What HC Pat Kelsey, Louisville Players Said After 84-73 Loss vs. Duke

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program squandered a massive opportunity on Tuesday night, falling 84-73 in a ranked matchup vs. Duke. The No. 20 Cardinals led 47-38 at the break, but were out-scored 46-26 in the second half by the No. 6 Blue Devils.

Here's what head coach Pat Kelsey, shooting guard Ryan Conwell and center Aly Khalifa had to say following the loss:

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

(Opening Statement)

“I am very, very disappointed. The crowd was amazing. The atmosphere was ridiculous. I am very, very disappointed with our performance in the second half. Our defense? They shot 70 percent from the field and everything was at the rim. We started fouling and we weren’t able to get out on transition because they’d be standing there on the free throw line. We are taking the ball out of the net. I thought that Caleb Foster was a game changer in the second half. We really, really struggled to keep him out of the paint. Obviously, we put most of our focus on No. 12 (Cameron Boozer) and we didn’t do a good job in our one-on-one defense. They really attacked us down the middle with their pick and roll. We have to do a much better job than what we did. Our guys were in the locker room and I came in and addressed the team. I have my bullet points that I want to get across and talk about the path forward and what is going to happen in the next couple days. I really think this is a crucial, crucial point in our season. This is as much adversity as we have faced since we came together on June 5. The cohesiveness of our team, not splintering, sticking together and staying with the process and having a couple great days of preparation is really important in the next couple of days. As I began to address the team, J’vonne Hadley, Ryan Conwell and Kobe Rodgers, they did all of the talking. What they said was extremely encouraging. Player-led teams are way more powerful and way better than coach-led teams. I, as their coach, need to do a better job of putting them in a better position in the second half. It really, really hurt us in the middle of the floor. We were undisciplined. We didn’t play with poise and fouled too much. Credit Duke. Credit Duke. I thought the second half, they took it right to us. They punched us in the mouth and true adversity hit.”

(On the kind of changes that could have been made) “Yeah, we just have to do a better job like in the middle pick and roll. We handled it very, very well in the first half. They weren’t near as aggressive attacking. So much of our focus was on No. 12, was on [Cameron] Boozer. Caleb Foster, really, really just put his head down and got in the paint. He is a really good player, but we have to do a better job of keeping them out of the paint both in one-on-one defense and out of the pick and roll, so we’ll be better. Obviously, we learned a tough lesson in front of 20,000 people or whatever the attendance was. It’s a tough lesson to learn and very, very disappointed because this could have been a great, great night, especially after how the first half went so, we to respond better and we will. “

(On Duke’s pick and roll) “We could’ve -- we probably should have -- changed our coverage more. We didn’t execute the one we were in very well. They were doing a good job of running out with No. 3 (Isaiah Evans) into guard pick and rolls. With 12 (Cameron Boozer) setting pick and rolls, he’s obviously going to be the No. 1 pick in the draft for a reason. He leads them in scoring, rebounding, assists and even steals -- terrific passer, pick and roll. And then when we started getting aggressive with it toward the end of the game, they were able to get it out of the ball screen, got in the paint, played a little two-man game. We needed to do a better job with that. And then we got to guard without fouling, there was just too many times in the second half where there were just unintelligent fouls that we keep on working on cleaning up and we have to continue to do so.”

Shooting Guard Ryan Conwell and Center Aly Khalifa

Ryan Conwell, Sr., G

(On the difference in open 3s from first to second half)

“First and foremost, I want to give all the glory to God, just to be in this position and be able to play this game. I would just say, not even just for me, but just the offense in general, we didn’t get stops like we did in the first half. We love to get out in transition, and when we foul and we’re constantly taking the ball out of the basket every single time, it slows us down, me and the team. I would say that’s the biggest thing, we just need to get more stops and guard the ball better.”

(On what leads to more turnovers in the second half)

“It kind of goes into, like on the defensive end, when we’re constantly taking the ball out of bounds after they score, they can pick us up on defense, make us work all the way up the court, pressure us, set their defense up, things like that. Whereas if we’re getting stops, we get out in transition, the floor is more spaced and we can get downhill easier. I would say it all just reverts back to our defense. When we’re getting stops it makes our offense that much easier, but when we’re not and we’re fouling, it makes it that much harder for us to do anything - run actions, take care of the ball, everything.”

Aly Khalifa, R-Sr., C

(On the shift between the first and second halves?)

“Coach told us they threw the first punch and we just didn’t respond the whole half. I feel like we let their offense dictate our defense a lot in the second half. In the first half, everything was falling, everybody was making, we were getting stops and in the second half, they punched us first and we were missing, turnovers and we kind of let that affect us. We fouled too much in the second half, like Ryan said, we couldn’t get out in transition – that’s what we do. We fouled too much, put them on the free throw line, they were out of bounds a lot. We weren’t us in the second half.”

(On what contributed to him going 5-for-5 from 3-point range)

“I give all credit to my teammates. We have a lot of great players and they kind of left me open because we have a lot of great shooters and my job is just to knock them down to just be better. Hopefully that continues – my teammates find me open and hopefully I find them open. But I give all credit to my teammates, they found me, I was open and I did the easy job, just knocking the shots down.”

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

Shooting Guard Ryan Conwell and Center Aly Khalifa

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