Louisville freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. is now a big headliner in college basketball in the 2025-26 season. He played a key role in the Cardinals’ 96-88 win over No. 9 Kentucky and their 106-81 win against Ohio.
Brown is expected to keep excelling for the Cardinals in the upcoming games, and former Louisville star Chucky Hepburn has also significantly influenced his breakout performance this year.
Mikel Brown Jr. Credits Chucky Hepburn’s Career Move to Louisville as His Source of Motivation
Hepburn’s transfer from Wisconsin to Louisville for the 2024-25 season occurred amid major shifts in college basketball, including NIL deals and the transfer portal. He joined a Louisville program being reshaped under new head coach Pat Kelsey.
Appearing on an episode of “The Sideline” with Andy Katz this week, Brown reflected on Hepburn’s career boost after the move.
“To watch the transition from Chucky coming from Wisconsin, I was obviously watching him play at Wisconsin for a little bit, to Louisville,” Brown said. “You could just see the type of freedom that PK gives his guards and the type of confidence that he instills in them every day in and out.”
“To be able to watch his process and growth throughout the year last year definitely was an eye-opener for me…He was very patient with the ball, made a lot of really, really great plays and also on the defensive end, he was a hound on the defensive end, especially on the ball. When he was here, I was asking a lot of questions like how to guard people, how to get steals here and there, how to be instinctive.”
Hepburn transferred to Louisville in April 2024 after his junior season at Wisconsin. In his single season with the Cardinals, he earned ACC Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-ACC honors, highlighted by a 22-point performance in the Cardinals’ NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Creighton.
In the 2025 NBA Draft, Hepburn went undrafted, and he signed a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors.
Meanwhile, Brown has continued his phenomenal play at Louisville, as he earned Co-Player and Co-Rookie of the Week honors from the ACC. The accolades came after he averaged 24 points and six assists per game in the team’s two wins last week. He shares the honors with Duke freshman forward Cameron Boozer.
Brown’s scoring marks the fourth-highest by an ACC freshman against a top-10 team since the 2010-11 season. He will look to keep the momentum going when the Cardinals face Cincinnati on Friday in the Hoops Classic at the Heritage Bank Center.