Brooks Holton, Louisville Courier JournalSat, November 22, 2025 at 1:58 AM UTC·1 min readCINCINNATI — The 101st installment of the Louisville-Cincinnati basketball rivalry was a physical, disjointed mess. Or, to borrow a phrase from coach Pat Kelsey, a "rock fight."
The No. 6 Cardinals (5-0) hadn't been in one of those before Friday's showdown with the Bearcats (4-1) at Heritage Bank Center, which makes their 74-64, come-from-behind victory quite the statement.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAfter netting a season-low 28 points on 7-for-27 (25.9%) shooting during the first half against the country's No. 2 defense on KenPom.com, UofL outscored UC 46-32 in the second half. Seventeen of those points came from Ryan Conwell, who finished with a game-high 25.
Mikel Brown Jr. added 22 points — 12 of which came on 14 attempts at the free-throw line. Sananda Fru was the only other Card to break double digits with 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting.
Louisville next plays at 7 p.m. Monday against Eastern Michigan inside the KFC Yum! Center.
This story will be updated.
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball tops Cincinnati in Pat Kelsey homecoming
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