BY DYLAN O’LOUGHLIN
BUFFALO, N.Y. — There’s 1:37 left in the opening round matchup of March Madness. South Florida is on a 20-8 run and after a turnover on the offensive end, Louisville needed a timeout. That’s when Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey called on Kobe Rodgers to check back into the game and the red-shirt senior made the game-sealing play.
“To me, the story is about Kobe Rodgers, not anybody else that didn’t play,” Kelsey stated after the 83-79 victory over USF. “It’s about Isaac McKneely, that’s who it’s about. When people go down, other people have to step up. You have to assume a new role, and I’m really, really proud, amidst that adversity, that we have a bunch of guys that had the resolve, the wherewithal and the toughness to figure out a way to advance in this tournament.”
South Florida had the ball in the half court looking to cut the lead to one possession after being down by as much as 23. The Bulls leading scorer, Joseph Pinion took a three-pointer to cut the lead, but missed long as the ball skied high into the air. Izaiyah Nelson, the 6’10 senior forward for USF hauled in the ball at first, thinking no one was going to take it, but 6’3 Rodgers went amongst the trees and ripped the ball out of Nelson’s hands to put the game away for Louisville.
“We needed to get some stops. They were cutting down the lead,” Rodgers said. “They were doing a great job in their press. So the biggest thing we can do on a missed shot right now, and they’re one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country, is what can I do to help my team win. And at that point it was just go get that rebound.”
Nelson is ranked 13th in the nation in rebounds with 326, the senior is also ranked fourth in offensive boards in the country with 135. USF as a team, is third in the nation for rebounds per game with 42.56, only trailing the South Eastern Conference’s (SEC) Tennessee (42.58) and Florida (45.42).
“I’m just so proud of like a Kobe Rodgers, who in this really, really big moment, the last time he played in the NCAA Tournament game, he tore his ACL, and he had to sit out that entire next year. He transferred to us at Charleston. You talk about a kid, a phenomenal young man from my hometown of Cincinnati, lost his father at a really young age to cancer, his mom’s battling cancer right now. He’s been through so much. Took a leap of faith and came up to this next level with us. We talked about an X factor, and it might not pop up on the stat sheet, but just that defensive dynamo that went in there. 35 (Izaiyah Nelson) is the best offensive rebounder in the country, and there was a play where Kobe went above the trees and got a huge offensive rebound in a big moment.”
Rodgers, like Kelsey said had a long road to get here. Starting his college career at the DII level at Nova Southeastern, Rodgers averaged 11.3 points per game (PPG), 4.2 rebounds per game (RPG), 2.4 assists per game (APG) and garnered 130 steals in his two years at the Sharks. To go along with that, Rodgers and the Sharks went 67-1 from 2021-2023 and won the NCAA DII Championship in 2023 with an undefeated 36-0 record.
The sophomore at the time then hit the transfer portal and joined Coach Kelsey and Charleston at the mid-major DI level for the 2023-2024 season. In 31 games, Rodgers blossomed as a Cougar averaging 9.7 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 2.2 APG on 50 percent shooting from the field, 45 percent from three-point land and 80 percent from the free throw line.
Charleston finished the season with a 27-8 overall record and won the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) championship to earn the Cougars their second straight NCAA Tournament bid. But, for Rodgers the season came to an abrupt end with a torn acl in a first round loss to Alabama in the tournament 109-96.
The senior went on to transfer to Louisville with Coach Kelsey and red shirt and his 2024-2025 season to rehabilitate the knee injury. Rodgers came back fully healthy to start this season and has come off the bench to play useful defensive minutes garnering 29 steals while averaging 3.3 PPG, 2.5 RPG and 1.5 APG. It has been a full circle moment for the senior who has had a long journey to get back to the big dance.
“That’s crazy because I was thinking about that on the bus. I’ve been blessed to have a great college career, not only here at Louisville, at Charleston, at my first school at Nova Southeastern,” Rodgers said. “I’ve never missed an NCAA tournament, Division I or Division II. Won three conference titles, tournament and regular season. I got over 100-some wins, I’m walking out of here with two degrees. I’m living life at the end of the day. So whatever I can do to help this team win. I’m surrounded by great players. I get to play with the freaking top 5 draft pick. I’ve got guys from Greece, Germany, Egypt, and all that. I’m living one of the best lives anybody could ask for. Going to get a rebound or going to dive on the floor at any opportunity that I can, then that’s just a little sacrifice for all the blessings that I have.”
