Louisville basketball: Cards fall to Ole Miss in SEC/ACC Challenge
Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey talks about his team’s 86-63 loss to Ole Miss on Tuesday night in the SEC/ACC Challenge.
Sam Upshaw Jr.
The wait was worth it.
Pat Kelsey on Wednesday scored Louisville basketball‘s first commitment of the 2025 recruiting cycle, and it was a big one. Mikel Brown Jr., a consensus top-three point guard in the country, pledged to the Cardinals during the first half of their game against North Carolina at the KFC Yum! Center.
With a 247Sports Composite rating of 0.9962, the 6-foot-3, 165-pound prospect out of DME Academy in Daytona Beach, Florida, overtook fellow floor general Sebastian Telfair (0.9950), who signed to U of L but opted to go pro out of high school, as U of L’s second-best commit dating back to 2003.
Earlier this year, Brown inked an endorsement deal with Adidas — Louisville’s apparel partner.
Brown is only Kelsey’s second high school pledge since being hired at Louisville in March, joining freshman forward Khani Rooths — who is one of five, maybe six, players on the Cards’ 2024-25 roster with eligibility remaining for 2025-26 and beyond.
The guarantees, barring their entrance into the NCAA transfer portal, are sophomore forward James Scott, junior guard Koren Johnson and redshirt seniors Aly Khalifa and Kobe Rodgers. Fifth-year forward Kasean Pryor could apply for a medical redshirt after suffering a season-ending knee injury in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis championship game, but that’s to be determined.
After U of L lost to Oklahoma in the Battle 4 Atlantis final, when asked about the stellar play of senior point guard Chucky Hepburn across three days in the Bahamas, Kelsey said his goal is to develop the program into “Point Guard U” — starting with the Wisconsin transfer.
“The point guard is the head of the snake,” he said. “It’s the coach on the floor; it’s the extension of the coach on the floor. Chucky exemplifies that in so many ways. He’s playing with such bravado, such confidence. We’re pouring confidence into him, and he’s just playing at such a high level.”
It seems as if the Cards have landed another player like that in Brown. Here’s what to know:
Brown joined DME Academy after spending his junior season playing for Cold Hearts in the marquee Overtime Elite league in Atlanta.
In 16 regular-season games, he averaged 13.4 points on 35.2% shooting (37.8% from 3-point range) and 5.4 assists against 2.1 turnovers, 2.1 rebounds and 0.9 steals across 28.2 minutes per contest. In six playoff games, he bumped those numbers up to 15.3 points, 6.8 assists against 2.2 turnovers, 3.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals across 32.5 minutes.
Brown played on Adidas’ 3SSB circuit throughout his high school career. For his final act this summer, he averaged 24.2 points on 49% shooting (43.9% from 3), 3.2 assists against 3.3 turnovers, 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals across 30.2 minutes per game.
Evaluating Brown’s game in July, 247Sports scouting director Adam Finkelstein said: “There isn’t much he can’t do with the ball in his hands.
“He’s a talented passer with excellent floor vision and capable of hitting all corners of the court,” Finkelstein added. “He can throw pinpoint crosscourt skip passes with both hands, zip in pocket passes off the dribble and make all the other associated pick-and-roll reads with good timing. … The biggest limitation in his game right now is just a lack of strength. While he’s grown several inches in recent years, and has a 6-6 wingspan, he has a more naturally narrow frame. He can get pushed off his spots at times, on both ends of the floor. Long term, the question is how much muscle mass his frame will be able to support and how does that impact his ability to put pressure on the rim.”
This story will be updated.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
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