Louisville basketball is set to take on the No. 6 Duke Blue Devils in a marquee January matchup. Louisville looks to bounce back from its upset loss to Stanford and looks to send a message to the former ACC Champions. The Cardinals and Blue Devils have a long history, including last season, when Duke had Louisville’s number, winning not only the regular-season matchup but also the ACC Championship Game.
A big reason this season feels much different is because of Louisville’s newcomers, especially 5-star commitment and former No. 1 point guard in the 2025 class, Mikel Brown Jr. The true freshman is projected to be a top 10 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, but he has recently been dealing with a back injury that has caused him to be sidelined since Louisville’s win over Memphis on Dec. 13.
With Louisville taking on Duke tomorrow night from the KFC Yum! Center, the fans were hoping their starting point guard would be good to go, however, the Cardinals fans just got the crushing update that he will, in fact, be out for Tuesday’s matchup.
Pat Kelsey told reporters on the ACC coaches call that Mikel Brown Jr. will be out for Tuesday's game against Duke. pic.twitter.com/eiLze73VF0
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) January 5, 2026
Louisville basketball gets crushing injury update ahead Duke showdown
On Monday morning, Pat Kelsey held a press conference with the media, and when he started his conference, he immediatley addressed the elephant in the room and gave the Cardinals fans the crushing injury update on Brown.
“He will not play on Tuesday,” Kelsey stated on Monday. “He's chomping at the bit. I mean, he wants to be out there so stinking bad, you can tell. It's just been kind of a couple disappointing setbacks as we tried to ramp him back up and practice full go to see if he could sustain throughout the game. Then what we did several days ago is just completely like shut him down from practice or anything like that, and give him a little bit more time.”
Brown has missed the last four games with a back injury, and with the former 5-star out, the Cardinals will have to try to scrap out a gritty win. Brown is averaging 16.6 points, 5.1 assists, and 3.0 rebounds this season. When Brown has played this season, Louisville is 9-1, but when he has been sidelined, the Cardinals are 2-2.
Kelsey stated that he expects Brown to return soon, but he will not be available for tomorrow's showdown, as Brown is still experiencing spasms and discomfort.
"We feel really, really good that he's going to come around sooner rather than later," Kelsey stated. "He's working his butt off. Nobody is spending more time in the training room. All of the diagnostic tests and things like that, everything structurally is fine. We have had MRI's done and things like that, it is just we haven't been able to get that discomfort, and the spasms and things like that to settle down."
Louisville and Duke will tip-off tomorrow night from the KFC Yum! Center at 7 p.m.
Related: Mikel Brown Jr.’s injury concern unleashes a true star for Louisville basketball
For all the latest on Louisville basketball's 2025-26 season and recruiting, stay tuned.