Louisville basketball giving out replica Pat Kelsey glasses at Louisville Live

Louisville men's basketball fans have taken a liking to Pat Kelsey 's Tom Ford glasses since he arrived on campus in March and injected energy into a program desperate for it.

They've become such a hit, in fact, that the Cardinals are giving away replicas of the designer spectacles featuring Kelsey's signature at Friday night's 2024-25 season tipoff event, Louisville Live , inside the KFC Yum! Center .

U of L announced the promotion Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter, with a post that began with, "The giveaway everyone has been waiting for." It features a video of the members of Kelsey's inaugural team receiving pairs of the replica glasses during a recent photo shoot.

Kelsey, who has astigmatism, debuted the glasses on X in an Oct. 12, 2023, post. In it, he quotes the Jay-Z song "Tom Ford." The Brooklyn-born rapper is a favorite of his, and, as he told Courier Journal columnist C.L. Brown , he took that connection as a sign that this was the pair for him.

"I started wearing those when I stopped being able to see very well," Kelsey said during a guest appearance on Brown's podcast in July. "Everybody talks about the style of them; you know what they do? They help me stinking see."

"I'm not to the point where I'm wearing them on the sideline yet; think I've got to win a bunch of games at Louisville before I start rocking these things on the sideline, but we'll see," he later added. "Some people like 'em; some people don't. The fact of the matter is my bride likes them, and that’s all that matters to me."

Louisville Live is set to begin at 8 p.m. Friday. Doors to the Yum! Center open at 7 p.m.

All tickets will be general admission with open seating. They cost $15 — or $10 for men's and/or women's basketball season ticket holders. U of L students can get in for free.

To purchase tickets, click here .

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

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball giving out replica Pat Kelsey glasses at Louisville Live