Rodgers and No. 6 Louisville look to keep their momentum going into the second round going up against the prestigious Michigan State Spartans in 3-vs-6 mathcup. It’s going to be a tough task for the Cardinals, as Louisville only has one day to prepare for not only one of the best coaches in the nation in Tom Izzo, but the best point guard in the country as well in Jeremy Fears Jr.
“They’re really, really talented, first of all. They’re like Noah’s ark, they’ve got two of everything,” Kelsey explained about Michigan State. “Obviously they’re really well-coached. There’s never enough time to get ready for a really, really good team like that. If you had five days, you’d probably run out of time. You’ve really got to simplify things in a one-day turnaround and lock in on the core meat and potatoes of what you’ve got to do to beat them. I think our guys have been attentive to that. Now we’ve just got to do our best to go out and execute.”
Fears Jr. averages 15.4 PPG on 44 percent shooting. To go along with that, the red shirt sophomore totaled 305 assists which ranks second in the nation, averages 9.2 APG for first in the nation and has the number one assist rate in the country with 52.6 percent. Fears Jr has also scored or assisted on 58.2 percent of Michigan State’s points when he is on the floor, scoring 1,244 of the Spartans 2,136 points.
Fears Jr and Michigan State have some experience as well in the tournament as seniors Cooper Carson and Jaxon Kohler along with junior Coen Carr are all back in the tournament with one another for the third year in a row.
“I can’t give you all the secrets because there’s probably a good chance they’ll get some of this,” Kelsey complemented about Fears Jr. “Whatever the answer is, it’s not easy because you’re right, he’s (Fears Jr) one of the best point guards in the country. He’s got 300 assists on the year already, which is crazy. That’s almost 10 a game. They have great synergy amongst the other guys just because they’ve played together so long. We know, obviously, he’s very good in transition. He’s great in the pick-and-roll. He puts great foul pressure on you. He has elite ability to get to the paint. We’ve got to do a great job of combatting that.”
It helps the Cardinals though after playing a physical battle against USF to get prepared for this matchup. Two key players against the Bulls who look to catch fire again include senior guards Ryan Conwell and Isaac McKneely. The duo combined for 41 points in the first round victory as McKneely finished with 23 points with a career-high in triples going 7-10 on the day while Conwell notched 18 points, six assists and four rebounds.
“It’s a brand new season. Nothing that matters, no matter what seed you are, no matter who you’re playing, this is a brand new season,” McKneely said after the victory against USF. “We cut the slate clean and just came out and fired on all cylinders. From the get-go, on both ends, I thought our defense was really good. When our defense is really good, we’re getting out in transition, we’re getting threes, dunks, layups, whatever it is. My teammates did a great job finding me early in the game. Whenever you see a couple go down, your confidence continues to build.”
“What a tough, tough, tough kid and a tough competitor,” Kelsey commented about Conwell. “He’s a great scorer, and great scorers have such belief, such belief in themselves. He always believes he can put the team on his back in big moments, and he does that all the time. I think all of our guards, everybody, even our bigs, I think our team is about the power of the unit. It’s the collective units, we’re a team, it’s 25 strong and it’s not just one guy.”
This is the fifth time Louisville and Michigan State will meet in March Madness. In the most recent matchup between the two programs in 2015, the Spartans defeated Louisville in the Elite Eight 76-70 in overtime to advance to the Final Four. To go along with that, the Cardinals are in search for their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2017, but Louisville will not let the moment be too big.
“To be honest with you, as a leader with my team, we’re not talking about that. We’re well aware of the significance of advancing to the round of 32, and the significance of if we were fortunate enough to win this game, what that means. We don’t talk about that and think about that,” Kelsey explained about the meaning of this matchup.
“If I remove myself from being the head coach at Louisville and I just talk about the city of Louisville — I mentioned it yesterday in my press conference. Louisville basketball and Louisville athletics, the University of Louisville is the heart and soul of that city. Restoring the pride and restoring the excellence that is Louisville basketball has been something that has been very important to us for the last two years, and this would obviously be another step. But, man, all we’re focussing on is competing against a really, really good, tough, physical Michigan State team with a Hall of Fame coach. We never look at anything other than just trying to be great at the next thing we do.”
Louisville takes on Michigan State Saturday, March 20 at the KeyBank Center with tip-off scheduled for 2:45 p.m. The game will be broadcasted live on CBS.
Leave a Reply