Mikel Brown Jr. hasn’t played a basketball game in nearly three weeks. Louisville’s star freshman guard, a projected lottery pick who tied Wes Unseld’s program scoring record with 45 points against NC State last month, has been reduced to watching his teammates practice while nursing the back injury that’s defined his first college season.
Now, with the Cardinals facing No. 11 seed South Florida on Thursday in the NCAA Tournament’s first round, Brown’s status remains officially questionable. Louisville coach Pat Kelsey offered an encouraging update Monday, telling reporters, “He made great progress last week. We’ll see how the next couple days of practice go.”
The Cardinals (23-10) need Brown in the lineup if they’re going to make a deep run. Louisville is 16-5 and averages 88.1 points per game when he plays, compared to 7-5 and averaging 81.7 points per game without him. Thursday’s 1:30 p.m. ET tip in Buffalo against a South Florida team riding an 11-game winning streak will test whether Louisville can survive without their most talented player.
What We Know About Mikel Brown Jr.’s Back Injury
Update: The team has officially announced that Mikel Brown Jr. is out and will not play for Louisville for their first March Madness game.
Brown’s back issues first surfaced earlier this season, costing him eight games from December into January. He returned and immediately went on a tear, averaging 29.2 points, 4.8 assists, and 3.2 rebounds per game over five contests while shooting 52.2% from the field and 54.0% from three-point range.
That hot streak included his Feb. 9 masterpiece against NC State, when he hit a career-best 10 three-pointers and scored 45 points to break Cooper Flagg’s ACC single-game freshman scoring mark of 42. The 45 points also tied Hall of Famer Wes Unseld’s single-game Louisville scoring mark, set on Dec. 1, 1967, against Georgetown College.
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Then came the setback. Brown re-aggravated the injury during Louisville’s game at North Carolina on Feb. 23. He tried to push through at Clemson five days later but was visibly limited, finishing with just five points, four assists, and two rebounds in 21 minutes after not starting against the Tigers. He hasn’t played since.
Louisville shut Brown down for the entire ACC Tournament, with Kelsey saying in a statement, “Mikel wants to play in the ACC Tournament, but we believe it is best to have him continue his path of improvement and have him 100% for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.”
Brown’s NCAA Tournament Dream Hangs in the Balance
For Brown, March Madness represents something he’s waited his entire life to experience.
“It’s always been a childhood dream, watching it every single year,” Brown said last week. “I enjoy it just because I feel like it’s the best basketball in the world. Obviously, you’ve got the NBA Finals and NBA playoffs, but I think the atmosphere in March Madness is just different because it’s single-elimination so everything’s on the line.”
The 6-foot-5 freshman has leaned on his faith during the frustrating rehab process. “I can’t rush God’s plan. Can’t rush his plan. And I trust him every day,” Brown said from the locker room during the ACC Tournament.
Asked last week whether he was certain he’d play in the NCAA Tournament, Brown declined to make any promises. “Right now, I’m just focused on my rehab more than anything. And when the time feels right, I’m going to talk to the coaching staff and we’re going to come to an agreement.”
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“I am starting to get there,” Brown said after Louisville’s ACC Tournament game against SMU. “Like I said, I’m slowly progressing, I’m slowly doing more and more day in and day out, just trying to get a feel for it. Obviously, like coach said, the plan is I’ll come back when I’m 100 percent and when I feel great.”
Louisville’s tournament opener against South Florida will be broadcast on TNT. The Cardinals are seeking their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2017. If Brown can’t go, senior transfer Ryan Conwell, who averages a team-high 18.7 points per game, will need to carry even more of the offensive load against a Bulls team that commits the 33rd-most fouls per game in Division I at 19.5.
The Cardinals’ season could come down to what Brown’s back allows over the next 48 hours.
