No. 23 Louisville got its best player back on the floor this weekend. With a top-five test right around the corner, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Five-star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. and the Cardinals head east to take on No. 5 Duke on Monday in an Atlantic Coast Conference ranked-on-ranked showdown in Durham, N.C.
Brown had a stellar start to his college career, but after 10 games he was sidelined for a trip to then-No. 20 Tennessee due to back spasms. It became a long-term absence, with Brown missing six weeks and eight total games.
Along the way, Louisville coach Pat Kelsey insisted Brown was dying to get back on the court, but the program took a cautious approach to his injury. After ramping him up to return to game action, the Cardinals (14-5, 4-3 ACC) benefited on Saturday.
Brown put up a team-high 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and six assists in an 85-71 home win over Virginia Tech.
“He looked great and he played great,” Kelsey said. “You asked me, was I surprised? Nothing surprises me with that kid. Unbelievably talented, and he just played to exhaustion.”
Brown, who made three 3-pointers on six attempts, said afterward that watching from the bench was difficult for him. The Cardinals went just 4-4 in the eight games he missed.
“I’ve had this stretch before, and it’s not fun, just because the game of basketball has given me so much and the love for the game, it’s just hard to sit down and watch, honestly,” Brown said.
“We always talk about it, man, ‘Adversity’s gonna come, it’s gonna hit. It’s just, how are you gonna handle it?’ And we handled it well, and I handled it well.”
One of the games Brown missed was Louisville’s first encounter with Duke. The Blue Devils trailed by as many as 12 but posted a 46-26 second-half rout in an 84-73 road win on Jan. 6.
Duke (18-1, 7-0) has won seven in a row following Saturday’s 90-69 drubbing of Wake Forest. Cameron Boozer, another freshman phenom, went for 32 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
The Blue Devils bullied Wake Forest 43-22 on the glass and tripled up the Demon Deacons 48-16 in points in the paint, leading coach Jon Scheyer to observe that his team doesn’t ignore the simple stuff.
“I think for us, not to get bored with what’s working,” Scheyer said. “That was our advantage in this game. It’s our advantage probably most games with how we’re trying to play. … If you think about the free throws and the points in the paint, that’s 69 points in the paint or at the foul line.”
Boozer went for 27 (10-for-12 shooting), Isaiah Evans scored 23 and Caleb Foster had 20 earlier this month during Duke’s win at Louisville. Ryan Conwell paced the Cardinals that night with 24.
Boozer gives Duke 23.7 points, 9.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. Conwell (19.5 ppg) and Brown (16.9) are Louisville’s top scorers.
