5 things you need to know from Kentucky’s 96-88 rivalry loss to Louisville
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Gameday: No. 12 Louisville 96, No. 9 Kentucky 88
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday’s Kentucky-Louisville men’s basketball game at the KFC Yum Center in Louisville.
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Five things you need to know from No. 9 Kentucky’s 96-88 loss against No. 12 Louisville in men’s college basketball:
1. Mikel Brown Jr.: As good as advertised. In my first column of this week, I asked if Louisville freshman Mikel Brown Jr. had flipped Kentucky’s traditional advantage in this rivalry of elite guard play to the Cardinals.
In the game, the 6-foot-5, 190-pound Brown answered that question with an emphatic yes.
By halftime, Brown had 20 points, two rebounds and three assists and had sparked U of L to a 53-46 edge.
When U of L went on a 22-6 run to turn a 22-19 Kentucky advantage into a 41-28 Cardinals lead, Brown accounted for 10 points and two assists.
In half two, Kentucky had cut a 20-point U of L lead, 78-58, to four at 88-84.
With tension suddenly rafting through the KFC Yum Center, Brown carried U of L home.
First the freshman drove for a contested layup, was fouled by UK center Malachi Moreno and converted the conventional 3-point play for a 91-84 U of L lead.
After a Denzel Aberdeen bucket pulled Kentucky within 91-86, Brown drove into the lane and was fouled by Jaland Lowe. He sank both free throws to put the Cardinals ahead 93-86 with 2:17 left and essentially ice the game.
Brown finished with 29 points, five assists — and only one turnover.
2. Counting the trey tries. Entering the game, Kentucky was averaging 27 3-point attempts a game; Louisville was averaging 32.5 trey tries a contest.
With the emphasis that Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey put on getting off a high number of shots from behind the arc, it seemed likely that last year’s record of 60 combined 3-point tries between UK and U of L was in jeopardy.
As it turned out, that record was shattered.
Louisville took 40 treys, making 13. Kentucky shot 34 treys, hitting 12.
That added up to 74 3-point attempts combined for the two teams, another new record.
3. Cards throw off Cats’ dominance. With Tuesday night’s victory, U of L now trails in the all-time series with UK 40-18.
In the modern rivalry (since 1982-83), Louisville now trails Kentucky 31-15.
Against Louisville at the KFC Yum Center, Kentucky fell to 4-4.
U of L’s margin of victory, eight points, was the largest for the Cardinals over the Cats since Louisville defeated Kentucky 89-75 at Rupp Arena on Jan. 5, 2008, in Billy Gillispie’s first season as UK head man.
U of L backers were clearly energized for the 2025-26 renewal of the Cardinals’ rivalry with UK. The attendance at the KFC Yum Center was a sellout crowd of 22,186.
It was the first announced sellout at the KFC Yum Center since 22,612 saw Louisville beat Notre Dame 71-64 on March 4, 2017, in what turned out to be Rick Pitino’s final game as U of L head man (though no one knew that at the time).
4. Modern series UK-U of L coaching records. Since Kentucky and Louisville resumed playing each other starting with the 1982-83 NCAA Tournament, these are the coaching records in the series:
Kentucky: Joe B. Hall 2-2, Eddie Sutton 3-1, Rick Pitino 6-2, Tubby Smith 6-4, Billy Gillispie 0-2, John Calipari 13-3, Mark Pope 1-1.
Louisville: Denny Crum 7-13, Rick Pitino 6-12, David Padgett 0-1, Chris Mack 1-2, Kenny Payne 0-2, Pat Kelsey 1-1.
5. Something for Kentucky fans to keep in mind. In the modern UK-U of L men’s hoops rivalry (since 1982-83), the team that has lost the regular-season meeting between the Cats and Cards has:
• Gone on to make the Final Four four times — Louisville in 1985-86, Kentucky in 1997-98, Louisville in 2004-05 and Louisville in 2011-12.
• Gone on to win the national championship twice — Louisville in 1985-86 and Kentucky in 1997-98.
However much losing to a team and fan base you abhor hurts in the moment, a regular-season rivalry loss — especially one played Nov. 11 — does not determine the overall arc of one’s season.
This story was originally published November 11, 2025 at 10:28 PM.
