Will Louisville PG Mikel Brown Jr. Play vs. South Florida?

The star point guard has missed the last four games due to a lingering lower back injury.

Feb 23, 2026; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Mikel Brown Jr. (0) on the court in the second half at Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As it turns out, Mikel Brown Jr. will not be making his postseason debut this weekend.

The Louisville men's basketball program announced Wednesday that the star true freshman point guard will not only be out for the Cardinals' first round NCAA Tournament matchup against South Florida, but he would also not be available should they advance to the Round of 32.

Last week, UofL announced that Brown would be sidelined for their ACC Tournament run with "the goal of being ready for the NCAA Tournament." In their updated statement regarding Brown, Louisville stated that "unfortunately that is not the case."

Earlier in the season, Brown missed eight straight games due to a lower back injury, and then re-aggravated it in the game against North Carolina on Feb. 23. It had a notable impact on his availability and efficiency in the game at Clemson on Feb. 28, as he did not start against the Tigers and logged only five points, four assists and two rebounds in 21 minutes. He would then go on to miss the final two regular season games, and Louisville's two ACC Tournament games vs. SMU and Miami.

Following the SMU game, Brown told the media in the locker room that he has made "steady" and "constant" improvement as it pertains to his back injury, and he "absolutely" believes there is a chance that he will be ready for the Big Dance.

"I am starting to get there," Brown said. "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."

Earlier in the week, while Kelsey said that Brown "made great progress last week," he also added that he wanted to "see how the next couple days of practice go" before determining his availability.

Playing in 21 games and making 19 starts this season, the 6-foot-5, 190-pound point guard is putting 18.2 points, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game. In the five games prior to the Clemson game, Brown was playing at an All-American caliber level, putting up 29.2 points, 4.8 assists and 3.2 assists per game, and shooting 52.2 percent from the field plus a blazing 54.0 percent on three-point tries.

Louisville and South Florida will tip-off on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Mikel Brown Jr.: Bob Donnan - Imagn Images)

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