Yet another member of the Louisville men's basketball program has opted to finish their collegiate career elsewhere.
Redshirt junior forward Jae'Lyn Withers plans to enter his name into the transfer portal after four years with the Cardinals, as first reported by On3’s Joe Tipton. He will have one year of eligibility at his next stop.
The 6-foot-9, 220-pound stretch four played all 32 games with 25 starts, and finished as Louisville's third-leading scorer at 8.9 points and second-leading rebounder at 5.3 boards per game. He also finished as their best three-point shooter by percentage at 41.7 percent, on top of shooting 43.3 percent from the field
However, Withers struggled with consistency throughout much of the season. He logged 13 games with double-digit points along with 12 games where he finished with seven points or less, committed the second-most turnovers on the team with 71, and often struggled on the defensive end of the court.
Consistency was also an issue during the 2021-22 season, when he averaged 5.8 points and 4.6 rebounds following an incredibly disappointing first half of the season. His best season at Louisville came in 2020-21 during his redshirt freshman year when he had a career-best 10.0 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, shot a team best 54.9 percent from the field, and was named to the 2021 ACC All-Freshman team.
Roster management for next season has been in full swing for Louisville and head coach Kenny Payne since the end of their 4-28 campaign last Tuesday. Including Withers, the Cardinals have seen six players enter the portal since the offseason began, with Kamari Lands, Devin Ree, Fabio Basili, Sydney Curry and Roosevelt Wheeler also departing.
Conversely, Payne has been hard at work behind the scenes attempting to bring in fresh talent for next season. Last week, Louisville landed five-star 2023 center Dennis Evans, former Illinois guard Skyy Clark and five-star 2023 reclass wing Trentyn Flowers.
Louisville is also set to welcome top-70 wings Kaleb Glenn and Curtis Williams Jr., plus JUCO guard Koron Davis as part of their 2023 signing class.
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