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Brown’s historic performance highlights Cardinal blowout of NC State

Feb 9, 2026; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Mikel Brown Jr. (0) reacts after making a shot against the NC State Wolfpack during the first half at KFC Yum! Center. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images (IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters)

Feb 9, 2026; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Mikel Brown Jr. (0) reacts during the second half against the NC State Wolfpack at KFC Yum! Center. Louisville defeated N.C. State 118-77. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images | Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

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NCAA Basketball: N.C. State at Louisville

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NCAA Basketball: N.C. State at Louisville

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Brown’s historic performance highlights Cardinal blowout of NC State

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Brown’s historic performance highlights Cardinal blowout of NC State

Mike RutherfordTue, February 10, 2026 at 2:27 AM UTC·2 min read

Feb 9, 2026; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Mikel Brown Jr. (0) reacts during the second half against the NC State Wolfpack at KFC Yum! Center. Louisville defeated N.C. State 118-77. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images | Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

Facing the hottest team in the ACC and one of the hottest teams in college basketball on Monday night, Louisville and its formerly slumping point guard delivered a historically dominant performance.

Mikel Brown Jr. tied the U of L school record for both points (45) and made three-pointers (10) in a single game as the Cardinals humiliated NC State, 118-77, in front of a White Out crowd inside the KFC Yum Center.

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Brown, who also pulled down 9 rebounds and recorded 3 steals, set a new ACC freshman scoring record as well.

The 118 points scored were the most by a Louisville team since a 119-61 win over Morehead State all the way back on Dec. 6, 1995.

Somehow overshadowed on the night was Ryan Conwell, who scored a season-high 31 points on 10-of-14 shooting (5-of-6 from three) to go along with 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

The performance marked the first time in Cardinal basketball history that multiple U of L players have scored 30+ points in the same game.

As a team, Louisville was an absurd 18-of-30 from three (60.0 percent) and assisted on 21 of its 39 made shots for the game.

NC State, which entered Monday night riding a six-game winning streak and owning a perfect 6-0 road record in conference play, could simply not get anything going inside the Yum Center.

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The Pack entered the night ranked first in the ACC and sixth in the country in three-point field goal percentage, but connected on just four of their 22 attempts from beyond the arc. Quadir Copeland, the ACC’s leader in assists, had finished with 9 or more assists in five straight games and produced college basketball’s first 16 assist, zero turnover game in seven years during State’s win at SMU last week. He ended Monday night’s game with three assists and four turnovers.

This was exactly the type of performance at this moment in time that the team needed to deliver in order to make people believe again. Not believe that they could be a team that makes the tournament and potentially wins a game or two, but believe they can still be the type of team we were all hoping they could be three months ago.

What a night.