Louisville guard Mikel Brown Jr. will miss his fifth-straight college basketball game with a back injury. He wants to be very clear that strength and conditioning coach Eli Foy is not to blame despite rumors.
The five-star freshman plans to be back on the court sooner than later.
This is great news for a college basketball program with legitimate national title hopes. It is even better news that it was not a self-inflicted wound.
Who is Mikel Brown Jr.?
Brown ranked as the No. 6 player in the recruiting Class of 2025 out of DME Academy in Florida as a five-star prospect. The 6-foot-5, 180-pound point guard chose to play for Louisville over 25 offers from schools like Providence, Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana and Arizona, among others.
It was a huge get for Pat Kelsey.
Brown is the team’s second-leading scorer. He averages 16.6 points with 3.0 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. The Cardinals are currently ranked No. 20 in the country at 11-3.
They will host the Duke Blue Devils on Tuesday.
However, Brown will not be on the court. The 19-year-old is set to miss his fifth-straight game with a back injury— dating back to to Dec. 16.
Louisville coaches are not to blame for the back injury.
There have been a lot of chatter about the health of Mikel Brown Jr. over the last few weeks. Louisville has been mostly quiet on the topic. Silence always allows room for speculation.
One (completely unfounded) rumor suggests some kind of holdout. Brown’s dad essentially shut him down because he was not happy with his son’s role in the offense.
That does not seem to be true. There is no legitimate reason to believe Brown is not playing by choice.
The most prominent rumor connected to his back injury stems mishap in the weight room, which falls back on strength and conditioning coach Eli Foy. Jeff Goodman incorrectly added fuel to the fire.
Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 reports that Mikel Brown Jr. reinjured his back in the weight room and recently traveled to Atlanta to see a back specialist. The recommendation was to take additional time off to fully heal.
— 35KYSports (@35KYSportsMedia) January 5, 2026
Brown is expected to be available either Saturday against… pic.twitter.com/xXyYkTDvvA
Brown also shut that down as false. He posted on X to set the record straight.
“My back injury DID NOT happen in the weight room. This situation is something that happened before the Memphis game and I took some hard falls in the Memphis game that made it worse. Coach Eli is my guy, he hasn’t and never will do anything to put my health at risk. He has been the main person working with me everyday to get back on the court as soon as possible! I had to let everyone know the truth.”
Mikel Brown Jr. also made it abundantly clear that he “will be back soon,” which is great news for Louisville. Everybody take a deep breath. The message boards and Jeff Goodman were wrong.