What HC Pat Kelsey, Louisville Players Said After 94-54 Win vs. Montana

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program got back in the win column on Saturday, overcoming a bit of a slow start to eventually cruise to a 94-54 win over Montana.

Here's what head coach Pat Kelsey, forward/center Sananda Fru and shooting guard Isaac McKneely had to say following the win:

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

(Opening Statement)

“Travis DeCuire has been at Montana for a long time and they have been the gold standard in that league for a long time. I got to really dive into his coaching and schemes for the last couple days in preparation for this game. I have a lot of admiration for his team and a lot of respect for him as a coach. To lose games right before Christmas, like trap games, although I hate saying that, you always worry about your guys already having sugar plums dancing in their heads. Our process is really good and obviously coming off that loss at Tennessee, I knew I would have their attention, although I never worry about that with this team. They are always professional with their approach. They gave this team the respect they deserve in terms of preparation and overall, we did a good job of carrying out the game plan. I kind of reminded those guys in the locker room that on June 5, we come together, I do a Power Point presentation with my clicker with each segment of the season popping up. When the first segment of the season pops up, I tell those guys to be fully present where you are. The first one is Summer I, check. The second one is Summer II, check. August and September are pre-practice, check. Six weeks of practice before preseason games start, check, and then it goes to non-conference, which we just closed, check. I tell those guys all the time to be present. Don’t blink. Enjoy the journey and enjoy your teammates because it goes so fast. You will be old like me in the snap of the fingers. Wherever you go to play next at on the professional level, it is never, ever, ever going to be like it is in college. That connection to the student body and your teammates, once you get out into the professional world, it is just different. The next one was checked off today. I told them I felt like we left some meat on the bone. I wish we could have some of those games back, but if you would have told me that with the schedule we are playing that we would be 10-2 going into Christmas, I am never satisfied unless we win every single stinking game. I did tell them at the locker room, because I don’t think they hear this from me enough, that I am very proud of them. I am proud to coach them. This is a great group, very talented and the sky is the limit for them. I am unrelenting about being the CRO, I have told you guys before that it stands for Chief Reminder Officer to remind the guys what our standards are every day. Sometimes it probably feels like I am never, ever, ever satisfied. But we have done some really good things and have great things ahead of us. The next thing is getting the mindset right, the body right and spend time with the family and enjoy the holidays. It is a special, special time of the year celebrating the birth and miracle of God becoming man and Jesus walking the face of the earth and saving us all from our sins. I am excited to spend some time with our family. When our guys get back, I told them to do what you have to do to step back in that practice facility, when we get going to have your mind and body ready to be the best you have ever been. It is a fun journey to be on with these guys. It’s a fun journey to be on with our fan base and the great city of Louisville. I think there are great, great things ahead in the next several months. Merry Christmas to you guys.“

(On getting the big men involved more after Tennessee)

“We addressed that, we just talked about how we need to get them more involved and get them some touches in a lot of different ways. Then I reminded them too that one way for them to get as many passes as they want to them is to go eat the offensive rebounds. Part of it was us getting those guys more involved, and part of it was those guys going in and being very, very selfish on the backboard. It is the one time in the game that you can be selfish. Go get every single rebound. I will never say ‘hey let that one go’, get every single one. But yeah, that was an emphasis over the last couple of days.”

(On operating without Mikel Brown Jr.)

“We’re a team, next man up. People get injured, people get hurt, that’s why we have 13 guys on scholarship. You mentioned Kobe, we didn’t have Mikel or Kobe. That’s our point guard and our backup point guard, and we didn’t have either one of them, don’t blink. ‘Hey J’Vonne, go play the point’ Gotcha coach’. That’s just how it is and that is how it will always be. There are zero excuses and zero explanations, figure it out. The last two games, Ryan has been asked to change roles. He’s been very ball-dominant. He’s had the ball in his hands. He’s been the point guard. He’s been the table setter. He’s played some point for us, but he hasn’t done it a lot. And J’Vonne Hadley, who is one of the best Swiss army knives I have ever coached, is just that guy that you can put at the one, the two, the three, the four, and the five. You could call any one of our set plays and he could run it perfectly. It’s just how he is and it’s a luxury of having a guy like that. When your lineup is all screwed up like that, and you don’t have your two point guards, and we’re intricate in the things we run, and now all of a sudden J’Vonne has to know the things the one does, ‘got it coach’. That’s just being accountable and being a great teammate, and he takes pride in it. He takes pride in being that guy that ‘man plug me in anywhere and I’ll go do it’, so if anybody goes out, you mentioned the question about Mikel, but if any player went out the other guys would have to step up, change their role a little bit, and we wouldn’t make any excuses or give no explanations about why this guy didn’t play or this guy didn’t play, it’s like everybody is expected to be ready when their name is called. I thought our guys did a good job of that today, and did a pretty good job at Tennessee, obviously had to be better, but a lot of lessons learned from that.”

Forward/Center Sananda Fru and Shooting Guard Isaac McKneely

Sananda Fru, Jr, F/C

(On his performance today)

"I think my teammates did a great job feeding me my right actions; I feel like I had so many lobs today. I feel like every action, when I was open, my teammates were able to find me and especially big shout outs to the guys who stepped up when both point guards were out today and they just did an amazing job sharing the ball between each other, creating a lot of assists, a lot of easy points for me."

(On the chemistry and playing alongside the other big men)

"I thought it went pretty good. The guards were out, so a lot of players stepped up. We had a lot of big lineups with Kasean (Pryor), me, Khani (Rooths) Von (J'Vonne Hadley), Zou (Vangelis Zougris) and Aly (Khalifa) on the court. And I felt we matched pretty good. There's still some stuff to work on for us, but I thought the more often we're on the court together and also practice more. It looked pretty good I'd say."

Isaac McKneely, Sr, G

(On practice since the loss at Tennessee)

“We always want to have good energy in practice. Obviously nobody wants to lose, but even when you lose, you’ve got to come back the next day with fire and energy. We had to watch the film, obviously there were a lot of bad things – there were some good things, but a lot of bad things that we could work on and we knew that. A big emphasis for us the past couple of days was getting the bigs involved like [Sananda Fru]. And I thought we did a good job of that today - 18 points for Sananda (Fru), we’ve got to continue to do that. He’s one of the best lob threats in the country, he’s good with his back to the basket. So, we’ve got to continue to get him, Zou {Vangelis Zougris) and Aly (Khalifa) the ball, especially with our two point guards out, they’re kind of like the point centers on the court. That was a big emphasis for us and I thought we did a good job with that today.”

(On igniting the 17-0 run in the first half)

“It’s always good to see your first one go down and I saw the first one go down os it kind of gave me a shot of confidence. The past couple of games for me have been rough shooting wise, so it’s always good to see a few go down today. We talked out how we didn’t have our point guards today, so RC (Ryan Conwell) was playing some point guard, I was even playing some point guard and I haven’t played point guard since high school. A lot of changes today, a lot of different lineups, bigger lineups, so it kind of just took us a while to get into the flow of things, but once we did, I though our offense was good.”

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

Forward/Center Sananda Fru and Shooting Guard Isaac McKneely

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