CRAWFORD | Travel-size Mikel Brown Jr. still too much for Baylor in 82-71 Louisville win | U of L Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Mikel Brown Jr. didn't bring the same flamethrower to Fort Worth that he carried earlier in the week. He brought something else.

A travel-size version.

Which, it turns out, is still enough to get you through airport security and straight into Baylor's baggage claim.

Louisville walked into Dickies Arena on a neutral floor that should have felt about as neutral as a brisket joint in Waco's shadow, but had nearly as much red as green by tipoff.

And at the final horn, it was all red, as Louisville walked out with an 82-71 win that didn't require a historic night, just the usual reminder that the best player in the building is a useful thing to have.

Brown turned in a 29-point game like it was a casual errand. He went 8-for-14, 4-for-5 from three, and 9-for-9 at the line, because when the game gets tight, he turns free throws into paperwork. Six assists, five steals, and yes, six turnovers. Proof of humanity.

Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford

"It wasn't the prettiest thing all the time, but there's a lot of huge positives, in my opinion," Louisville coach Pat Kelsey told Jody Demling in his postgame radio interview for Learfield Sports.

Baylor did what it does and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds. Fifteen. That's not "a problem," that's a lifestyle. But it didn't end up hurting Louisville. The Cards outscored Baylor 9-8 on second-chance points.

"We fouled too much, and they got to the free throw line," Kelsey said. "But, you know, they're a very, very good rebounding team. I thought our guys competed and fought."

So how did Louisville do it?

Defense, first. The Cards held Baylor to 36.7% shooting and — this is the number worth writing down — 2-for-22 from three-point range. Now, Baylor isn't a great three-point shooting team anyway, but that's not a cold streak. That's an ice pack.

Obi Agbim, who came in averaging 11.4 points per game, finished 0-for-7 from the field and 0-for-4 from deep. His four points came entirely from the free throw line.

The other two players Louisville emphasized were Tounde Yessoufou, who went 5-for-16 from the field for 16 points, and Cameron Carr, who went just 1-for-11 from the field and finished with just five points.

Louisville didn't just win the shooting battle. It won the shooting prevention battle more decisively.

Then Louisville landed the cleaner punches, and threw them in clusters.

The game was tied 34-34 at half. Then Louisville came out of the locker room and played like it had discovered the best trick in basketball: make shots.

The Cards shot 56 percent for the game and 65 percent in the second half.

Brown's three-point burst early put Baylor on its heels. His drives late helped put the game away. And in between, Louisville kept finding enough secondary help to make sure Baylor couldn't just load up on one guy.

Some of that help was loud. J'Vonne Hadley was the perfect co-star: 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting, 2-for-2 from three. Ryan Conwell chipped in 14 and did the connective-tissue work: four assists, steady minutes, some of the adulting that winning requires.

"We posted J'Vonne quite a bit. I thought he gave us a big boost just throwing to him in the post and made some good plays to kind of get us going there," Kelsey said. "In the second half, we played through Ali Khalifa quite a bit in the post. He's not the best post scorer in the world, but he's a phenomenal passer and when you invert the floor a little bit and make him a passer down there from that post up position, it can make things difficult for them. ... And Ryan did a good job getting downhill and getting to the rim and getting to the line."

It was a quieter contribution, but no less important: Sananda Fru went 4-for-4 from the floor, finished with seven rebounds and two blocks, and turned a couple of defensive stops into fast-break points before anyone in Fort Worth had time to react. He didn't fill a box score line. He filled a role, and Louisville needed every inch of it.

Louisville's bench didn't exactly light up Fort Worth — nine points total — and Baylor's reserves won that category. But Louisville didn't need a deep choir. It needed a lead voice and a couple harmonies.

It got them.

It also got the kinds of "hidden" points that travel well: 18 fast-break points, 18 points off turnovers, and just enough second-chance scoring to survive getting leaned on at the rim.

Louisville leaves with its fifth straight win and seventh in its past eight games. And with the quiet comfort that there are nights when Mikel Brown doesn't have to be superhuman.

He can just be the best guy on the floor.

Which is still a problem for everyone else.

Next up, the Cards resume ACC play at SMU on Tuesday night.