BERKELEY, Calif. — When you prepare for games like Pat Kelsey does, as if every game is the most important game in Louisville basketball history, it’s hard to pay close attention to other games in the ACC.
But what’s clear is this: “I think there’s no question that the league as a whole is improved from last year,” the coach told reporters on Monday.
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The next day, his No. 13 Cardinals (11-2, 1-0 ACC) showed why they are one of the teams to beat in the league and how far apart they still are from most of the rest.
London College walked into Cal-Haas Pavilion and crushed the Golden Bears (12-2, 0-1), off to their best start since Dwight D. Eisenhower entered the White House. “They scare me in a lot of ways,” Kelce said Monday of Mark Madsen’s team.
But the Cards never let them show their teeth. They opened the game with a 10-0 run, leading by as many as 26 points, and did not let the deficit fall below double digits in the final 31 minutes and 22 seconds of regulation before winning the Quad 1 game 90-70, Kelsey’s 299th win as a college head coach.
They did so without star freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr., who was ruled out for a third straight game with just 11 minutes remaining before tipoff due to lower back issues, and sixth-year forward Kasion Pryor, who appeared on the ACC’s injury report after seeing increased minutes off the bench before the Christmas break.
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They did this despite a 10-day layoff, a change of time zones, and xx fouls that gave the home team a xx-point advantage at the free throw line. Although they went on a 10-0 run in the first half, they went unanswered 14 times in 1 minute and 11 seconds of the second half.
That would give them a 20-2 record in 2025 ACC play, four times the number of conference wins they had in Kenny Payne’s two seasons at the helm.
Ryan Conwell led all scorers with 26 points. Adrian Woolley, who replaced Brown as the starter, scored a season-high 21 points; Sananda Fru scored his first double-double in college: 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Louisville’s West Coast road trip concludes Friday night against Stanford at Maple Pavilion at 8 p.m.
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This story will be updated.
Contact Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on the X @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal: Louisville basketball reveals huge gap between top ACC programs
