Louisville PG Mikel Brown Jr. Out vs. Duke

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

Louisville Cardinals guard Mikel Brown Jr. (0) looked to the crowd as time expired as the Louisville Cardinals hosted the Kentucky Wildcats at the KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. The Cardinals defeated the Wildcats 96-88. | Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program will once again not have their star point guard available for their upcoming matchup against Duke.

Head coach Pat Kelsey revealed Monday on the ACC Coaches Call that Mikel Brown Jr. will not play in the Cardinals' ranked showdown against the Blue Devils. Kelsey said that Brown has had a couple setbacks in his recovery from a lower back injury.

"He's chomping at the bit," he said. "I mean, he wants to be out there so stinking bad, you can tell. It's just been kind of a couple disappointing setbacks as we tried to ramp him back up and practice full go to see if he could sustain throughout the game. Then what we did several days ago is just completely shutting down from practice, and give him a little bit more time, trying some different treatment things."

While Brown has missed the last four games due to the injury, Kelsey added that "everything structurally is fine" in his back following MRIs and other diagnostic testing, and that they expect him back "sooner rather than later." The Field of 68's Jeff Goodman reported that Brown met with a back specialist in Atlanta that advised him to "give it another week or so."

"We feel really, really good that that he's going to come around sooner rather than later," Kelsey said. "He's working his butt off. Nobody is spending more time in the training room. All of the diagnostic tests and things like that, everything structurally is fine. We haven't been able to get that discomfort, and the spasms and things like that to settle down."

Brown has been a sensational playmakers when on the floor for the Cardinals. Suiting up in 10 games so far this season, the 6-foot-5, 190-pound guard is averaging 16.6 points, 5.1 assists and 3.0 rebounds. The former five-star prospect has been touch-and-go as a shooter at times, connecting on 38.1 percent of his total field goal attempts and 26.8 percent of his three-point tried.

Tip-off between No. 16 Louisville and No. 6 Duke is set for Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 7:00 p.m. EST at the KFC Yum! Center.

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