Louisville freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. is ruled out for the final regular-season game on the road against Syracuse. Come Tuesday, his freshman campaign will officially end and it was a remarkable one by all means.
With 18.2 points per game, Brown has already surpassed the 14.2 points per game mark set by Wesley Cox in 1974 to become the best freshman scorer in school history.
Why Mikel Brown Jr. Is Not Playing Against Syracuse?
On Monday, Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey said Mikel Brown Jr. was a little “beat up.” He “took some really, really hard falls” in the game against then-No. 19 North Carolina. It became all the more clear when the freshman struggled in the game against Clemson, where he came off the bench to only play 21 minutes and scored five points, while going 0 of 6 from the 3-point line.
“It’s something I’ve been talking to him about: falling less,” the coach said Monday. “He drives so courageously to the rim. He takes some hits, too. I probably shouldn’t say this, but he probably deserves more calls than some of the ones he gets. But that’s part of being a freshman, I guess — maybe earning your stripes.”
It has also been a difficult season for Mikel Brown Jr. concerning injuries. The freshman missed eight games from Dec. 16 to Jan. 17 because of a back injury. When he returned, he averaged a team-high 21.1 points across 10 games between Jan. 24 and Feb. 23. But last week that back flared up against Clemson.
Be that as it may, Brown Jr., projected to be an NBA lottery pick, could be the program’s first one-and-done player. He averaged 18.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.2 steals and a team-high 4.7 assists against 3.1 turnovers across 29 minutes per game. He shot 41% from the field, including shooting 34.4% from the three-point line.
Louisville has one more game remaining after the Orange matchup. That will be against No. 23 Miami on Saturday. But Brown is not likely to turn up for that matchup either.
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