Louisville five-star freshman PG Mikel Brown Jr. out against Tennessee

Five-star freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. is out for No. 11 Louisville Tuesday night against No. 20 Tennessee. Brown is the second-leading scorer for the Cardinals, averaging 16.6 points per game, while averaging 5.1 assists per game.

Tipoff between the Vols and Cardinals is set for 7 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN inside a sold-out Food City Center.

Ryan Conwell, a transfer from Xavier, leads Louisville in scoring at 19.4 points per game. Isaac McKneely, a Virginia transfer who picked Louisville over Tennessee, is averaging 11.4 points per game and freshman forward Sananda Fru averages 10.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. 

Tennessee looking to snap three-game losing streak

Louisville (9-1) beat Memphis 99-73 at home on Saturday, after an 87-78 win over Indiana in Indianapolis on December 6. The Vols won 77-55 at Memphis early last season in the start of the two-year home-and-home.

Tennessee (7-3) lost to Kansas 81-76 on November 26 in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, giving up a 12-point lead with 15 minutes left. The Vols lost 62-60 at Syracuse in the ACC-SEC Challenge on December 2, before the neutral-site loss to Illinois at Bridgestone Arena 10 days ago. 

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Pat Kelsey and the job that he’s done at Louisville,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said before practice on Monday. “I mean, he took over a program that we know has had great success, certainly for a long, long time.

“And (he did) one of the great coaching jobs a year ago, and he’s doing again this year. And so it’ll be a great test for us. And we’re going to see if we can get better when the lights come on.”

Vols ranked No. 20 in Associated Press Top 25, No. 23 in Coaches Poll

Louisville is ranked No. 11 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and Coaches Poll — Tennessee stayed at No. 20 in the AP Top 25 on Monday and dropped to No. 23 in the Coaches Poll — and is ranked No. 10 overall in the KenPom.com ratings.

Louisville has the No. 2 KenPom offense with an adjusted efficiency rating of 127.1. The Cardinals are No. 34 in adjusted defensive efficiency of 99.3.

Pat Kelsey’s team started 7-0, including a home win over Kentucky, before losing 89-80 at Arkansas in the ACC-SEC Challenge on December 3. Louisville bounced back with an 87-78 win over Indiana in Indianapolis on December 6 and a 99-73 home win over Memphis on Saturday. 

Tennessee is ranked No. 18 overall in the KenPom.com ratings. The Vols are No. 13 in adjusted defensive efficiency (96.0) and No. 39 in adjusted offensive efficiency (119.1). 

After five straight games away from home, the Vols now have three straight home games, hosting Gardner Webb (Sunday) and South Carolina State (December 30) after the Louisville game. SEC play starts at Arkansas on January 3.