Amari Williams, Andrew Carr have history playing against Pat Kelsey-coached teams

Kentucky big men Amari Williams and Andrew Carr are no strangers to Pat Kelsey’s head coaching style.

Between the two Wildcats, they’ve played real minutes against Kelsey’s College of Charleston teams a total of six times from 2021-24 while with their previous teams. With Kelsey now the head coach at Louisville and Kentucky hosting the Cardinals on Saturday for the first time in the Mark Pope era, that experience could help UK in this rivalry showdown.

“Played against Pat Kelsey at Charleston when I was at Delaware,” Carr said following Kentucky’s 78-67 win over Colgate on Wednesday night. “So I know what type of team that they are. They like to play super fast, shoot a lot of threes as well. They’re a really talented team.

“I think they put up over 100 (points) on us at Delaware at home my sophomore year. So I know they like to get out and score in transition. Shoot a lot of threes. Similar way to the way that we play, they play super hard. They rebound, try to crash the offensive glass, kinda similarly to us. So it’s going to be a really fun game and a really entertaining game. He’s a great coach.”

It wasn’t quite 100 points, but Kelsey’s College of Charleston squad nearly hit triple-digits in a 99-96 win over Carr and Delaware in Feb. 2022. Carr finished with 10 points, three rebounds, four blocks, and three turnovers on 4-5 shooting in 23 minutes for the Blue Hens despite the loss. But Delaware had also already beaten College of Charleston earlier that season, 67-66, with Carr going for just two points, four rebounds, three blocks, one assist, and one steal on 1-6 shooting in 26 minutes.

Williams has even more experience against Kelsey than Carr does though. During his four seasons at Drexel, Williams went up against College of Charleston four different times from 2022-24 — two wins and two losses. The seven-footer was impressive in all of them too. He averaged 15.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks (albeit with over three turnovers) per outing while shooting 23-43 (53.5 percent) from the field.

“I played against the Pat Kelsey offense a lot, especially in the CAA,” Williams said Wednesday night. “So I kind of know what the five men will do. It’ll be interesting.

“High energy. Even the point guard, he’s a great shooter,” he added about Kelsey’s current Louisville team. “The big man, he’s young but he’s energetic, always running up and down the floor going for rebounds. Just matching that, I feel like that’s gonna be the biggest thing for me.”

How much will the past experience of Williams and Carr help Kentucky against Kelsey and his brand-new Louisville team? We’ll find out on Saturday at Rupp Arena.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.