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The stage was set for Pat Kelsey’s first signature win at the helm of Louisville basketball.
It’ll have to wait.
Kelsey’s new-look Cardinals (1-1) had a raucous crowd of 16,976 behind them Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center but couldn’t meet the moment against No. 12 Tennessee (2-0).
The Volunteers never trailed and led by as many as 26 points in handing U of L its 16th consecutive loss to a ranked team, 77-55.
After Monday’s dominant season-opening win against Morehead State, Kelsey recalled the hint of hesitation he had when athletics director Josh Heird and his longest-tenured assistant coach, Brian Kloman, approached him about scheduling UT for Game 2 of his tenure. At the very least, he figured, the matchup would galvanize a fan base that suffered through the doldrums of the Kenny Payne era and teach him and his staff a lot about their completely overhauled roster.
“Coach (Skip) Prosser used to say, ‘You find out what’s inside the orange when you squeeze it,'” Kelsey told reporters Friday. “Both teams are going to get squeezed tomorrow.”
The orange-clad visitors did most of the squeezing, especially out of the gate.
In its first brush with a high-major defense — Tennessee coach Rick Barnes’ calling card, no less — Louisville missed its first seven shots and allowed the Vols to open on a 10-0 run. Trailing 21-13 with 10:24 to play in the period, it went 0 for its next 8 and allowed UT to go on an 8-0 run. By the 3:18 mark, the deficit had grown to 38-16.
The Cards closed the final 2:57 of the half on a 10-2 run, but the period went down as their worst offensive stretch yet with Kelsey at the helm: 8 for 33 (24.2%) from the field, 5 for 23 (21.7%) from 3-point range, -12 on the boards (24-12) and -20 in the paint (24-4).
Hard to dig yourselves out of that hole; especially when Tennessee answered nearly every punch U of L threw. The closest the Cards got after halftime was nine, 47-38 at the 13:17 mark after back-to-back 3s from Reyne Smith; but the Vols proceeded to…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/louisville-basketball-front-packed-kfc-190731807.html
Author : The Courier Journal
Publish date : 2024-11-09 19:07:00
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