The unspoken fear was that somehow Bellarmine, which had lost its first four games, would make a game of it against the University of Louisville basketball program. The negative vibes of past two years still haunting the program. Thankfully that was not the case, with UofL rolling to an easy 100-68 win at the KFC Yum! Center. Crowd of 12,220 on hand.
A sigh of relief for every diehard Louisville basketball. Not the final word mind you, because there’s obviously much more work ahead if the UofL team is going to be competitive this season. Bellarmine has obviously slipped since last season, not much of a barometer for Louisville’s outlook for the 2024-25 season.
The game started slowly, a couple of teams with nervous actors feeling each other out, with only six points separating UofL from a serious threat for the first 10 minutes. From that 10:00 point, however, Louisville would mount a 23-4 run to pull away from the Knights and take a 45-23 lead with just over two minutes to go. The Cardinals led 48-27 at halftime break.
“I loved how our players responded from a really tough loss at home nine days ago,” said Kelsey. “You always like to get back up on the horse after tough loss like that. And to have to stew over it for nine days, I thought our guys approached the game the right way. We had great film sessions, terrific practices and came out and played really well tonight.”
Especially encouraging was evidence on an inside game for UofL with the Cardinals outscoring the Knights 44-30 in the paint. They would outscore Bellarmine 17-3 on second chance points and win the rebound battle 37-23. Not overwhelming evidence of major improvement against an inferior opponent, but a giant step ahead of a humiliating loss to BU last season.
Five Cardinals in double figure scoring: Terrence Edwards Jr. (26), Kasean Pryor (21), Chucky Hepburn (16), James Scott (10) and J’Vonne Hadley (10). Scott and Pryor added on eight and seven rebounds, respectively.
