Preview: Louisville Travels to Fort Worth for Neutral Court Matchup with Baylor

The Cardinals take a brief break from ACC play to face the Bears in the Lone Star State.

Louisville Cardinals forward Sananda Fru (13) slams down two points against NC State during ACC basketball February 9, 2026 in Louisville, Kentucky. | Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

No. 24 Louisville Cardinals (18-6, 8-4 ACC) vs. Baylor Bears (13-11, 3-9 ACC)

- Tipoff: Saturday, Feb. 14 at 4:00 p.m. EST
- Location: Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Tex.
- How To Watch: ESPN
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -5.0
- All-Time Series: Baylor Leads 1-0
- Last Meeting: Baylor won 66-63 on Nov. 25, 2016 (Battle 4 Atlantis)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

• G Mikel Brown Jr. (6-5, 190, Fr.)
• G Isaac McKneely (6-4, 195, Sr.)
• G Ryan Conwell (6-4, 215, Sr.)
• F J'Vonne Hadley (6-7, 210, 6th)
• F/C Sananda Fru (6-11, 245, Jr.)

Baylor

• G Isaac Williams IV (6-1, 192, So.)
• G Obi Agbim (6-3, 183, 5th)
• G Cameron Carr (6-5, 190, R-So.)
• G Tounde Yessoufou (6-5, 215, Fr.)
• C Caden Powell (6-9, 224, Sr.)

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Bears, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape, Predictions: Louisville vs. Baylor

Additional Coverage

• Three Factors Fueling Louisville's Four-Game Winning Streak
• Watch: Pat Kelsey, Khani Rooths and Aly Khalifa Preview "Unbelievably Dangerous" Baylor Squad

Game Notes

Louisville

• Louisville men’s basketball puts a pause on ACC play to play a neutral, non-conference matchup against Baylor. The Cardinals are on a four-game winning streak, most recently coming off a historic 118-77 victory over NC State on Monday evening.
• Freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. tied Louisville's single-game scoring record with 45 points against NC State on Feb. 9. He tied the legendary Wes Unseld who was the lone owner of the record since Dec. 1, 1967. Brown also broke the ACC freshman single game scoring record, previously set by Cooper Flagg at 42 points.
• Louisville had two 30-point scorers in one game for the first time in program history as Mikel Brown Jr. scored 45 and Ryan Conwell scored 31 against NC State on Feb. 9. UofL is just the second team in DI this season to have a game with two 31+ point scorers. The duo became the first pair of ACC players to drop 30+ each against another ACC team since Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson of UNC did it at Florida State on Jan. 4, 2016.
• According to OptaSTATS, Mikel Brown Jr. and Ryan Conwell are the only DI teammate duo in the last 30 seasons to combine for 75+ points, 15+ rebounds and 15+ threes made in a game. Only one NBA duo has ever done it: Damian Lillard and Nassir Little during Lillard's 71-point game on Feb. 26, 2023. Mikel Brown Jr. is the only DI player since at least 2010-11 to record 45 points, nine rebounds, two assists and three steals in 34 minutes or less in a single game. He did so against NC State on Feb. 9.
• As of Feb. 11, there are 22 players in DI shooting 41.5% or above from 3-point range in their career. No one in that group has made or attempted more 3-pointers than senior guard Isaac McKneely, who has made 302 on 726 attempts. He is 85 makes and 217 attempts ahead of the next closest player, Milan Momcilovic of Iowa State.
• Louisville is one of three DI teams with at least six victories of 40 points or more this season, joining Michigan (7) and High Point (6). The six 40+ point wins are the most UofL has ever had in a single season.
• Mikel Brown Jr. is one of six players in DI this season to score 45 points, and one of four to do it in a regulation length game. He joins Dennis Parker Jr. of Radford (53), Dominique Daniels Jr. of California Baptist (47, OT), Javontae Campbell of Bowling Green (47, OT), Paul McNeil Jr. of NC State (47) and Keaton Wagler of Illinois (46).
• Louisville is one of four programs that has logged at least three games of 18+ made 3's, joining Cornell (4 games), Charleston Southern (3) and VMI (3).
• Louisville has had five games of at least 24 assists, the first time since 2010-11 that the program has had multiple games of 24+ assists; the Cardinals had five games of at 24+ assists that season. Louisville is one of 12 teams in 2025-26 as of Feb. 11 to have five games or more of at least 24 assists. Louisville has had 10 games of 20+ assists, also one of 12 teams in the nation to do so.
• Louisville shot 60% from the 3-point line against the Wolfpack on Feb. 9. It was the best the Cards have shot from the arc, since shooting 62.5% in an 82-74 victory over Florida State on March 8, 2018.
• Louisville's 118 points against NC State on Feb. 9 were the most points scored in a game by the Cardinals since UofL defeated Morehead State 119-61 on Dec. 6, 1995. It was UofL's sixth game of 100 points or more this year, tying the record for most 100-point games in a single season, previoulsy set by the 1977-78 team.
• Against Memphis on Dec. 13, Louisville had four different players with at least three 3-pointers apiece for the first time since Nov. 22, 2010 when the Cards played Chattanooga. It was the second time in program history that six different players made multiple 3-pointers, the first time being at WKU on Dec. 22, 2010.
• Louisville is one of three DI teams with at least six victories of 40 points or more this season, joining Michigan (7) and High Point (6). The six 40+ point wins are the most UofL has ever had in a single season.
• Louisville is one of four programs that has logged at least three games of 18+ made 3's, joining Cornell (4 games), Charleston Southern (3) and VMI (3).
• Mikel Brown Jr. is one of six players in DI this season to score 45 points, and one of four to do it in a regulation length game.
• Freshman Mikel Brown Jr. has logged six 20-point games, the most ever in a single season by a Louisville freshman. He also broke the Louisville freshman single game scoring record with 45 points against NC State, and logged another top-five freshman performance against Kentucky.
• Both Ryan Conwell and Mikel Brown Jr. represent Louisville on the preseason Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Watch List. Conwell is also on the Lute Olsen Early Season List while Brown is on the Midseason List for the John Wooden Award.
• UofL has three Cardinals on the roster that have scored over 1,000 DI points: Ryan Conwell (1,788), Isaac McKneely (1,365) and J’Vonne Hadley (1,268).
• There are 14 players who returned to DI this season that started the season with at least 175 made 3-pointers with a career 3-point field goal percentage of 38% or more; Ryan Conwell and Isaac McKneely are two of those 14 players.

