Louisville basketball is about to come face-to-face with its biggest opponent of the year. The Cardinals are set to take on the Duke Blue Devils on Tuesday in their third conference game of the season. Louisville has not had an ideal start to its ACC schedule, as it is 1-1, coming off a loss to Stanford.
The Cardinals are hoping to avoid dropping their second game in a row, but it will take everything they have to defeat the No.6 Blue Devils. Duke is walking into Louisville with a 13-1 record as well as a 2-0 record in ACC play. Duke is led by a future lottery pick in Cameron Boozer and is truly a goliath in college basketball. To add on to the challenges Louisville was already going to face in this bout, star guard Mikel Brown Jr. has once again been ruled out for this contest.
This will be the fifth straight game Brown Jr. has missed, and it has been clear that the Cardinals are a different team without him. However, that doesn’t mean the Cardinals don’t have a chance. Louisville has one of the most talented squads in the country and has proved it can beat good teams. If the Cardinal squad comes to play, we could be in for one of the best games of the year. Let’s take a look at five players who must step up with Mikel Brown Jr. being ruled out.