Pat Kelsey details why Mikel Brown did not start vs. SMU

Louisville fans were surprised when freshman Mikel Brown Jr. wasn’t in the Cardinals’ starting lineup against SMU on Saturday. After Louisville defeated the Mustangs 88-74, Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey explained his decision not to start Brown.

“Everybody’s getting sick. I’m sick. Everybody’s sick. Poor kid can’t catch a break. He gets sick this week,” Kelsey said of Brown. “After we lose to Duke, we’re gonna have freaking football practice. And it’s one of those where it’s like, ‘Clear the board. Compete. I don’t care who starts.’ Well, he gets sick, right? So, he can’t practice for those two days.

“So it’s hard for me as a coach to be like telling all those guys, ‘Football, go compete. Get after it.’ Then, all of a sudden poor kid’s sick, and then I’m not gonna put him in the starting lineup after those guys lost some teeth, got their eyes poked out, broke a few fingers and all that stuff. When I go to him to talk to him about it, he said, ‘Coach, you don’t have to say nothing. I’m good.’ That’s who he is.”

Brown was electric off the bench. He tallied 20 points, three rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes of action. The former five-star prospect shot 7-14 from the field an 3-8 from beyond the arc.

It was a bounce-back performance for Mikel Brown, who shot 1-13 in Louisville’s 83-52 loss to Duke on Jan. 26. Brown is averaging 16.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and a team-high 5.0 assists per game this season.

Louisville’s win over SMU was Brown’s third game back from injury. Prior to the past three games, Brown hadn’t played since Dec. 13. He missed eight games for Louisville. The Cardinals posted a 4-4 record with Brown.

In fairness, three of Louisville’s losses without Brown were against ranked opponents. Nonetheless, the defeats will affect Louisville’s seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

Louisville is 3-5 against Quad 1 opponents this season. Pat Kelsey is blocking out any prior shortcomings as his team looks to finish the regular season strong.

“We don’t feel behind schedule at all,” Kelsey said Saturday. “We’re just taking it day by day and game by game and just staying together. We can’t worry about anything else, what happens in the past stays in the past, just worry about the next game.”

Up next, Louisville will face off against Notre Dame on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ESPN2.