Louisville's Mikel Brown Jr. sets record straight on injury ahead of Duke showdown

Louisville basketball is set to take on the No. 6 Duke Blue Devils this evening inside the KFC Yum! Center. The Louisville Cardinals will look to bounce back from their crushing loss to Stanford and earn a massive win over a top-10 team.

However, Louisville learned yesterday from Pat Kelsey that the Cardinals will be without star point guard Mikel Brown Jr. The former 5-star recruit has been dealing with back spasms and discomfort for multiple weeks now, as he hasn’t played since Dec. 13 against Memphis.

With Brown missing all of that time, there have been a bunch of things floating around the air, but all that got cleared up after Brown stepped up and silenced any possible rumors.

Mikel Brown Jr. sets record straight on injury

Brown took it to social media on Monday, posting on Monday to clarify what had happened and share his brief injury update.

“Just to set the record straight, my back injury DID NOT happen in the weight room,” Brown stated on his social media post. “This situation is something that happened before the Memphis game and I took some hard falls in the Memphis game that made it worse. Coach Eli is my guy, he hasn’t and never will do anything to put my health at risk. He has been the main person working with me everyday to get back on the court as soon as possible! I had to let everyone know the truth. I will be back soon.”

Brown posted this message on social media shortly after Field of 68 reporter Jeff Goodman reported the former 5-star had injured his back in the weight room.  Kelsey stated on Monday they expect him back soon, but after Brown’s message, the fans feel good their 5-star point guard is going to return to action in the coming weeks.

"We feel really, really good that he's going to come around sooner rather than later," Kelsey stated on Monday. "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."

Of course, Louisville fans wish he could play tonight in their massive game against Duke, but they don’t want this injury to linger and keep him from the bigger games in March. Brown is also projected to be a top 10 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, and the last thing they want is something like the Darryn Peterson situation, where he might sit out to get healthy for the NBA Draft.

So, to hear Brown state he will be back soon is exactly what the Cardinals fans want to hear. Louisville is 2-2 when they don’t have Brown, and is 9-1 when he is on the court. Louisville opened up as a 2.5-point favorite, but since Brown was ruled out, Duke is now a 1.5-point favorite on the road.

Related: Mikel Brown Jr.’s injury concern unleashes a true star for Louisville basketball

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