when we make adjustments, they make them really well. I told you guys a long time ago at a press conference, it amazed me when we went into the first workouts in the summer and I was putting a couple of things in and they were like, ‘bop, bop, bop, got it,’ and I’m like, ‘holy cow.’ I think that’s one of the things that makes them a really good group.”

On Reyne Smith’s health and connection with Kelsey

“I don’t have an update. Obviously Katie could answer that better. He’s a tough kid and he’s going to get treatment like crazy, and hopefully he’ll be ready to go, but I’ve got no update on that. I’ve seen him go from a boy to a man. Somebody sent a picture the other day, he’s going to kill me for saying this, it was right when he got to Charleston, his first time traveling away from home, to the other side of the world. I’m like, ‘Hey man, you should go to the beach,’ so he goes to the beach with a couple of guys and they took a picture. He looks like he’s 11, like Johnny. Just to see how he’s developed as a person, as a basketball player, he’s a special kid. It was awesome to have his family in from Australia for this. Heartbroken for him that he didn’t get to be on the court today and experience it. I mean, he did, but he wasn’t out there, and I know that hurt him a lot. There are very few guys I’ve ever coached that are tougher. You bank on that kid working his butt off over the next however many days to hopefully be ready to go when we get to Charlotte.”

Forward Noah Waterman, Point Guard Chucky Hepburn and Guard/Forward Terrence Edwards Jr.

(On the decision to kiss the cardinal bird at halfcourt)

Chucky Hepburn: “You know, it’s my senior night, last time playing on the Louisville home floor. I cherish every moment we had here. The losses the wins, good times bad. Just proud to be wearing this uniform and playing with my teammates sitting next to me. I wouldn’t want to do this for anybody else in the country.”

(One the connection will be with the players and the university)

Terrance Edwards Jr.: “I could probably say coming here was different for all of us. We were a brand-new team with a new coaching staff. It was pretty hard in the summer for us. All the hard work we were putting in and trying to learn the system. The season came kind of fast for us, I can say. It came faster than we thought. We are on the court with Tennessee, one of the top teams in the country, getting beat down. We didn’t really know what was going on and I feel like all that stuff made us better and wanted to be more connected after that. It turned into a brotherhood, and we wanted to play for each other. We just held each other accountable and said it will never happen again. No matter the wins or losses, we just won't lose like that again. That hurt us. We had to live with that from the fan base all over the country. That hurt us, but we turned it into fire, and it made us better. Late in the year, I just felt like we got better from those things. Getting beat down on your home floor, that either can break you or make you better. And I feel like that made us better."

(On being connected to the community and the fans)

Chucky Hepburn: “Gotta says, the Bahamas, maybe that’s when we found our identity, and we started really started finally getting the love we deserved. People realized we weren’t the same Ville. You know we just wanted to go put it on for the city and make everybody happy, ourselves happy. That’s what we do it for, we do it for the name on the front.”

(On if the team feels they met their own expectations)

Terrance Edwards Jr.: “Feel that we did what we were supposed to do. Of course, we wanted to bring The Ville back, and we feel like we did that. Now that we are here, we set bigger goals for ourselves, and we believe in each other, and we know that we can make a deep run in March. We're most definitely not satisfied with just the regular season. We have to go through the ACC tournament. We need the fan base to come with us, rock with us, and go down there while we try to win the ACC. We want to come out with a good season and tournament and try to go deep in March. We believe in that, and that's what we’re going for.”

(On building chemistry throughout the year with a new team)

Chucky Hepburn: “I mean, from day one, we clicked. Everybody’s winners. Everyone that Coach PK recruited, are winners. That’s what type of guy (Coach Kelsey) is. That’s the type of guy that is on his coaching staff. They just recruit winners, and when winners connect like that, it’s really easy to play with each other and connect on and off the court. There’s not one person on this team that doesn’t like somebody and that says a lot about us. In the locker room, we can talk to each other however we want. We know it’s still love at the end of the day. Once we leave that locker room, we’re still brothers. That’s what I love about this team – nothing is going to divide us.”

(On the ACC Tournament)

Noah Waterman: “It's definitely going to be tough. But like what we were saying, I think we’re one of the best teams in the country. We’ve all bought into each other, and we have shown you guys and the fans that all season long. We’re just going to keep doing what we’ve been doing, in the ACC tournament, hopefully we come out with the championship.”

(Photo of Terrence Edwards Jr., Pat Kelsey: Sam Upshaw Jr. - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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