J’Vonne Hadley broke Louisville basketball down on “Defense!” before Pat Kelsey‘s No. 10 Cardinals ran out onto Denny Crum Court for the second half of Monday’s regular-season opener.
The KFC Yum! Center scoreboard read: U of L 59, South Carolina State 15 — per statistician Kelly Dickey, the program’s largest halftime lead going back to at least 1975, when his records begin. Defense, indeed.
Louisville did not let up on that end during its a 104-45 victory over the Bulldogs, who averaged 79.5 points per game en route to a 20-13 record and a second-place finish in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in 2024-25.
SC State coach Erik Martin had to replace his five top scorers from that team — so it goes for mid-majors in the NCAA transfer portal era. But credit the Cards for making life hell for the visitors from the jump.
It took the Bulldogs until the 12:01 mark of the second half to cross the 20-point threshold. By that point, they were down 76-21. On the whole, Martin’s team made only 13 of its 57 field-goal attempts (2 for 19 from 3-point range) and committed 25 turnovers leading to 36 points for U of L.
Nine of the 10 scholarship players who took the court for Kelsey scored on a night where Louisville shot 53.2% from the field, 37.5% from 3 and tallied 23 assists on its 33 baskets. Five of those players broke double digits: Khani Rooths (20), Isaac McKneely (17), Hadley (13), Ryan Conwell (12) and Mikel Brown Jr. (11).
For Rooths, it’s a new career high-water mark in Game 1 of his sophomore year. Before Monday, the 6-foot-10 forward’s previous best was 12 points during a Jan. 21 win at SMU.
Up next for Louisville: one more tune-up game before archrival Kentucky comes to town, a 7 p.m. tipoff Thursday against Jackson State at the Yum! Center. The Tigers fell 113-55 at No. 14 Illinois on Monday.
This story will be updated.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Pat Kelsey’s Louisville club dominates from start to finish in opener
