LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – There are two Louisville basketball teams. One when Mikel Brown Jr. is the really good freshman he has been all season. And one when he’s the version he was Monday night.
Next level. Another level. An offensive level only one other Louisville player has ever reached – and that player is a legend. An offensive level no other ACC freshman has ever attained.
Brown pressed the up button on the elevator against NC State and turned in the best offensive performance in modern U of L history, tying Wes Unseld’s single-game scoring record with 45 points, and matching the school mark for three-pointers in a game with 10. He also broke Cooper Flagg's ACC scoring record of 42 points set a year ago.
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Brown scored on all three-levels, but particularly from three-point range, where he went 10-for-16. His performance was so dominant that it made easy to overlook a 31-point night from Louisville senior Ryan Conwell, who went 10-for-14 from the field and 5-of-6 from three-point range.
It was the first time two Louisville players had 30 points in the same game in U of L history.
The final score: Louisville 118, NC State 77.
The point total was the second-highest in a game in Louisville history.
At some point, you just sit back and watch. Brown had 21 points in the first half and 24 in the second.
The moment that stuck out for me was early in the second half, when Isaac McKneely, the team's leader in three-pointers, had a wide-open three in transition, but passed to Brown because he had a hotter hand.
"I-Mac is arguably like, one of the best shooters in the country, if not the best shooter in the country -- besides me tonight," Brown said. "But, you know, just that moment, I think that really solidified, like, man, we got it going, and we're starting to click, and we're just starting to trust each other."
The score became a kind of afterthought early in the second half when Louisville went up 35 following 11 straight points from Brown, on three triples and a dunk.
A few Louisville fans decided they had seen enough. They missed history.
“We gave up 76 points to two players,” NC State coach Will Wade said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. … Brown got an open corner three for a catch and shoot right in front of our bench. That got him going and then he started making tougher ones. … At some point, it was just them and the rim.”
Brown raised his own season three-point percentage by nearly five points. He was only shooting 26 percent coming into the game.
“He hadn’t seen our defense yet,” Wade said. “Look, he’s a great player. He’s going to be a lottery pick. … We let him get in rhythm and get going, and when you’re as talented as he is, you can have those type nights.”
Brown exited the game with 2:06 left. He raised his hands, he raised the fans from their seats. Afterward, his teammates gathered around him and Conwell for an ESPN interview.
It culminates a sometimes frustrating stretch for Brown, who missed eight games with a back injury, and was the subject of some speculation over whether he would just shut it down.
"I don't pay attention to that stuff at the end of the day," Brown said. "Man, my circle and this team knows who I am as a person. And I don't think the outside world really knows any anything, because we're so close knit. ... You know, the love for the game that I have, I would never do such a thing."
It’s just one night. Just one win. But it’s also a night that won’t be forgotten at a school that remembers only the best. Those nights don’t happen often. For Louisville, it’s happened twice in a long, proud history.
It was magic. Now Louisville gets a chance to see if it can make more.
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