Winthrop, Louisville coaches share bond as teams prepare to meet

Field Level Media|published: Thu 21st November, 23:32 2024

NCAA Basketball: Bellarmine at Louisville

Nov 19, 2024; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey reacts during the first half against the Bellarmine Knights at KFC Yum! Center. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

Pat Kelsey will face a familiar foe when Louisville hosts Winthrop on Friday.

The first-year coach of the Cardinals (2-1) guided the Eagles' basketball program for nine years, winning four regular-season Big South titles and three conference tournament championships before leaving for the College of Charleston in 2021.

Current Eagles coach Mark Prosser succeeded Kelsey and previously served as an assistant under Kelsey for six seasons. Prosser is the son of the late Skip Prosser, who coached Kelsey at Xavier and later gave his former player his first college coaching job there.

Kelsey has long cited the elder Prosser as a mentor.

"The admiration that my father had for him ... I'd hear about it often," Mark Prosser told the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Kelton Talford played on Kelsey's last Winthrop team. The senior forward leads the Eagles (4-2) with a 7.2 rebounding average and ranks second in scoring at 15 points per game. He posted season highs of 22 points and 10 rebounds in Winthrop's 77-75 home win Sunday over North Carolina Central.

The win was Winthrop's third straight game decided by one or two points. The Eagles are 2-1 in that stretch.

Louisville is coming off a 100-68 victory over Bellarmine on Tuesday. Terrence Edwards Jr. and Kasean Pryor led the Cardinals, scoring 26 and 21 points, respectively.

The Cardinals hit 54.7 percent (35 for 64) from the field and made 12 of 35 3-point attempts. The 34.3 percent performance from beyond the arc was the best for Kelsey's team this season.

Perimeter shooting is a key facet of Kelsey's offense, and the Cardinals rank near the top nationally in 3-point shots, but close to the bottom in 3-point accuracy.

That's not a major issue for Kelsey. Aside from taking a few too many difficult shots in the loss against Tennessee, he hasn't had a problem with his players' shot selection.

"We say we want to hunt great, hunt great, hunt great," he said after the Bellarmine win. "That's hunting great shots, and if we generate great and it doesn't go in, I sleep like a baby. You know, it's a make-miss game."

--Field Level Media