Dec. 29, 2025Updated Dec. 30, 2025, 8:57 a.m. ET
- Louisville basketball begins ACC play with a 9 p.m. tipoff Tuesday at California’s Haas Pavilion.
- From the initial ACC injury report: freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. is probable, but sixth-year forward Kasean Pryor is out.
- Brown hasn’t seen the court since Dec. 13. Pryor, meanwhile, averaged 10.3 minutes off the bench for Pat Kelsey across the previous three games.
It appears as if Louisville basketball guards Mikel Brown Jr. and Kobe Rodgers are on track to return from injuries for the No. 13 Cardinals (10-2) in Tuesday’s ACC opener at California — but Pat Kelsey‘s team will likely be without another player.
Brown was listed as probable for the game in the initial ACC injury report released Monday night, and Rodgers didn’t appear on it at all — both good signs. Sixth-year senior forward Kasean Pryor, however, was listed as “out.”
Kelsey on Monday told reporters Brown and Rodgers were full participants in practice Sunday but did not mention Pryor’s expected absence against the Golden Bears.
The initial report did not include further details on Pryor’s injury. He’s missed three games this season — one out of precaution as he worked his way back from last season’s torn anterior cruciate ligament, two due to concussion protocol.
About those reports: The start of ACC play means conference-mandated injury reports will be released the night before and the day of games. The initial reports will be published at 8 p.m. in the time zone where games are played the day prior — so, for Tuesday’s game, 11 p.m. Monday — and the game-day reports will be published two hours before tipoff.
Brown, a projected lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, hasn’t seen the court since a Dec. 13 win over Memphis. The freshman point guard was a late scratch from a Dec. 16 loss at Tennessee due to a lower back injury and was ruled out of UofL’s most recent game, a Dec. 20 win over Montana.
Brown was Louisville’s second-best scorer entering ACC play with 16.6 points per game on 38.1% shooting (26.8% from 3-point range). He also leads the team with 5.1 assists against 2.4 turnovers across 27 minutes per contest.
Rodgers, a redshirt senior, checked out of the loss in Knoxville for good with 6:24 remaining in regulation after taking a blow to the head that landed him in concussion protocol. He, like Brown, sat out of the win over the Grizzlies.
Rodgers was averaging 14.3 minutes off the bench ahead of Tuesday’s conference opener. He was tied for the team lead in steals per game (1.3) to go along with 4.9 points on 64.3% shooting (41.7%), 3.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists.
Pryor averaged 10.3 minutes off the bench across the Cards’ previous three games. The 6-foot-10 Chicago native scored a season-high 11 points against Memphis and grabbed a season-high seven rebounds against Montana. To this point, he was averaging 3.1 points on 44% shooting with 2.6 boards per appearance.
Sophomore Adrian Wooley replaced Brown in the starting lineup against Tennessee and Montana. Others such as senior Ryan Conwell, meanwhile, were asked to take on more facilitating responsibilities. “The advantage of no choice,” Kelsey said Monday.
“We had two point guards out; other guys had to step up,” the coach added. “That’s part of a season. That’s part of the ebbs and flows of what happens. It’s, ‘No excuses, no explanations.'”
Tipoff between Louisville and Cal is set for 9 p.m. Tuesday. The Golden Bears enter the matchup with a 12-1 record and received two votes in this week’s USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
“They’re playing with an unbelievable amount of confidence,” Kelsey said. “It’s going to be one heck of a challenge.”
The game between UofL and Cal will air on the ACC Network, which is channel 610 on AT&T U-Verse; channel 612 on DirecTV; channel 402 on Dish; and channels 524 and 937 on Spectrum.
Chris Sylvester (play-by-play) and Ben Braun (analyst) will be on the call.
If you subscribe to a cable package, you’ll be able to livestream the game via ESPN.com and the ESPN app. If you don’t have cable, you can livestream the game via Fubo, which offers a free trial here.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.