Freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. tied the Louisville single-game scoring mark with 45 points and matched another single-game record with 10 3-pointers to lead the No. 24 Cardinals to a 118-77 win over visiting North Carolina State on Monday night.
Louisville (18-6, 8-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) never trailed. Brown produced 21 points with five 3-pointers to stake the Cardinals to a 56-36 halftime lead before topping that total with five more 3-pointers in the second half.
He finished 14 of 23 from the field, 10 of 16 on 3-point attempts and 7 of 7 at the line while adding nine rebounds, three steals and two assists in 34 minutes. Ryan Conwell added 31 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Cardinals while going 5-for-6 from 3-point range.
When Brown hit his final 3-pointer with 2:09 to play — a swish from nearly 30 feet away — he tied Wes Unseld’s single-game school record set against Georgetown (Ky.) College on Dec. 1, 1967. Brown’s point total set the ACC freshman record, and his 10 3-pointers tied the school record established by Reyne Smith last season against SMU.
Louisville coach Pat Kelsey then called timeout to remove Brown from the game. The Cardinals wound up with their highest point total since beating Morehead State 119-61 on Dec. 6, 1995.
Louisville opened the game on a 7-0 run. NC State pulled within 25-20 on a Quadir Copeland dunk with 10:58 left in the first half.
Louisville answered with a 10-2 run, and NC State never got within single digits after that surge that included 3-pointers from Conwell and Brown.
The Cardinals racked up their sixth 100-plus scoring effort on the year. No Cardinal other than Brown and Conwell reached double figures, but Louisville shot 60% overall (39-for-65) and 60% from 3-point range (18-for-30).
NC State (18-7, 9-3) saw the end of a six-game winning streak as the Wolfpack allowed more than 85 points for just the second time this season. The Wolfpack were led by Ven-Allen Lubin’s 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Tre Holloman added 19 points and Copeland tallied 10.
The Wolfpack shot just 4-for-22 (18.2%) from 3-point range and were outrebounded 42-28.
–Field Level Media
