LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The mood inside KFC Yum! The center alternated between elation and tension Tuesday, with attitudes shifting to match the big moments and stakes in a strangely timed contest in No. 12 Louisville's 96-88 win over No. 9. Kentucky.
When the Louisville freshman phenom Mikel Brown Jr.. made his third three-pointer of the first half to put the Cardinals up by 18 points, sending the Cards cheering crowd into raptures.
As Kentucky struck back with an 18-7 run to end the half, the pendulum shifted back toward tension as chants of “Go Big Blue” emerged from pockets of the Kentucky faithful clustered throughout enemy territory.
During the very first meeting between these sworn enemies within the state, it was difficult to understand what was real and what was fake and who could be trusted. In his first regular season game on the big stage, Brown looked amazing.
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Can he handle it in such a tense environment against such a high-quality opponent?
The answer turned out to be a resounding yes, as No. 12 Louisville survived a comeback attempt by the No. 9 Wildcats, trailing its five-star guard by 29 points.
It ended Louisville's three-game losing streak and gave the Cardinals a blowout early-season victory in the first top-15 showdown between the teams since the 2016-17 season.
The Cardinals were tested early in the season.
What would normally have been a late-December midterm for Kentucky and Louisville turned into a high-octane entrance exam to determine who had earned an early-season pass into a rival sport class. By the end of the journey, insights appeared on both teams.
Louisville's offense is certainly the real deal. The Cardinals made 40 3-pointers for just the second time in coach Pat Kelce's two seasons and drained 13. They also made 20 assists for the second time under Kelce and overwhelmed a Kentucky defense that faces a long road to competence.
“We just knew we had a problem that we didn't have a good solution to in practice,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said, “and that certainly showed on the court tonight.”
The Cardinals' defense, while flawed, forced 14 turnovers and neutralized the impact of Kentucky's preseason All-American guard. Ove Ove Ove.
Brown enters the Freshman of the Year race.
If any team were to produce an All-American, the smart bet would be on Brown.
The No. 6 prospect in the Class of 2025 has shown he's not taking a backseat in the conversation surrounding college basketball's blockbuster freshman class.
Brown extended the Cardinals' lead to 20 with a pair of free throws with 12:24 left, sparking another wave of excitement among the 22,586 fans supporting Louisville. But then the tension was back on again as Kentucky cut the deficit to 88-84 entering the final media timeout.
“Go big blue” returned as fans of both colors stood up. Thanksgiving was over two weeks away and it felt like March.
Jobs for Kentucky
Kentucky is a work in progress, still developing offensive chemistry at point guard. Jaland Lowwho suffered a shoulder injury last month that kept him out until last week's win over Valparaiso. But the Wildcats showed off their offensive potential against Louisville, twice coming back from 18+ point deficits, and Louisville earned it.
Neither team had faced a competent opponent in the regular season, but 18 days before the football game, they were battling it out on a hard field.
With the game on the line, Brown stepped up again. His one with 2:52 remaining extended Louisville's lead to 91-84 and provided the critical separation the Cardinals needed to ensure all the excitement and tension didn't end in stunning disappointment.
Brown held the basketball in his hands as the buzzer sounded.
“Oh my God, tonight was special,” Kelsey said.
Kelsey makes a painful conclusion
The wave of excitement after the game had Kelsey happily strolling through the Cardinals' student section after the game. The matter did not end there.
Louisville's infectiously energetic second-year coach apparently took the celebration to an even greater extreme when he ventured onto the team's practice field to chat with the Cardinals' staff before they entered the locker room to talk to the team.
“As soon as I walked in, these guys just started running and chasing me,” Kelsey said. “You know how sometimes a guy hits a home run and everyone surrounds him and he just runs down the field?”
The celebratory scene ended with Kelce spraining his finger and arriving at the post-game press conference wearing a splint.
He didn't seem to mind.
“I had so much adrenaline in my body,” Kelsey said, “that I didn’t feel a thing when the doctor pulled that thing.”
