Pat Kelsey on J'Vonne Hadley: 'He empties the tank on every possession'

No. 21 Louisville defeated Wake Forest 72-59 on Tuesday night, improving to 16-5 overall on the season and continuing the Cardinals’ hot 9-1 start to ACC play.

UL was led by senior guard Terrence Edwards Jr.‘s 18 points and was complemented by Reyne Smith‘s 16 and Chucky Hepburn‘s 14. However, it was veteran J’Vonne Hadley who struggled to find the basket during the win. He finished the game with six points on 2 of 10 shooting. However, he pulled down seven rebounds and three key assists down the stretch.

After the win, Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey spoke about the importance of Hadley on the floor for his team even when he’s not hitting the bottom of the net.

“J’vonne (Hadley), he’s special. Man, he is just a special kid,” Kelsey said. “He is so mature. He’s way more mature than I am, which maybe that’s not hard to do but just the way he goes about his work. His relentless pursuit of the basketball. We got other guys like that as well, but you asked me about J’vonne specifically. He empties the tank on every possession, and he’s really grown. He’s had an unbelievable season. You can see the things, the positions were putting him in. He’s getting more and more kind of clout in our offense, running stuff through him a lot.

“We put him at the point, just let him run some actions. Yeah, I love coaching J’Vonne. And you know Chucky [Hepburn], eight assists, three turnovers today. I keep saying that he’s playing at as high level and as good as any point guard in America, and I wouldn’t trade him for anybody.”

Hadley averages 11.7 points per game for Kelsey’s group this season and is one of five players to average 10 or more points on the roster.

The six-point outing for Hadley snaps an eight-game streak of scoring double-figures, with the lone exception being a nine-point performance in last month’s win at Florida State. Overall, he’s scored at least 10 points in 15 of the 21 games he’s started for Louisville this year.

Hadley’s most impressive scoring performance came earlier this month against Clemson at home. Totaling 32 points, he shot 10 of 12 from the floor while also hauling in 10 rebounds. The Cardinals would send the Tigers back to Clemson with a 74-64 loss.

He’ll look to get back on track this weekend, as Louisville is set to travel to Atlanta for a meeting against Georgia Tech. Tip-off is set for 3:45 p.m. ET and will air live on the CW Network.