Louisville got its first basketball win of the season, but Pat Kelsey still had plenty to chew on after the Cardinals beat Chattanooga 84-70 earlier this week.
Flory Bidunga and Adrian Wooley carried the scoring load in the victory. Bidunga posted 16 points and nine rebounds, while Wooley chipped in 15 points and shot 50% from the field. The opening half gave Louisville a glimpse of what this group can be, but the second half turned messy in a hurry.
The Cardinals went cold from deep, hitting just 1-of-16 from 3-point range after halftime. They also managed only 50% at the free-throw line and allowed 10 offensive rebounds, a stretch that clearly got under Kelsey’s skin. He didn’t hide his frustration afterward.
“I was disappointed. I’m not gonna come in here and sugarcoat things.
I just can’t do that. I’m a little disappointed, I’m a little ticked off, and I’m excited about getting back to work.”
On the football side, Louisville moved to 5-3 over the weekend, but one of the biggest stories connected to the program came from Christian Academy of Louisville. Four-star wide receiver commit Ja’Hyde Brown put his name in the Kentucky record book with a huge senior performance.
Brown entered the game with 28 receiving touchdowns and added three more, pushing his season total to 31. That gives the Louisville native the state record for receiving touchdowns in a single season.
There was also a tough injury update on the basketball front before Louisville’s 2026-27 season even tipped off. Four-star transfer De’Shayne Montgomery will miss multiple weeks because of a foot injury. Montgomery came to Louisville from Dayton this offseason and was ranked No. 129 overall and No. 11 among combo guards in the Transfer Portal.
He had been one of the most reliable pieces in the Cardinals’ three-game exhibition slate, scoring in double figures in every game and putting up 20 points in the team’s win in the Bahamas in July. With Montgomery sidelined, Louisville will need others to fill the gap, and Kelsey is already leaning on the next-man-up message.
In Other News...
Louisville Fans Still Need Answers From Jeff Brohm On The Defense
Jeff Brohms latest defensive overhaul came on Dec. 30, 2025, when he made significant changes to his staff and chose not to bring in outside replacements. Instead, Louisville promoted from within after moving on from its co-defensive coordinators, a decision that immediately put the spotlight back on how Brohm is shaping that side of the ball and whether the Cardinals are truly resetting or simply reshuffling the same pieces.
For Louisville fans, the bigger issue is still the lack of clarity around why these changes were made and what they mean moving forward. Brohm has a history of cycling through defensive coordinators, including frequent turnover between 2020 and 2021, and that track record only adds to the unease now. The staff changes may have been decisive, but they also left plenty of questions hanging about the defense and about how much confidence Brohm has in the people already in the building. [Read more 🡒]
Louisville Showed Early Promise But One Problem Kept Showing Up
Louisville had stretches against Stanford where the offense looked like it had a plan and the execution matched it. The Cardinals leaned on option looks, tried to isolate specific receivers, and found moments where Lincoln Kienholz made the kind of decisions that can keep a drive alive and put pressure on a defense. For a team looking for steady progress, those sequences offered a glimpse of what the offense can be when it is playing with structure and intent.
The problem was that the same comfort never really carried over to the other side of the ball. Louisvilles zone coverage repeatedly left openings, and the linebacker positioning did not hold up when Stanford needed key conversions. The scheme had trouble closing space and matching up consistently, which turned promising defensive snaps into another reminder that the Cardinals still have a lot to clean up before those early flashes start translating into a full game. [Read more 🡒]
Adrian Wooley May Be Exactly What Louisville Suddenly Needs
Louisville added several transfers for this season, but Adrian Wooley already looks like one of the most important pieces in the mix. The former five-star transfer came into the year with expectations attached, and in the opener he backed that up with 15 points, a more aggressive approach, and four steals that hinted at how much he can affect both ends of the floor.
The timing matters, too, because the Cardinals are dealing with another guard being sidelined by injury, which only sharpens the need for Wooley to keep trending upward. Coaches and staff have been encouraged by his development, and if this is the version of him Louisville gets regularly, his second year with the program could end up being a major reason the roster holds together early. [Read more 🡒]