Pat Kelsey has the blueprint for Louisville basketball to knock off No. 5 Duke

The Louisville Cardinals will travel to Cameron Indoor Arena tonight on big Monday and are looking to take down the 5th-ranked Duke Blue Devils.

Louisville basketball has struggled over the past month, going 5-4 after starting 9-1. Nevertheless, with 5-star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. returning from injury against Virginia Tech, the Cardinals are aiming to finish out the remaining two months of the season strong.

Head coach Pat Kelsey has struggled in the past two seasons against ranked teams, and especially against Duke. Kelsey is 0-3 against Duke in his tenure at Louisville, and the weirdest part about all of those losses is that Louisville has led all three times at halftime. Duke head coach Jon Scheyer has had Kelsey's number, and that needs to change if Louisville wants to start beating one of the best historical teams in the country.

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Mikel Brown Jr.’s return changes everything for Louisville vs. Duke

Kelsey has had issues against top-tier opponents in the past, going 1-12 against ranked teams at Charleston and 4-9 at Louisville. Kelsey needs to show that he can defeat top-tier teams in college basketball, and while he had an impressive first year at Louisville, this season has not been what Cardinal fans thought it would be.

After beating Kentucky in November this season, Louisville looked like a Final Four-caliber team, but when Brown went down with an injury, they showed they deeply missed their engine, and their ceiling is not nearly as high. However, Brown returned in the last game, and now this team is once again looking like a Final Four squad, like the Louisville team that started 9-1.

When Brown was out, Louisville had trouble driving the ball into the paint and ending long scoring droughts. That was mainly due to the absence of the main ball handler and to Kelsey's lack of adjustments. However, when Brown returned against Virginia Tech, Louisville attacked the paint and outscored the Hokies 36-14 in the paint.

When Brown is on the floor, he isn't just a dominant scorer, but he is also an elite playmaker. He draws a lot of attention when he has the ball as he can shoot it well beyond the arc, but also loves to attack the rim. When Brown attacks, he creates many open looks for his teammates. He forces the defense to collapse, and he has the ability to find the open man and make some ridiculous passes.

With Brown back, Louisville has a shot against any team in the country, including Duke. Scheyer has made adjustments at halftime in all three games, and Kelsey hasn't had an answer. Kelsey has issues not shying away from his game plan of having his teams shoot a high volume of threes, and while it has worked in the first half of all three games, it hasn't in the second half. But with Brown back, the Cards' game plan centers on the 5-star, and he has the full capability to take over this game, as the fans saw against Kentucky.

Duke played the perimeter tight in the second half against Louisville and focused their offense on taking it to the paint against the Cards' bigs. Kelsey has to get his team to drive the lane and make Duke respect the paint presence of Louisville's interior players like Sananda Fru and J'Vonne Hadley. This will no doubt be easier with Brown on the floor for Louisville, as the defense will have to keep an eye on him every time he has the ball. This will then open up more opportunities for Ryan Conwell and Isaac McKneely on the perimeter as well.

If Kelsey wants to flip the script against ranked teams and Duke, then this is the blueprint to win, just now the Cards have to make it happen. With Brown back, he has the keys to the ship, and this team will go as far as he can take them, and tonight Louisville will need another monster performance from the 6-foot-5, 190-pound point guard if they want to win.

For all the latest on Louisville basketball's 2025-26 season and recruiting, stay tuned.