Louisville coach Pat Kelsey makes his thoughts clear about scuffle vs. Kentucky
Pat Kelsey and Louisville endured a difficult trip to Lexington, suffering a 93-85 defeat to its fierce rival Kentucky on Saturday. While the game provided moments of sheer brilliance, a flash point during the second half made the headlines following the showdown in Rupp Arena.
With 5:07 to go in the game, a foul was called on Kentucky sophomore forward Brandon Garrison after he tussled with Reyne Smith to latch onto a loose ball right in front of Louisville's bench. Soon after the foul, Garrison appeared to walk on Smith, which sparked a scuffle between the Cardinals' bench and Kentucky's players.
Kentucky coach Mark Pope jumped into the scrum to pull back Garrison and his players, while Kelsey did the same from outside it to cool down flaring tempers.
While addressing the media after the game conference alongside Terrence Edwards Jr., Kelsey said the scuffle was not as big a deal as it was made out to be when he was asked about it.
"Yeah, I mean, the kid may a hustle play, you know, kind of fell into our bench. I don’t think it was any big deal," Kelsey said.
Pat Kelsey praised Kentucky's experienced guard Lamont Butler, who helped him in his effort to handle the heated situation.
"So, he (Garrison) falls into the bench, and Lamont comes over and he’s grabbing him, I’m grabbing him. I look at him. And we both smiled like, ‘We’re good, we’re good, we’re good,’" Kelsey said. "Officials did a great job with it. It was really no big deal."
Pat Kelsey and Louisville fall to Kentucky's strong offensive effort
The Cardinals pushed the Wildcats in their first away game of the season. Although Pat Kelsey's team fell short, the Cardinals can take a few positives from their first clash against top five opposition this season, one of which includes being outscored by just two points in the second half.
Senior guard Chucky Lepburn finished as the Cardinals' top scorer with 26 points, while also recording five rebounds and five assists. Edwards backed him with an impressive performance off the bench, finishing with 23 points.
However, the Wildcats' strong offense was too good to overcome for the Cardinals. Butler led Kentucky to victory with a 33-point performance, while Jaxson Robinson and Andrew Carr nearly recorded double-doubles in another solid performance in the Mark Pope era.