Cardinals Soar Past No. 9 Kentucky in Statement Win, 96-88

Tuesday, November 11

LOUISVILLE, KY

8 p.m.

University of Louisville

3-0,0-0ACC

Kentucky

2-1,0-0SEC

Kentucky

Louisville

Photo by: Nicole Finch | Louisville Athletics

Cardinals Soar Past No. 9 Kentucky in Statement Win, 96-88

November 12, 2025 | Men's Basketball

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Career night from Mikel Brown Jr. propels Louisville to Top 15 victory

By: Kennedy Knisley & Jack Pilbean

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The No. 12 University of Louisville men's basketball team earned a statement victory over ninth-ranked Kentucky, 96–88, on Tuesday night at the KFC Yum! Center in front of a sold-out crowd of 22,586.

Louisville's 96-point total is the second highest against Kentucky, trailing only the 97-75 victory in 1988.

"I want to credit Coach (Mark) Pope and his team and the program they are building there," said head coach Pat Kelsey. "I firmly believe that his team is a national title contender and I believe that to be the case for our team as well. It was a big-time college atmosphere, two really good teams competing at a very high level, it was just genuine competition. There wasn't any extracurricular stuff, it was just good old-fashioned loose balls, hard screens and dudes playing their butts off. It's a great rivalry, it's one of the greatest rivalries in all of collegiate sports and this was another edition of that. The (KFC) Yum! Center was rocking, I think it was a huge factor in the game… I just know one thing, it was rocking. We got off to a good start which got the crowd in the game and there were a couple of Yum roars that I'll remember for a long, long time."

The first half was all Cards who led by as many as 18 points and only lost the lead three times the whole game. Kentucky tied things up at 22 apiece midway through the first half and took a three-point lead, it's largest lead of the evening.

Louisville came out of the break hot, generating a 22-12 run in the first seven minutes of the second half. After four straight free throws to cap the run, the Cards took their largest lead of the game, 78-58. Kentucky fired an immediate response with a 24-10 run of their own to cut the game to four points with four minutes to play. However, the Cards stood strong defensively, coming away with the eight-point victory.

Freshman Mikel Brown Jr. powered the Cardinals with a career-high 29 points and added five assists on the night in 33 minutes played. The freshman tallied 20 points in the first half alone, the first time a Louisville freshman has done so since 2007.

Ryan Conwell followed with 24 points, connecting on four 3-pointers and going 8-for-12 at the stripe. Sananda Fru delivered an efficient night with 10 points, seven rebounds, and three assists, while Isaac McKneely and J'Vonne Hadley added nine apiece. Hadley led the team in rebounding with eight on the evening while contributing three assists, two steals and a block.

Louisville (3-0) shot 45 percent from the field while forcing 14 turnovers that led to 19 points. The Cardinals led for more than 37 minutes and stretched their advantage to as many as 20 early in the second half before withstanding a late Wildcat push. Despite being outrebounded 42-40, Louisville held the edge on steals (11-4) and assists (20-14).

Kentucky (2-1) was led by Denzel Aberdeen with 26 points and seven rebounds. The Wildcats shot 47 percent overall and 35 percent from 3-point range but couldn't overcome Louisville's defensive pressure and fastbreak offense.

Louisville returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 16, hosting Ohio at 12 p.m. on The CW inside the KFC Yum! Center.