Pat Kelsey emphatically states 'defense is an attitude' for Louisville

The Louisville Cardinals have been undergoing a culture change as Pat Kelsey has been rebuilding the program in his first season as the head coach. One of the key pieces to that cultural change is an emphasis on the team’s defense.

In its most recent game, Louisville held Wake Forest to just 59 points, one of the best efforts on that side of the ball all season long. That prompted Kelsey to praise his team, especially as they’ve continued to increase their effort and intensity on the defensive side of the floor.

“It would be hard to go back and think,” Kelsey said. “I’ve coached a lot of teams and some really good teams, but you’re right. I keep talking about it in the press conference. It’s just the attention to detail and scouting report in the one, two, I almost called it a movement. It’s like there’s a movement going on with our team from a defensive perspective. It starts in the minds and hearts of each guy in a Louisville jersey. It just matters. Getting stops matters. Taking care of their assignment matters. Picking up for a mistake of your teammate matters.”

Louisville hasn’t given up more than 80 points in a single game since giving up 93 points to the Kentucky Wildcats on December 14th. Since then, the Cardinals have played in 10 games, including nine ACC conference games.

“Defense is an attitude,” Kelsey said. “And our guys have been playing with that little bit of chip on their shoulder for the better part of the last month and a half.”

For the season, Kelsey has led Louisville to the 108th-ranked scoring defense in the country, giving up 69.2 points per game. However, the Cardinals have only allowed more points than their season average once in the last four games. So, there has been improvement on the defensive end in recent weeks statistically. On top of that, Louisville has been excellent at forcing turnovers this season. They’re tied for 86th in turnovers forced, making opponents cough the ball up 13.52 times per game.

With that defensive success has come success in the win column. The Cardinals are now 16-5 overall and have won 10 games in a row. That’s every game since the Kentucky loss. It’s an incredible mark given what Kelsey inherited at Louisville. Under previous head coach Kenny Payne, Louisville went 12-52 in two seasons, including just eight wins total last season.

Louisville and Kelsey will hope to keep that success rolling on Saturday when the Cardinals travel to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech.