Louisville basketball crushes Cal, remains among elite in improved ACC

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BERKELEY, CA — When you prepare for games like Pat Kelsey does, as if every one is the most important in Louisville basketball history, it’s difficult to keep tabs on the rest of the ACC.

But it's obvious: “I don’t think there’s any question that the league overall is improved from last year,” the coach told reporters Monday.

The next day, his No. 13 Cardinals (11-2, 1-0 ACC) showcased why they’re one of the teams to beat in the conference – and just how big of a gap still exists between them and most of its other members.

UofL walked into California’s Haas Pavilion and tranquilized a Golden Bears (12-2, 0-1) team off to its best start since Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House. “They scare me in a lot of ways,” Kelsey said Monday of Mark Madsen’s squad.

But the Cards never let them show their teeth. They ripped off a 10-0 run out of the gate, led by as many as 26 points and did not let the cushion get below double digits across the final 31 minutes, 22 seconds of regulation en route to a 90-70 win of the Quad 1 variety – Kelsey's 299th as a collegiate head coach.

They did this without star freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr., who was ruled out of his third consecutive game with only 11 minutes to spare before tipoff due to lower back problems, and sixth-year forward Kasean Pryor, who popped up on the ACC’s injury report Monday after seeing an uptick in minutes off the bench before Christmas break.

They did this despite a 10-day layoff, a change in time zones and xx fouls giving the hosts a xx-point advantage at the free-throw line. They did this despite surrendering a 10-0 run down the stretch of the first half – then 14 unanswered in a span of 1:11 late in the second.

And with that, they’ll end 2025 with a 20-2 record against the ACC – four times the amount of conference victories they notched during Kenny Payne’s two seasons at the helm.

Ryan Conwell led all scorers with 26 points. Adrian Wooley, Brown's replacement in the starting lineup, added a season-high 21 points; and Sananda Fru chipped in his first collegiate double-double: 13 points, 14 rebounds.

Louisville’s West Coast road trip concludes with an 8 p.m. tipoff Friday against Stanford at Maples Pavilion.

This story will be updated.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball reveals wide gap among ACC's top programs

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