What Pat Kelsey, Louisville Players Said After 104-45 Win vs. SC State

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The 2025-26 season for the Louisville men's basketball program couldn't have started much better, as they captured an emphatic 104-45 victory over South Carolina State in their first game of the new hoops year.

Here's what head coach Pat Kelsey, forward Khani Rooths and point guard Mikel Brown Jr. had to say following the win:

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

(Opening Statement)

”Erik Martin, who’s the coach of South Carolina State, is kind of a Cincinnati legend, that’s my hometown as you guys know. He was on the ‘92 Final Four team, which is one of the great Cincinnati teams of all time. He played for Bob Huggins, who’s a Cincinnati icon and then he coached under Coach Huggins. I have a ton of respect for him. His kids always play hard, just like Coach Huggins’ teams did. They had a phenomenal year last year. They lost a ton of players - I think their top six scorers I believe. He’s kind of rebuilding again, but I have a ton of respect for him. He’s going [upward] in a coaching profession in my opinion. I was proud of our guys. In a game like that when you’re up by a huge margin, it’s easy to let your foot up off the gas in the possession- by-possession process that we talk about. I kept reminding those guys that the score’s 0-0, don’t pay attention to results, just be great in this next possession. I felt like they stayed true to our pick and roll coverage, responsibilities, our transition defense responsibilities, our guard the ball, our gaps. Because of that, we will get better coming out of this game. If it’s 10 minutes left and we’re up by a bunch and we just start hanging out, then we take a step backwards. So that was what I was most proud of.

(How hard is for the guys to stay focused with a large lead in a game?)

“It’s a great teaching opportunity. As the head coach and as a leader, because it’s what we preach all the time. You could come out of the game and win by 30, 40 points and you could be disappointed because you weren’t on the things that you value. We have an older group and a veteran group - I was saying it in the huddle, but they were saying it before I even got there. I’m just proud of their mentality and how they continued to attack.”

(About not giving up the first field goal until the 10-minute mark in the first half and the amount of second efforts and deflections in the paint and defensive energy)

“A big point of emphasis was to limit their second shots because they are a very good rebounding team. I mean, they crash hard. I told them there would be collisions all night long. We tried not to foul them and screen them to keep them from getting close to the basket. There were a lot of scrums. I thought we came up with a ton of 50-50 balls. The thing that ultimately that we probably didn’t do as well as I wanted was guarding without fouling. They shot way too many free throws. It took the air out of the momentum of the game. Some of those were holds and grabs and undisciplined plays that we can clean up.”

Forward Khani Rooths and Point Guard Mikel Brown Jr.

(About the energy defensively tonight)

Khani Rooths: “Our defense is always a focus for us the offense is going to come, but we have to make sure we are locking them in on defense. Defense turning to offense, we are always trying to get better on the defensive end.”

Mikel Brown: That was our emphasis coming into this game being consumed by getting stops, winning battles on the defensive end and that is going to lead to easy buckets on the offensive end. I think we came together as a team and made it an emphasis that the offense is going to come; we got to get stops and get kills which is three stops in a row and that is a main emphasis for us, and I think we executed that really well tonight.”

(On having 23 assists on 33 made baskets and team unselfishness)

Khani Rooths: One thing that really helps that is our positive attitude and the trust that we have for each other. We all encourage each other and when the time comes, we are all going to get it.

Mikel Brown, Jr.: We are coming together as a team. I think as the season goes on, we are going to become more connected as a group. We are encouraging each and every one of us to shoot and be confident. We know how much work everyone puts in on that team and the results are going to show on the court. We encourage everybody and want to instill that confidence for everyone to be aggressive and be able to make a play. At the end of the day, we love each other, and we are connected and that is going to help us win games.

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

Forward Khani Rooths and Point Guard Mikel Brown Jr.

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