What Louisville HC Pat Kelsey Said After 77-74 Loss at North Carolina

Listen to what the head coach of the Cardinals and various players said after their loss to the Tar Heels:

Feb 23, 2026; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey reacts in the first half at Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - At one point, the Louisville men's basketball program seemed liek they were peaking at the right time. Now, it seems they are sputtering to the end of the regular season.

Tasked with making the trip to North Carolina for a big time Monday night matchup, the Cardinals once again came up short in a road matchup against a ranked foe, suffering a 77-74 loss at the Dean Dome.

"Credit to Carolina," head coach Pat Kelsey said. "The four big parts of the game, the four things we focus on that determine winning and losing - one is effective field goal percentage. second is free throw rate, third is rebounding percentage, and last is turnover rate - and they beat us in two of those four, pretty good."

Despite trailing by one at halftime, Louisville quickly fell into a 16-point hole in the opening minutes of the second half. They were able to get their deficit down to as little as a single possession in the final minute, but could not get over the hump.

UNC shot 53.6 percent from the field even without star forward Caleb Wilson, while UofL shot only shot just 38.8 percent from the field. Mikel Brown Jr. scored 24 points and Ryan Conwell added 23, while Seth Trimble scored a game-high 30 points for Carolina.

Louisville has now lost 13 straight road games against AP-ranked competition, with their last five coming under second-year head coach Pat Kelsey. The loss to North Carolina also moves them to 0-7 against Quad 1A teams this season.

"If I picked a positive, it's that we continued to fight," Kelsey said. "Got down to 16, and we cut it to a one possession game. We got several days. It's Monday, and we don't play till Saturday. So we got to dive into the tape and clean up the schematic things. But it's our responses, when things are going sideways, especially on the road, that we got to be better than we were."

Here's what head coach Pat Kelsey had to say following the loss:

Head Coach Pat Kelsey

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