Baylor

• Baylor faces top-25 opponent Louisville in a neutral site non-conference game in Dickies Arena on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT, broadcasted on ESPN.
• This will be only the second time the two teams have met in program history, the last being also in a neutral-site game in the Battle 4 Atlantis Championships on Nov. 25, 2016 where the Bears won 66-63.
• BU is coming off a 99-94 loss to No. 22 BYU, where freshman Tounde Yessoufou had a standout game with 37 points, going 12-for-19 from the field with six rebounds, three assists and one steal.
• Yessoufou earned a career-best in points (37), FGs (12), FGA (19) and 3FGs (5) in his 40-minute performance.
• Yessoufou’s 37 points are the most by any Baylor player against a ranked team in program history.
• It was the most points put up by a freshman since since LaceDarius Dunn (38) vs. Texas Tech (3/8/08).
• BYU’s AJ Dybantsa (36) and Baylor’s Yessoufou (37) are the first opposing freshmen to score at least 35 points in the same D-I game in 12 years.
• Wednesday was the first time ever there were three 30-point scorers in a game involving at least one Big 12 team.
• Baylor is shooting 45.9-percent from the field and averaging 73.8 points in its last five games versus 40.1-percent field goals and an average of 66.8 points in its first five games of the conference season.
• Yessoufou is the only Division I freshman this season to be averaging at least 15.0 points and 2.0 steals per game. The only Big 12 freshmen ever to do it are VJ Edgecombe (2024-25), Marcus Smart (2012-13) and Maurice Baker (2000-01).
• Undefeated with halftime leads, Baylor has won 90-percent of its games (279-37) when leading at the half in the last 14 seasons and is 13-0 this season when taking the halftime advantage.
• The Bears are 94-5 (.949) over the last 10 seasons when hitting at least 50.0 percent from the field, sixth best in Division I (min. 20 games).
• Cameron Carr was recognized on the Big 12 Starting Five for his performances against CU and ISU.
• Through two games, Carr played all but four minutes was fifth in the league in scoring with 43 points, averaging 21.5. Carr put up double-figures in both games, with 24 at #7 ISU, just four points shy of tying his career-best. His 24 points was a conference season-best, which contributed to tying his career-high in made threes (5) and three-field goal attempts (10).
• After a slow start in conference play, Obi Agbim strung together five-consecutive double-digit scoring games, combining for 79 points and hitting 29-of-70 (.414) from the field from 1/24-2/7. Against the Buffaloes, Agbim scored a season-high 19 points, added six assists and had his third block of the season.
• In Big 12 play, BU has outrebounded its opponent in nine out of 12 conference games this season, averaging 34.8 rebounds per game and 11.2 offensive rebounds per game in the conference season.
• Baylor is one of two teams to have a top-three seed in four of the past five NCAA
  Tournaments (Baylor, Houston).
• BU is one of three teams to win a NCAA Tournament game every year since 2019 (Baylor,
  Gonzaga, Houston).
• Baylor is the only school in the nation with five consecutive top-19 draft picks in the
  past five years.
• Scott Drew is one of just seven active DI coaches with at least 450 wins at their current
  institution (Mark Few, Tom Izzo, Bill Self, Greg Kampe, Randy Bennett, Matt Painter).

(Photo of Sananda Fru: Matt Stone - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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