Louisville's Mikel Brown Jr. out for first two rounds of tourney

Field Level Media|published: 03/18/2026, 11:42am EDT

Louisville Cardinals guard Mikel Brown Jr. (0) was unfazed after he scored 45 points with 10-for-16 3-point shooting as the Cards roll past NC State 118-77 at the KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville February 9, 2026.

Louisville freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. has been ruled out the team's NCAA Tournament first-round game against South Florida on Thursday due to a back injury.

Per Louisville, Brown also will sit out the ensuing game for the sixth-seeded Cardinals (23-10) in the East Region should they defeat the 11th-seeded Bulls (25-8) in Buffalo, N.Y.

Brown missed the ACC tournament due to the injury.

"Going into the ACC tournament, the goal was to have Mikel available for the NCAA Tournament, unfortunately that is not the case," the university said in a statement.

Brown, who averages 18.2 points and a team-high 4.7 assists per game, is a catalyst for the Cardinals. Louisville is 16-5 and averages 88.1 points in games with him compared to 7-5 and 81.7 in games without him.

--Field Level Media