Louisville basketball is taking on Georgia Tech this afternoon, and the Cardinals are expected to steamroll over the Yellow Jackets as they are 22.5-point favorites. Louisville is trending toward a No. 5 or No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and as the Cardinals enter this final five-game stretch, each game has major implications.
There is a lot to play for, and with the Cardinals surging at the right time, Louisville fans are confident this team has what it takes to be a dark-horse team in the NCAA Tournament. The main reason the fans are confident and this team is getting national spotlight, is the recent play of Mikel Brown Jr.
The true freshman has been phenomenal in his past three games, but he has had one glaring issue throughout the season: turnovers. However, that will change this afternoon.
Mikel Brown Jr. poised to fix turnover concern
Brown has been one of the best players in college basketball over the past few games, averaging 34.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 3.3 steals while shooting 60 percent from the field and 62 percent from beyond the arc. However, on top of that, he is also averaging 5.0 turnovers per game over this three-game stretch.
Brown made it clear a couple of weeks ago that turnovers were something he wanted to clean up when he returned from injury. However, since returning from his injury, he is averaging 4.3 turnovers per game and has seen his average rise to 3.2 per game throughout the season.
Brown has had at least two turnovers in every game since his injury, including five games with four turnovers or more, three games with five turnovers or more, two games with six turnovers or more, and, in the past game against SMU, a season-high seven turnovers.
The former 5-star point guard is projected to be a top-10 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, and while he has been nearly unguardable, he has to try to fix his turnovers. Louisville has a huge stretch coming up as they are about to face North Carolina, Clemson, and Miami in three of their next five games, and with major implications on the line in all three games, Kelsey will need his starting point guard to try to cut his turnovers down to around two turnovers per game.
With the Cardinals playing Georgia Tech this afternoon, Brown has a good opportunity to continue his dominance on the scoring end while working on the turnover issue. The Yellow Jackets have lost eight straight and 11 of their last 12. Louisville fans are excited to see the Cardinals back in action, and for the second-to-last time, inside the KFC Yum! Center, and are hoping Brown has a bit of a cleaner game this afternoon than he did on Tuesday.
Expect Brown to take over yet again and lead Louisville to a dominant victory, but when looking further than beyond the score, fans are going to see a much cleaner and sharper game from Brown as the star guard will turn it over three times or less, making a clear adjustment moving forward down the stretch.
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