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Louisville men’s basketball coach Pat Kelsey on new group of players

Louisville men’s basketball coach Pat Kelsey talks about his recruiting process and the team’s chemistry ahead of the 2025-2026 season.

Louisville basketball unveiled its 2025-26 ACC schedule Sept. 9.The ACC reverted back to an 18-game schedule this season. The conference has had a 20-game slate since 2019-20.As part of the change, Pat Kelsey’s Cardinals have home-and-home series against reigning league champion Duke and SMU on the books.

Louisville basketball put the ACC on notice during Year 1 of the Pat Kelsey era, going from consecutive last-place finishes to an 18-2 record and its first appearance in the conference championship game since becoming a member in 2014.

Can the Cardinals establish themselves as perennial contenders in 2025-26? This much is certain: League play will have a different feel to it this go-around.

The ACC has reverted to an 18-game schedule after using a 20-game slate for six seasons. The move was made in part to boost the conference’s standing nationally after it sent only four programs to the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

As part of the change, U of L will play home-and-home series against a permanent primary partner (SMU) and a rotating variable partner (Duke), then face 14 of the conference’s remaining 15 programs once. This season, Florida State was the odd one out.

The rest of the schedule is below — as it was released Sept. 9; dates of six games still need to be finalized, as do tipoff times and TV assignments for most matchups.

Either Tuesday, Dec. 30, or Wednesday, Dec. 31: at CaliforniaFriday, Jan. 2: at StanfordEither Tuesday, Jan. 6, or Wednesday, Jan. 7: vs. DukeSaturday, Jan. 10: vs. Boston CollegeEither Tuesday, Jan. 13, or Wednesday, Jan. 14: vs. VirginiaSaturday, Jan. 17: at PittsburghSaturday, Jan. 24: vs. Virginia TechMonday, Jan. 26: at Duke, 7 p.m., ESPNSaturday, Jan. 31: vs. SMUEither Tuesday, Feb. 3, or Wednesday, Feb. 4: vs. Notre DameSaturday, Feb. 7: at Wake ForestMonday, Feb. 9: vs. N.C. State, 7 p.m., ESPNEither Tuesday, Feb. 17, or Wednesday, Feb. 18: at SMUSaturday, Feb. 21: vs. Georgia TechMonday, Feb. 23: at North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPNSaturday, Feb. 28: at ClemsonEither Tuesday, March 3 or Wednesday, March 4: vs. SyracuseSaturday, March 7: at MiamiTuesday, March 10, through Saturday, March 14: ACC Tournament (Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina)

Here are three takeaways from the slate:

Louisville did not play a regular-season ACC game on ESPN’s flagship channel in 2024-25. That’s changing in Year 2 of the Kelsey era.

Three of the Cards’ 18 conference matchups are getting the Big Monday treatment: at Duke on Jan. 26, vs. N.C. State on Feb. 9 and at North Carolina on Feb. 23. They’ll tip off at 7 p.m. on ESPN as part of the network’s six-week showcase of the ACC and the Big 12.

If you needed any more evidence that U of L is moving in the right direction under Kelsey, this certainly helps your case. Louisville is one of four programs with three Big Monday games, joining Arizona, Duke and Kansas.

The Cards played only two regular-season ACC games on ESPN during Kenny Payne‘s disastrous two-year tenure. The last time they appeared on Big Monday was Feb. 20, 2023 — a 79-62 loss to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The aforementioned Big Monday game at Duke on Jan. 26 will be the last time Louisville faces the Blue Devils during the 2025-26 regular season.

The reigning ACC champions will visit the KFC Yum! Center for the first rematch of last season’s conference title game on either Tuesday, Jan. 6, or Wednesday, Jan. 7 — the week after the Cards return from a West Coast road trip to open league play against California and Stanford.

U of L is 0 for its last 7 against Duke. Its most recent win in the series came on the road during the 2020-21 campaign.

Jon Scheyer’s 2025-26 team will look both drastically different yet eerily similar to the group that went 35-4 and reached the Final Four in 2024-25. The Blue Devils said goodbye to three freshmen who were selected as lottery picks in the NBA draft, including ACC Player of the Year Cooper Flagg, but their incoming recruiting class ranks No. 1 in the country on 247Sports.com.

Louisville’s home ACC games are frontloaded in 2025-26, with six of the nine matchups scheduled before Feb. 5: Duke, Boston College, Virginia, Virginia Tech, SMU and Notre Dame.

After the Cards’ final Big Monday appearance (Feb. 9 against N.C. State) they’ll play four of their last six conference games away from the Yum! Center: at SMU on either Feb. 17 or 18, at North Carolina on Feb. 23, at Clemson on Feb. 28 and at Miami in the regular-season finale on March 7. That’s on top of a trip to Fort Worth, Texas, for a neutral-site matchup against Baylor on Feb. 14.

The Mustangs, Tar Heels and Tigers combined to go 44-16 during ACC play in 2024-25. The Hurricanes finished dead last (3-17) but are trending upward entering Year 1 under former Duke assistant Jai Lucas, whose inaugural recruiting class ranks 22nd on 247Sports.

If Kelsey & Co. want to enter the postseason as one of four programs with a double bye in the ACC Tournament, they’ll need to take advantage of the friendly confines early and finish the job on the road. U of L’s home games during its stretch run are Georgia Tech on Feb. 21 and Syracuse on either March 3 or 4. The Yellow Jackets and Orange combined to go 17-23 against conference opponents in 2024-25.

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