What HC Pat Kelsey, Louisville Players Said After 87-70 Win vs. Georgia Tech

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program was able to earn a hard fought victory on Senior Day, holding off Georgia Tech long enough to capture an 87-70 win.

Here's what head coach Pat Kelsey, plus point guard Kobe Rodgers, guard/forward J'Vonne Hadley and shooting guard Ryan Conwell had to say following the win:

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

(Opening statement)

“The crowd was awesome. I did a little thing on social media yesterday, really asking people to honor these seniors here tonight. Saturday afternoon games are always awesome at the Yum! Center. I walked out and looked at the upper deck and it was a great crowd. I know the seniors really appreciate it. That’s an awesome group of dudes. It’s kind of unique just because this isn’t our last home game, but just because this is a weekend game it made more sense with the parents traveling in and things like that. We’ll watch the tape, clean a bunch of stuff up, we turned it over a little bit too much. Overall I thought our defensive effort was good, we had little spells when they went on big runs where we got a little bit – I don’t know if complacent is the word, but I called a timeout, guys responded well and I think really upped the intensity down the stretch. On nine different occasions, we got three stops in a row without an offensive rebound - we call those kills, a lot of coaches refer to that – and that’s a lot. We turned them over, I thought our deflections were really good, played active with our hands. I’ve been around Spencer Legg for a long time, he’s a really unique, special kid, for him to check in on senior night and bang a three was pretty cool, it was kind of like the cherry on the top.”

(On turnovers during the game)

"I think you hit it in on the head. There's a couple things you just talked about where you're trying to force the issue. We want fluidity in our offense, we want to be in that flow state, we want the ball to move, we want people to move. We had some possessions where I thought we were over dribbling too much, so we were really telling the guys we have to get that thing pinging. Maybe when they do that, then they force it a little bit. We're not a turnover team, obviously at the end of the SMU game we had a bunch of empty possessions late, and it was a pretty big number tonight, so we'll look at it tonight or address. It's not anything I'm overly concerned about because on the back of our bubble-gum card and our players' bubble gum card says that they make great decisions and they have good assist to turnover ratios."

(On taking the team to the top of the Yum! Center this week to deliver his message why he chose this point in the season to do that)

“Coaches are always trying to figure out buttons to push. The season’s long, it’s a grind at times. My mentor used to do that a lot and we do that when I have a feel that it’s kind of time. While we were up there, I read The Precious Present to them and that’s Coach Pitino, who, as you know, is on the Mt. Rushmore of college coaches. I read an article one time that he read that book to his team - it’s a short parable book, it takes like 12 minutes to read. And when I read that, I had never read The Precious Present before and I went out and I read it and now I read it once a year to my teams. And I just decided to do it way up in the upper deck of the Yum! Center. First of all, it’s an enormous building, you don’t realize it until you’re up there and the floor looks really small. I was just telling those guys [it’s] perspective. We all sit in the cheap seats – I shouldn’t call them the ‘cheap seats’ because they’re great seats and they’re still on sale, there’s plenty available, keep getting them. But we’ve all been there growing up where you look down and you just dream of being on that floor. I just said the floor looks so small from up there and you don’t realize it when you’re a little kid, but when you’re here and you’re out there on that floor, you feel the pressures and the anxieties to perform on a big stage – we all do. Every competitor does that and I just talked to them about the privilege that it is to have those expectations and have those pressures. Throughout the course of the year, coaches are always trying to do some creative things to get their guys going or to make them think about things in a different way. It goes so fast. We met on June 5 for the first time and it always just snaps the fingers and here we are. We’re like an eyelash away from March Madness. And I’m just reminding them how special the sanctity of that locker room is and that camaraderie and that brotherhood and just to continue to have gratitude and embrace it, because it will be over before you know it. Hopefully a good seven weeks down the road or whenever the Final Four is.”

Point Guard Kobe Rodgers, Guard/Forward J'Vonne Hadley and Shooting Guard Ryan Conwell

Kobe Rodgers, Senior, Guard

(On reflecting on his time here and previous schools)

“Our teammates are going to be our teammates. PK [Pat Kelsey] recruits the right guys for a reason. He wouldn’t bring anyone in here that is going to bring anything bad into the program. Since day one he told us to love each other and I’ve been loving these guys ever since they got here, Von [J’Vonne Hadley] since last year, RC [Ryan Conwell] since this year. It just makes it so much more fun when you can have serious conversations, but also have so much fun at the same time with these guys every single night and every single day at practice.”

(On how they set themselves up for success in the post season with their last stretch of games)

“I think this is just a great time to see two great tournament teams that are going to be in March Madness here in a little bit and just gives us a chance to get ready and see where we are at, especially this late in the season. We haven’t been the best on the road this year, but I think every opportunity that we’ve had on the road, we’ve kind of taken something away from it. That’s kind of helped us build up to get to this point. Do I think we are any sort of worried or anything like that? No. We know how good we can be. We know how good we are. So, these are just going to be two great challenges for us. We expect to come out with dubs.”

J’Vonne Hadley, 6th Year, G

(On Coach Kelsey’s message to them this week and their state of mind as they near the end of the season and look to postseason)

“I would like to start by saying I give all the thanks to God, none of us would be here without it. But to answer your question, I would just say trying to live in the present as much as possible. Just learning about our perspective. He brought us to the top of the arena obviously to look at the perspective people sit up there to watch us, pay to come to our games. We’ve got to put in effort and everybody has their different perspectives and different journeys along the way and you kind of put it into your own mind that it’s a self-realization type of thing. It’s just like a motivational type of thing as well, just because, it’s been a long journey and you can look at the perspective like that.”

(Takeaways from the SMU game Tuesday night)

“Obviously SMU is a really good team, but a beatable team obviously we already beat them here at home. We had good flashes at their place; our offense at a high standard, it was just our defense a little bit. Shoutout to them, they hit a lot of tough [mid-range] pullup fades, it was some of their nights. It’s going to be like that at the highest level of basketball that we play at. Big shoutout to SMU, I hope we see them in the ACC tournament”.

Ryan Conwell, Senior, Guard

(On the urgency of making the moments together last)

“First and foremost, I want to give all glory to God. I am just blessed to be in this position. I would say for me it’s just being thankful for the journey that you have been through and being able to make it to this point. Like Vonne [J’Vonne Hadley] was saying just being present in the moment and understanding that you don’t have many college games left. Also not taking it for granted and just trying to enjoy it while it lasts.”

(On taking his game to another level in March)

“I would say we put so much work in throughout the year, over the summer just for moments like this. Understanding that you’re prepared for it. You go to the gym every single day just for the big-time moments when the lights are brightest and I know that we’re all prepared for those moments when they come. So just not worrying too much about it and just being who you are and believing in the position that God put you in and knowing that it will all take care of itself”.

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

Point Guard Kobe Rodgers, Guard/Forward J'Vonne Hadley and Shooting Guard Ryan Conwell

More Cardinals Stories