LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — There are letdowns, and then there are Louisville basketball games where Isaac McKneely hits a three before most fans have found their seats.
This was the latter.
Four days after lighting up Kentucky, Louisville scored 106 points, hit 16 threes, and showed no signs of a hangover. If anything, the Cardinals looked like a team that had switched from champagne to cold brew.
Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford
Louisville beat Ohio 106-81 on Saturday in the KFC Yum! Center.
You worry about human nature in a spot like this. The emotional drain. The media glare. The temptation to sleepwalk through the first half while half-watching game film of Tuesday night’s triumph over Kentucky.
Pat Kelsey worried, too. For about 30 seconds.
“I came in guns a-blazing,” the Louisville coach said of the team’s first post-Kentucky meeting. “… I thought I was going to go after them and just be on everything. And then, nah, those dudes were leaning forward. They were finishing my sentences. I just got the sense right away that we're good, they're going to be in a great frame of mind.”
They were better than good. They were precise. They were unselfish. They were a nightmare for Ohio and a valentine for efficiency enthusiasts.
McKneely hit four threes and finished with 15 points. Ryan Conwell dropped 22. Mikel Brown Jr. had 19 points and 7 assists and moved like a guard who knows exactly how fast his car can go.
Louisville shot 50 percent from the field. They scored 27 points off turnovers. They grabbed 17 offensive rebounds.
And they didn’t trail for a single second.
They even made halftime sound like a symposium.
“There was great basketball talk in the locker room before we got in there,” Kelsey said. “They were talking about points per possession. They wanted to get (Ohio’s) down.”
You can measure talent. You can chart jump shots. But when your players are policing efficiency metrics at the under-4 timeout, that’s a different kind of culture.
Ohio wasn’t a pushover. The Bobcats had a good point guard, a smart coach, and just enough shot-making to be dangerous. Jackson Paveletzke scored 28. They hit nine threes. They scored 81 points, and still lost by 25.
“If you’re not on it,” Kelsey said, “a team like that will come in here and bust you in the mouth. Those kids weren’t afraid. They were gritty. They were tough.”
Ohio coach Jeff Boals didn’t seem all that upset afterward. How could he be?
“They share the ball so well,” Boals said. “They’re very efficient. And I thought maybe, maybe we’d catch them on a letdown. But that’s a mature team.”
He called Louisville one of the most unselfish teams he’s seen. Kelsey appreciated those words.
“We don’t approach any game differently,” said guard Kobe Rodgers, who added 7 points and 5 rebounds. “It’s about the process. Treating every game like it’s a national championship.”
That’s either a good quote or a full-court press on clichés. But the scoreboard didn’t lie.
Oh, and the scoreboard looks a little different.
If Louisville fans are still adjusting to life under Kelsey — the tempo, the substitutions, the energy – they’ve gotten another new wrinkle this season: analytics on the arena video board. It now displays the “four factors” for each team – points per possession, offensive rebound percentage, turnover percentage and free throw rate.
Those are keys to success for Louisville. Kelsey likes having them where he can see them easily, and the arena operations officials quickly made it happen.
“I think it'll be cool for our fan base to start looking at those, because they're such a advanced basketball mind fan base,” Kelsey said. “Like, we have really smart basketball fans. I’ve 20,000 assistant coaches up in the stands that know what the crap they're talking about, which is not great sometimes for the head coach, but I thought it was pretty cool that we put it up there. I think a couple NBA teams did it last year.”
The four factors looked pretty good Saturday. Louisville is getting better. Sananda Fru had 14 points and five rebounds. Adrian Wooley had 11 and six. No red lights on the dashboard. There was no crash. No snooze button pushed.
Next up: A trip to Cincinnati, a homecoming for a couple of players, and for Kelsey, and a chance to keep their focus trained.
More Sports Coverage:
CRAWFORD | Jurich honored at L&N Stadium, moved to tears by Louisville football ovation
Louisville-area high school football coverage — Week 13
CRAWFORD | Fernando Mendoza set for home finale, and Indiana's final ascent
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
