Pat Kelsey brought his Cardinals to Durham hunting revenge for Duke’s 84–73 win in Louisville earlier this month. What they got instead inside Cameron Indoor was a nightmare. The Blue Devils controlled the game from the opening tip, smothered Louisville for 40 minutes, and turned the rematch into an 83–52 blowout.

“We got our butt kicked. It’s about the extent of my statement,” head coach Pat Kelsey said in the post-game conference. “I don’t have much else to say, other than it was a b-tt-kicking. Credit Duke for that. Every metric that you would look at that speaks to a b-tt-kicking. That’s what the stat sheet says.”

And he was right about it. Duke shot 51 percent from the field, dominated the glass 47–26, and crushed Louisville 42–10 in points in the paint. They also turned 12 Cardinal turnovers into 12 points. On the other end, Louisville’s offense completely fell apart. The Cardinals shot a season-low 30 percent from the field and went only 5-of-20 inside the arc.

Ryan Conwell and J’Vonne Hadley were the only Cardinals in double figures, with 18 and 11 points. Mikel Brown Jr., who scored 20 in his return from a back injury against Virginia Tech two days earlier, struggled badly, going 1-of-13 for just seven points. Duke had four players in double figures, led by Cameron Boozer, who finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

It was total control from the moment the ball tipped, and Pat Kelsey’s side only led for a single point the entire game. With this win, the Blue Devils have now won nine straight since their shocking loss to Texas Tech.

This is the reigning ACC Coach of the Year we are talking about, and he is now 0–4 against Jon Scheyer with a combined point differential of minus 64. You do not expect that from Pat Kelsey against anyone. With the loss, Louisville fell to 14–6 overall and 4–4 in the ACC, and they suddenly look like a team that could drop out of the top 25 rankings.

But there’s still time to salvage this season.

What’s next for Pat Kelsey and co?

Eleven games into last season, the Cardinals were 6–5, with losses to Tennessee, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Duke. But Pat Kelsey’s side recovered well, finishing second in the ACC behind Duke with an 18–2 conference record and ending the year ranked 13th in the AP Top 25 list.

But their Big Dance run ended in the first round, where they fell to Creighton 89–75. The hope again is that Louisville can bounce back like it did last season and make a real run in March. To do that, Pat Kelsey’s team needs to keep stacking wins.

The Cardinals have a few winnable games coming up, which should help Pat Kelsey fine-tune and adjust his plays for the big stage. They’ll face SMU, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, NC State, and Baylor. Louisville will enter each of those matchups as the favorite.

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Winning the next five games would be a huge boost, but will they be able to do it? You normally do not expect them to drop a game to Stanford, but they already did. Last season, their loss to Georgia Tech in ACC play shocked everyone, too. The Cards have a knack for giving their fans a surprise here and there.

Do you see them winning the next five? Let us know in the comments down below.