Louisville basketball recently secured its 13th win of the 2025-26 season as the Cardinals defeated the Pitt Panthers 100-59. The Cardinals had one of its best games of the season as they shot the ball incredibly well at 63 percent from the field and 52 percent from beyond the arc, and limited Pitt to shooting just 38 percent from the floor and 29 percent from beyond the arc.
However, the biggest stat that might have stood out to Pat Kelsey and the Louisville fans is how many free-throw attempts the Panthers shot. Louisville sent Pitt to the line just 16 times, which has been a major point of emphasis for this Cardinals defense. Kelsey has given some fiery messages to the team this season, but after Louisville’s win over the Pitt Panthers, he challenged his team to continue to play defense as it did against Pitt and to focus on not fouling.
Pat Kelsey challenges Louisville basketball to fix major defensive flaw
Louisville’s defense has been a major concern for this Cardinals team midway through January. The Cardinals have shown that when they play weaker opponents, they take full advantage of their opponents and smother them on defense, as they did against Pitt. However, Louisville gives up nearly 22 free throws a game, which, for a team with as high expectations as the Cardinals, is just too high.
“One of the things that we have been trying to focus on because it has been an issue for us is defending without fouling,” Kelsey stated, “To keep people off the free-throw line, which is the most efficient shot in the game.”
Kelsey’s challenge for his team is crucial and one they must continue to work on as the season progresses, especially against their ranked opponents. On average, Louisville is giving up 21.3 free throws per game, ranking No. 236 in the nation. However, when Louisville has played a ranked opponent this season, it has sent its opponent to the free-throw line 25.8 times per game.
And when the fans dive even deeper into the games they have lost, Louisville has given up 30.2 free throws per game, and is averaging 30 free throws per game in the four games they lost to ranked opponents. In the Cardinals' 13 games, they have won, they are sending their opponents to the free-throw line just 17.3 times per game, including in their wins against ranked teams, when they sent Kentucky to the charity stripe just 16 times and sent Indiana 19 times.
So, with Louisville sitting at 3-3 in their conference schedule, and 0-3 against current ranked teams, the one glaring flaw Kelsey wants his team to continue to improve on to reach this team's full potential is playing defense without fouling. Louisville has continued to hurt itself with this issue, but in the Cards' win over Pitt, they showcased how good their defense can be.
The Cardinals have a big three-game stretch coming up as they face two bubble teams in Virginia Tech and SMU, and then a projected No. 1 seed in Duke on January 26. And if the Cardinals want to go on a run and rattle off some wins over quality opponents, they must fix this issue. Louisville has already lost to Duke this month, when they had their epic collapse, and a large reason was that they sent the Blue Devils to the free-throw line 28 times.
Louisville takes on Virginia Tech Saturday, Jan. 24 at 3:30 p.m. local time.