Louisville must outtough Michigan State to stay alive in March Madness
· Yahoo Sports
BUFFALO, NY — The moment from Pat Kelsey's first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach he wanted to talk about the most occurred with 1:25 remaining Thursday at KeyBank Center and sixth-seeded Louisville basketball clinging to a 78-72 lead over No. 11 South Florida.
That's when Kobe Rodgers, a fellow Cincinnati kid who joined Kelsey in taking the leap of faith from Charleston to the 502, "went above the trees" to secure a defensive rebound over 6-foot-10 Bulls forward Izaiyah Nelson, one of the most prolific glass cleaners in the country.
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What was going through his mind? "I better get it," the 6-3 guard told The Courier Journal on Friday.
"I'm living one of the best lives anybody could ask for," he added earlier in the day, during an appearance on the dais. "Going to get a rebound, or going to dive on the floor at any opportunity that I can, that's just a little sacrifice for all the blessings that I have."
This time two years ago, Rodgers was reeling after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during a 109-96 loss to Alabama in the first round of March Madness. When Kelsey offered him a spot on the Cardinals' roster despite the injury, he told him, "You could have went to Antarctica, and I would have followed you there."
That rebound Thursday afternoon encapsulated the beauty of the Big Dance — a guy who couldn't walk off the court under his own power in 2024 rising up to all but seal UofL's first victory in the event since 2017, 83-79 over USF. The past can't define you when tomorrow's not guaranteed.
"It's a brand-new season," Isaac McKneely said. "We cut the slate clean."
"We have a bunch of guys who had the resolve and the wherewithal and the toughness to figure out a way to advance in this tournament," Kelsey added.
Louisville is going to need a whole lot more of that if it wants to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015. Standing in its way: the team that, in an Elite Eight overtime thriller 11 years ago, denied the program a trip to the Final Four — No. 3 Michigan State. Tipoff is set for approximately 2:45 p.m. Saturday.
The Cards' track record to this point suggests they're in trouble against the Spartans, who cruised to a 92-67 win over No. 14 North Dakota State in the second game Thursday at KeyBank Center. Why? This quote from Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo's opening statement after his team bounced the Bison should tell you everything you need to know:
"I don't know what our rebound total was; it wasn't probably phenomenal," Izzo said, slipping on glasses to inspect the box score. "Yeah, we were +12. So, it was a good win for us."
MSU entered Friday with the country's third-best rebounding margin, +11.6 (39.7 vs. 28.1). Its opponents, according to KenPom.com, are grabbing only 22.3% of their missed shots. Nobody in Division I does it better. And when asked how his top-15 defense was going to slow down UofL's guards, Izzo replied, "Tackle them."
"It's mostly just making sure that we come ready to play and focusing on our game and imposing our will on the other team," added Jaxon Kohler, a 6-10, 245-pound senior who averages 12.6 points and leads the Spartans with nine rebounds per game.
Izzo was joking about the whole tackling thing, of course. But ... this is exactly the type of matchup Kelsey was talking about after Louisville's loss to Miami in the quarterfinal round of the ACC Tournament, when he said: "College basketball, at the top, it's football.
"We know the teams that we're going to have to beat to advance in the NCAA Tournament are going to be tough and physical and nasty," he continued. "But so are the Cardinals."
The thing is, they haven't been the tougher team for 40 consecutive minutes against the upper echelon.
Saturday will be UofL's 10th Quad 1A game of the season. Kelsey & Co. are 1-8 in those matchups, entering March Madness -60 in paint scoring (322-262), -28 in total rebounds (330-302) and -23 in second-chance points (111-88).
You wouldn't have guessed that while watching Louisville assert itself Thursday against South Florida. The Cards took a 37-27 lead into the locker room — and had enough cushion to survive the Bulls' frantic rally down the stretch — because they went +10 on the boards (27-17) and +6 in second-chance points (10-4) during the opening 20 minutes.
The final 20 was a different story. USF posted a +6 rebounding margin (+9 on the offensive end — leading to a +6 edge in second-chance scoring).
"As soon as the shot goes up, we've got to focus on boxing out our man," said Sananda Fru, who according to statistician Kelly Dickey recorded only the program's second NCAA Tournament double-double off the bench Thursday with 10 points and as many rebounds across 25 minutes, 12 seconds. "Nobody can take a rep off."
Fru's double-double Thursday was his first since Jan. 24 — a much-needed moment for the 6-11 German, who lost his spot in the starting lineup to 6-8 Greek Vangelis Zougris earlier this month. A scene from an episode of the Sports Illustrated documentary series following Kelsey released Friday offered a bit of insight into why.
During a film session before UofL beat SMU in the ACC Tournament, Kelsey got worked up about what he was seeing from Fru on tape. "Being nice to you hasn't helped," the coach said. "Maybe I just need to freaking scream my ass off — and you play like a freaking monster."
This is all new to Fru. In Germany's Basketball Bundesliga, they use postseason series, not a win-or-go-home tournament, to determine a champion. "Cinderella stories don't exist," he said. There are no do-overs — adapt or die.
"You don't want to regret anything after," Fru said. "... You have to take the challenge, be prideful and just go out there and fight."
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Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Can Louisville basketball take down Michigan State in NCAA Tournament?