The 2025 Louisville basketball team has shown significant potential this season. They sit with an 11-3 record and are ranked at No. 20, and are led by star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. in the backcourt. However, Brown has been dealing with a back injury over the last few games and will miss their massive home game against Duke.
When talking to the media on Monday, head coach Pat Kelsey was asked about Brown's status and said that while he is progressing well, he is not going to play against Duke on Tuesday night. This is a massive blow for the Cardinals, who need all hands on deck against the Blue Devils.
“He's champing at the bit,” Kelsey said. “I mean, he wants to be out there so stinking bad. You can tell. It's just been a couple of disappointing setbacks as we tried to ramp him back up and practice full go to see if he could sustain throughout the game.”
Brown is averaging 16.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 10 games this season. The five-star is also expected to be a lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
He first missed the Tennessee game last month after warming up. He missed the Montana game on Dec. 20, and last week he missed games on the West Coast against California and Stanford.
“What we did several days ago was just kind of like completely shut him down from practice or anything like that and give him a little bit more time, trying some different treatment things,” Kelsey also said on Monday. “We feel really, really good that he's going to come around sooner rather than later.
“He's working his butt off; like, nobody is spending more time in the training room: all the diagnostic tests and related things. Everything structurally is fine. We've had MRIs done and things like that. It's just: We haven't been able to get the discomfort and the spasms and things like that to settle down.”
Former Kennesaw State transfer Adrian Wooley, who has replaced Brown in the starting lineup, has been playing well in his place. However, the Cardinals are facing a sharp uptick in competition without him and need him back as soon as possible.
