Louisville men's basketball coach suffers bizarre injury trying to avoid celebration

Sometimes, adjacent winning takes a toll.

Louisville Cardinals men’s hoops caput manager Pat Kelsey learned the hard mode connected Tuesday nighttime arsenic helium tried to debar the postgame solemnisation fracas pursuing their triumph implicit the Kentucky Wildcats.

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Louisville caput manager Pat Kelsey did not similar a telephone during the 2nd fractional arsenic the Louisville Cardinals hosted the Kentucky Wildcats astatine the KFC Yum! Center connected Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

The No. 12 Cardinals defeated the No. 9 Wildcats 96-88 astatine the KFC Yum! Center successful Louisville.

He entered his postgame media availability with his close mediate digit successful a splint. He said helium was trying to debar his adjunct coaches mobbing him aft the triumph connected the different broadside of the arena.

"Now I’m 50, but I got immoderate wheels," helium said. "There’s a curtain that separates the 2 halves of the court, and I effort to bust through, but my digit gets caught connected something."

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Louisville Cardinals caput manager Pat Kelsey went into the Cardinal pupil conception aft the Cards bushed the Cats 96-88 successful the UofL-UK yearly rivalry crippled astatine the KFC Yum! Center successful Louisville, Kentucky Nov. 11, 2025. (Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Kelsey said his digit was bent astatine astir 90 degrees but was unsure if it was broken. A squad doc helped him reset the finger.

"There’s truthful overmuch adrenaline going connected successful my assemblage close now, I didn’t consciousness anything," helium said.

Louisville’s triumph implicit Kentucky is 1 of their biggest successful caller years. Kelsey took implicit the Cardinals arsenic caput manager aft the squad went 8-24 nether Kenny Payne during the 2023-24 season.

The Cardinals were 27-8 past twelvemonth and made their archetypal NCAA Tournament quality since the 2018-19 season.

Louisville caput manager Pat Kelsey shouts instructions to his squad during the archetypal fractional of an NCAA assemblage hoops crippled against Kentucky successful Louisville, Kentucky, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

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Louisville had mislaid 14 retired of its past 17 against Kentucky earlier the triumph connected Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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