Pat Kelsey celebrates with crowd following win over Stanford, ACC turnaround in Year 1

Pat Kelsey has orchestrated one of the biggest turnarounds in college basketball this year. In the last three seasons combined, the Louisville Cardinals have gone 25-71 overall. This year in Kelsey’s debut season, he managed to guide them to a 25-6 overall record, good enough for second place in the ACC.

The Cardinals also finished with an 18-2 record in the ACC, after their win over Stanford on Saturday. 68-48.

Here’s Kelsey after he went up into the stands to celebrate with the home crowd after their victory.

The Louisville Cardinals just went 18-2 in the ACC in Pat Kelsey’s first year

And he’s celebrating with the crowd! 👏 pic.twitter.com/MpfXCuEbYi

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 8, 2025

During his two years in the ACC, previous Louisville head coach Kenny Payne went 5-35, in what will go down as one of the most disastrous tenures in college basketball history. Pat Kelsey has been quite the opposite, orchestrating quite the turnaround with the Cardinals.

Louisville had three players in double figures in the blowout victory: J’Vonne Hadley (11 points), Terrence Edwards, Jr. (16 points), and Chucky Hepburn (16 points). The Cardinals did a great job on the glass, outrebounding Stanford 40-33. Maxime Raynaud once again stuffed the stat sheet on Saturday as he has done so many times this year for the Cardinal. He’s been one of the most dominant players in the league all season long, and he posted yet another double-double (17 points and 11 rebounds).

Louisville used some stifling defense to propel them to victory. Stanford was held to just 18 points in the first half, their worst half of the season. It’s the second time this year that Kelsey’s squad has limited an opponent under 20 points before halftime. The first came against Morehead State, when the Cardinals held them to just 14 points in the first half in their season opener.

With the win, Louisville is locked into either the No. 1 or the No. 2 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament. The Cardinals will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament if Duke manages to lose to North Carolina on Saturday night. That one is still ongoing.

In winning 25 games this year, Kelsey has guided Louisville to 15 wins by double digits against ACC competition. 25 wins also ties for the third most in Louisville basketball history.