Louisville freshman Mikel Brown Jr. (back) out again vs. Duke

Field Level Media|published: Mon 5th January, 13:22 2026

Nov 24, 2025; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Mikel Brown Jr. (0) dribbles against Eastern Michigan Eagles guard Jon Sanders (10) during the second half at KFC Yum! Center. Louisville defeated Eastern Michigan 87-46. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

Louisville star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. will miss a fifth consecutive game Tuesday because of a lower back injury and will not be on the court when the No. 20 Cardinals face No. 6 Duke at home.

Brown has not played since Dec. 13 for Louisville (11-3, 1-1 ACC), including an 80-76 loss at Stanford on Friday in the second game of the conference schedule.

"He wants to be out there so stinking bad, you can tell," Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey said. "It's just been a couple of disappointing setbacks as we kind of tried to ramp him back up, and practice full go to see if he can sustain throughout a game."

In 10 games this season, Brown has averaged 16.6 points with 5.1 assists.

Brown was completely shut down from practice last week as rest was given a priority over game preparedness.

"We feel really, really good 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. ... Everything structurally is fine. We've had MRIs done. We haven't been able to get the discomfort and the spasms and things like that to settle down."

--Field Level Media

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