LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Kasean Pryor didn’t just pick a date. He circled it. Underlined it. Tattooed it on his rehab plan.
He’d waited nearly a year for this, ever since he was stuck in a New York hotel, leg propped up after ACL surgery, watching his Louisville teammates play Kentucky without him on TV last season, frustration rising with every dribble and taunt. That day, he set a target. A deadline. And Thursday night, he hit it.
“My deadline was to be back before Kentucky, so I could be prepared to play against them,” he said after Thursday’s 106-70 win over Jackson State at the KFC Yum! Center.
As usual, fans had already turned the page to Louisville’s next game — against Kentucky in this building on Tuesday — before the clock hit 0:00. The “Beat UK” chants rang out, louder than the final buzzer.
Pryor, fresh off his first game action in nearly a year, knee rebuilt, confidence game not missing a beat, gave them 13 minutes, six points, six rebounds — and something even more important: timing.
On Tuesday, Pryor’s personal comeback becomes everyone’s headline.
Because if you’ve lived here for more than five minutes, you know what this rivalry means. You know why Louisville fans chant “Beat UK” after a 36-point win over Jackson State. You know why Pat Kelsey heard it on the bench. Why Ryan Conwell called it “a different type of game.” Why Pryor said he couldn’t walk two blocks last year without someone stopping him and saying it.
“They know how big this rivalry is,” Pryor said. “That speaks for itself.”
You could see it in his stride when he checked in, a little more than three minutes into the game, nearly a year after a catastrophic ACL injury in the Bahamas. The ovation wasn’t just loud. It was cathartic. A red-jerseyed exhale.
He’d made it back. And just in time.
“Jeez,” Kelsey said. “We all remember the level he was playing at last year in the Bahamas. That’s when the Revi-ville started reviving.”
Then came the injury, a human pinball collision that would’ve drawn a wince in the NFL.
“It was like the air out of the balloon, man,” Kelsey said.
Now? The air’s back. Pryor is back. And so is the juice around a program that looks and feels very different from the one he left behind.
This isn’t just any Kentucky game.
It’s Kelsey’s first home game in the rivalry as Louisville’s head coach, a rivalry where fan loyalty is measured in decibels, and grudges are passed down like heirlooms.
“It means a ton to their fan base,” Kelsey said. “It means a ton to our fan base. It means a ton for college basketball.”
Even Sananda Fru, who grew up with rivalries in Germany, admitted this one feels “exaggerated.” And he’s here for it.
“I’m 100 percent sure I’m ready,” he said.
Pryor is, too. He’s been ready., since that day in the hotel watching the rivals last year, the chirping, the scrapping, the scowls, and Lamont Butler lifting Kentucky to a win at Rupp.
“Obviously very emotional,” Pryor said. “... But the camaraderie that I'm hearing, and, you know, the back and forth … it just made me excited to get out there and bring my energy, give our team that edge.”
Pryor's role with this team, and his physical ability to fulfill it, will remain very much a process, but his energy and edge are what Louisville is hoping for. That, and a return from concussion protocol by J’Vonne Hadley. And maybe a good three-point shooting day. And maybe some zone defense. And, well, you get the idea.
“See you guys Tuesday,” Pryor said, walking off the postgame podium. “After a win.”
So, it seems Pryor is back. Now Louisville will look to prove it is, too.
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