The Louisville Cardinals are taking on the SMU Mustangs in the third meeting this season this afternoon. These two teams are 1-1 against each other heading into this huge ACC Tournament showdown, with Louisville winning by 14 in the first meeting and SMU winning by 10 in the last.
Mikel Brown Jr. injury: Louisville fans should be worried about the NCAA Tournament
However, the Cardinals took a huge blow late last night, as it was officially announced that Louisville will be without its star player, the 5-star freshman phenom Mikel Brown Jr., for the entire ACC Tournament. The Cards showed against Miami that they can hold their ground without Brown on the floor, but with many fans eyeing another trip back to the championship game, this is a gut-wrenching blow for Louisville’s ACC Tournament Title dreams.
The Vegas oddsmakers show Louisville is still good enough to beat SMU with its recent odds update, despite Brown being out, but there is no doubt this is going to be a challenging game for Louisville.
Louisville basketball is favored without Mikel Brown Jr. vs. SMU
Louisville opened up as a 5.5 point favorite, but over the night the odds shifted even more in favor of Louisville as the Cards are now 6.5 point favorites, according to FanDuel at 6 a.m. The Cardinals sit as 22-9 overall and 11-7 in ACC play, but when Brown isn’t on the floor, they are 6-4.
Brown has already missed 10 games this season, including eight straight from December to January, and the last two games to end the season. The Cards are no question better when the 5-star freshman is on the floor, as Louisville is 1-3 against ranked teams without Brown, and in those three games have lost by an average of 13.7 points per game.
Right now, ESPN Analytics also gives Louisville a dominant 76.4 percent chance of winning this afternoon. But, its worth mentioning even though FanDuel and ESPN Analytics heavily favor Louisville, the Cards haven’t played consistent basketball without Brown on the floor and struggle against good teams, losing to Duke, Virginia, and Tennessee, and right now, SMU is fighting for a spot in the NCAA Tournament, sitting on the Bubble at 20-12 after their win over Syracuse in the first round.
Brown led the Cards in both matchups against the Mustangs in the regular season, scoring 20 points on 50 percent shooting in the Cards' win and 29 points on 61 percent shooting in their loss. Louisville will look to secure another big win without Brown on the floor, as they head into this game on a two-game winning streak after picking up its first win on the road over a ranked team since 2020.
Louisville and SMU will tip off this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. local time in the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.
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