It is, you might argue, too early in the college basketball season to be making bold statements. We’ve only been playing games for eight days. If we were letting logic rule, bold statements and big predictions would be saved until at least four weeks into the season, when teams have seven or eight games under their belts, including a handful of marquee matchups slated for Feast Week.
The problem with this line of thinking: Based on Tuesday night, Louisville is not into waiting.
On the Cardinals’ home floor, in the 58th meeting between two of college basketball’s most decorated programs, the No. 12 Cardinals outlasted No. 9 Kentucky, 96-88, behind a combined 53 points from freshman Mikel Brown, Jr. (29 points) and senior Ryan Conwell (24).
This is one of the most storied rivalries in college hoops, dating back to 1913. This game matters in the Bluegrass State and beyond. And while both of these programs have experienced big success — they’ve combined for 11 national championships (eight for Kentucky, three for Louisville) and 27 Final Fours (17 for Kentucky, 10 for Louisville) — lately it’s felt pretty one-sided: Kentucky had won the previous three meetings and Tuesday was the first time since 2019-20 that both teams were ranked.
In other words, the Cardinals picked the perfect time to make a statement, even if there was some nail-biting at the end.
After building as much as a 20-point lead, Louisville let Kentucky come storming back, cutting it to four, 88-84, on a 3-pointer from Collin Chandler with 4:02 to play.
But then Louisville’s freshman, the No. 8 player in the 2025 class according to 247Sports’ Composite rankings, didn’t make a statement so much as put an exclamation point on his performance. Over the course of 35 seconds, Brown scored five points to give the Cardinals breathing room, finishing a tough shot in the lane and going 3-of-3 from the line.
Mikel Brown Jr. was getting buckets in @LouisvilleMBB’s win over No. 9 Kentucky 🪣
29 PTS | 8-16 FG pic.twitter.com/8D0vsA4L3E
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 12, 2025
Though Louisville followed that up with six consecutive misses at the line (seriously), the Cardinals managed to hang on for the win. A crucial turnover from Kentucky’s Jaland Lowe, who drove the baseline but stepped out of bounds with 36 seconds to go, helped.
College basketball conversations the last week have been dominated, understandably, by stellar freshmen AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer and Darryn Peterson. But other rookies have stolen the spotlight a few times already, proving that the class is anything but top-heavy.
Brown — who was an efficient 8-for-16 from the field and 10-for-11 from the line, to go with five assists — was the latest newcomer to impress Tuesday. And while there are sure to be some growing pains along the way for every freshman, there’s nothing quite like a big game on a big stage against your biggest rival to give you a boost of confidence that could very well carry you for the rest of the season.
Here are other takeaways from an entertaining Tuesday:
Can anyone stop Andrej Stojakovic?
Based on No. 14 Illinois’ game against No. 11 Texas Tech Tuesday night, the answer would be no.
With father Peja watching from the stands, Stojakovic came off the bench to score a team-high 23 points on 11-for-16 shooting, leading the Illini to an 81-77 win.
Stojakovic, who started his college career at Stanford before transferring to Cal and finally moving to Illinois, has been looking for the right fit since he started college hoops. It sure seems like he found it. Stojakovic’s performance overshadowed that of returning Big 12 player of the year JT Toppin, who scored a game-high 35 points. As dominant as Toppin was, Stojakovic was big when his team needed it most: during one seven-minute stretch late in the second half, Stojakovic single-handedly outscored Tech.
And yet, his best play of the night might have come on the defensive end, when Stojakovic recovered from being beaten to block what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer from Tech’s Christian Anderson with 10 seconds to play.
HUUUUGE block for the Fighting Illini! @IlliniMBB pic.twitter.com/uBRf579Bmy
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) November 12, 2025
Michigan and Mara, oh, my!
Do not focus on the fact that Wake Forest took Michigan to overtime in Detroit and Michigan escaped with an 85-84 win. Instead, stare at this stat line from Aday Mara, Michigan’s 7-foot-3 junior big man who transferred from UCLA: 18 points (on 8-of-11 shooting), 13 rebounds, six assists, five blocks.
Are your eyes popping out of your head? They should be. Get to a TV at some point this season and watch this guy. You won’t regret it.
Gonzaga is good, again
The next time you’re having a rough day, just remember what No. 23 Creighton went through Tuesday night in Spokane, Wash. Trailing 44-38 at halftime, the Bluejays got absolutely smoked in the second half, losing to No. 19 Gonzaga 90-63.
To give you an idea of just how painful it was, with 8:13 left to play and Creighton trailing 74-45, the ESPN broadcast shared this stunning stat: Through the first 11:47 of the second half, the Bluejays had scored just seven points, and turned it over eight times.
That. Is. Brutal.
Creighton finished the game with 18 made field goals and 18 turnovers. Yeesh.
It’s really tough to beat the Zags in the Kennel, sure, but this was next level. Gonzaga has long been known as one of the best and most efficient offenses in college hoops. But are the Zags elite defensively this year? We should know within a month, because Gonzaga has non-conference games against Alabama, Kentucky and UCLA still to come.
About those fabulous freshmen
We know you’re curious about all those standout rookies, so let’s run down how they all looked, with a quick note that Peterson didn’t play in KU’s 77-46 win over Texas A&M Corpus-Christi because of a tight hamstring that Jayhawks coach Bill Self said was “hopefully precautionary.” Self didn’t sound too concerned and said he looked forward to seeing Peterson in practice on Thursday. Here’s how others did:
Cameron Boozer scored 15 points, grabbed nine rebounds, dished four assists and recorded two steals and two blocks as Duke thumped Army, 114-59.
Twin brother Cayden Boozer chipped in 10 points and eight assists.
Dybantsa helped BYU overcome a first-half scare vs. Delaware — the Cougars trailed 37-34 at halftime — by scoring 18 points, nabbing seven rebounds and handing out two assists.
Arizona’s Koa Peat followed up his stunning debut with a solid 10-point, seven-rebound, three-assist, two-steal performance in just 21 minutes as the No. 5 Wildcats cruised past Northern Arizona 84-49.
Caleb Wilson had 13 points and 14 rebounds in No. 18 North Carolina’s 89-74 victory over Radford.
