Michael Brown Jr. gets Pat Kelsey’s ‘special’ label
Louisville basketball put on one of the most impressive early performances of the college basketball season on Tuesday night, surviving the rally in the second half with no. 9 Kentucky to win, 96-88, and remain undefeated on the season.
Louisville is building some continuity in the his program under Pat Kelseyand there are plenty of returning players who contributed greatly to this win. J’Vonne Hadley played well doing a lot of the little things, and some of the front court still coming back from injury contributed.
However, none of them ended up being the story of the night. That honor would go to freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr., a five-star recruit who absolutely showed on Tuesday night. Brown led all scorers in the game with 29 points on 8-for-16 shooting and 3-for-10 from the 3-point line.
After the game, Kelsey talked about his freshman spy and his contribution to the win, via Connor Stanley of On3 Sports.
“We have really good guards. Mikel is special. Ryan is huge for us,” Kelsey said. “My God, he (Mikel) was special tonight.”
Brown showed all his skills as a scorer in this game. He showed deep range behind the 3-point line and proved he can still get the ball off the dribble from distance, which opened up part of his second-half drive. When Brown went downhill and got to the rim, he showed the ability to finish through and around contact with both hands, including a massive left hand and one late in the game that helped extend Louisville’s lead.
Brown’s new backcourt teammate, Xavier transfer Ryan Conwell, also had a big night with 24 points on 6-for-16 shooting. That level of scoring from both guards put a lot of pressure on Kentucky’s defense from start to finish, and ended up being one of the biggest difference in the game.
If Louisville is going to get where it wants to go this season, Brown will certainly be a big part of that and will need to continue to build on this performance. If Tuesday night was any indication, the Cardinals will have one of the best point guards in college basketball moving forward.
2025-11-12 07:03:00
