Louisville basketball will be without star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. for its Men’s NCAA Tournament first round game against 11-seed South Florida on Thursday in Buffalo.
If the Cardinals are to win, Brown will also miss Saturday’s second round game, the school announced Wednesday. The winner of Louisville/South Florida plays the winner of Michigan State/North Dakota State.
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Brown has been dealing with a nagging back injury, but Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey said Monday, March 16 that Brown had “made great progress” leading up to this week.
Brown, a projected 2026 NBA draft lottery pick, averaged 18.2 points and 4.7 assists per game this season, but last played Feb. 28. He’s missed 11 games this season.
It’s a major blow for the Cardinals, who are reliant on the star point guard.
Louisville enters March Madness with a 7-5 record with Brown on the bench vs. a 16-5 record when he plays. Per CBBAnalytics.com, it averages 6.4 fewer points per 40 minutes (88.1 vs. 81.7) and shoots 4.8% worse from beyond the arc (38.2% vs. 33.4%) when he’s not on the court.
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Kelsey said Brown reaggravated the back injury, which initially surfaced in mid-December, by taking some hard falls during a Feb. 23 loss at then-No. 19 North Carolina.
Brown told reporters at the ACC Tournament he was “starting to get there. I’m slowly progressing; I’m slowly doing more day in and day out, just trying to get a feel for it. But, obviously, like coach said, the plan is: I’ll come back when I’m 100%.”
When asked, “Are you 100% positive that you’ll be back for the NCAA Tournament?” He replied, “Right now, I’m just focused on my rehab more than anything. When the time feels right, I’m going to talk to the coaching staff; and we’re going to come to an agreement.”
Louisville Courier-Journal reporter Brooks Holton contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mikel Brown Jr injury update: Louisville star out first two rounds
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