Louisville basketball’s Pat Kelsey on beating South Carolina State
Louisville basketball’s Pat Kelsey shares his thoughts after the Cardinals beat the South Carolina State Bulldogs 104-45 in the 2025-26 season opener.
Louisville basketball hosts Jackson State today at the KFC Yum! Center in the final tune-up game before archrival Kentucky visits town next week.
The No. 10 Cardinals (1-0) kicked off Year 2 of the Pat Kelsey era with a 104-45 win over South Carolina State in Monday’s season opener — the sixth-largest margin of victory in program history, per statistician Kelly Dickey.
“It’s a great teaching opportunity,” Kelsey said. “You can win by 30 (or) 40 points and you could be really disappointed because you weren’t on the things that you value. We have an older group and a veteran group. I was saying it in the huddle, but they were kind of saying it before I even got there. (I’m) just proud of their mentality and how they continued to attack.”
Led by fourth-year coach Mo Williams, Jackson State (0-1) is coming off a 16-18 finish and a trip to the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament championship game in 2024-25 after starting the season 0-13. The Tigers, whose roster features preseason SWAC Player of the Year Daeshun Ruffin and former Louisville forward Devin Ree, began the 2025-26 campaign with a 113-55 loss at No. 14 Illinois on Monday. They ranked 265th out of 365 Division I teams on KenPom.com as of Tuesday.
Here’s what you need to know to follow today’s game from home:
U of L and JSU are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. today inside the Yum! Center.
Betting odds: Louisville is a 38 ⅟₂-point favorite (-115) on DraftKings, which set the over/under at 165 ⅟₂ points (-112).
Score predictions: KenPom gives the Cards a 99% chance of winning and projects a 96-68 final score in their favor. BartTorvik.com is also forecasting a U of L victory (97%), with a projected final score of 98-69.
The game between the Cards and the Tigers will not air on a traditional TV channel.
It’s on ACC Network Extra, which is available exclusively via livestream. Kent Taylor (play-by-play) and Larry O’Bannon (analyst) will have the call.
If your cable or live TV streaming package includes ACC Network, you have access to ACC Network Extra. You can watch via ESPN.com/watch or the ESPN app after logging in with your cable or live TV streaming service credentials.
If you don’t have cable, you can get ACC Network — and therefore ACC Network Extra — through streaming services such as fuboTV, which offers a free trial here. Just enter your provider credentials when logging into ESPN’s streaming platforms.
Paul Rogers (play-by-play) and Bob Valvano (analyst) will have the call on the Cardinal Sports Network (WLCL 93.9-FM and WGTK 970-AM in Louisville).
You can also listen online via GoCards.com.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
