What De'Shayne Montgomery Brings to Louisville

Another prolific transfer is opting to continue their collegiate career with the Louisville men's basketball program.

On Friday, former Dayton guard De'Shayne Montgomery announced that would be suiting up for the Cardinals next season. He's the fifth transfer portal pickup for UofL in this cycle, joining Kansas' Flory Bidunga, Oregon's Jackson Shelstad, Arkansas' Karter Knox and Iowa's Alvaro Folgueiras.

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound shooting guard was one of the top players in the Atlantic-10. Montgomery averaged 13.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.1 steals per game, while shooting 49.0 percent from the field and 33.5 percent on three-point attempts to earn a Third-Team All-A10 selection.

But beyond his stat lines, what else does Montgomery bring to the table for the Cardinals?

It's clear that Montgomery is very much a two-way player from watching his film. The left-hander couples some high-level athletic intangibles (great vertical, good footwork and play strength) with an extremely aggressive overall mindset, and all of the aforementioned translates on both ends of the floor.

First, let's break down his game on the offensive end of the floor. As a driver or slasher, Montgomery shows zero hesitation here. He's got a good downhill first step on the drive, and because of both his build and mindset, he doesn't get knocked off his spot very often in one-on-one situations. In fact, he is more than willing to try and split defenders or attempt a shot in high traffic - which can be both good and bad.

When around the rim, he's got a good double clutch move to create space, plus a nice up-and-under to go with it. He's good finisher, but maybe not great, shooting 115-of-172 (66.9 percent) on close twos. Though some of this can be attributed to the amount high-difficulty shots he takes. It also doesn't help that he doesn't draw a ton of free throws with just a 24.7 free throw rate, although he does shoot 78.9 percent at the charity stripe.

That being said, if he has a window to get a dunk off, he's going to take it. Montgomery not only will look to dunk when he has a chance (35 total dunks), he's got a great package of highlight-style dunks that will get the crowd going.

He's also an a effective three-point shooter as well. Montgomery has both a good crossover and step back move to create separation out on the perimeter, and is fairly comfortable shooting off of the dribble - and has shown flashes of being a good spot-up shooter. It's not a super speedy jump shot, but it's got a fluid and consistent release to it.

Montgomery is very much an off-ball guard/slashing wing hybrid, and isn't a floor general. But he does have a good sense of where teammates are most of the time, and has displayed a willingness to get others involved when the opportunity is there. This is especially true with lobs or in transition. His 16.0 assist rate and 17.0 turnover rate, and 2.1-to-1.9 assist-to-turnover rate is about average.

As far as other aspects of his offensive game go, Montgomery is a regular initiator of transition offense thanks mainly to his propensity to generate steals and other live-ball turnovers. With rebounding, you'd like his aggressive mindset good build to translate on the boards, but we was merely average in this department. He sometimes breaks out the midrange game from time-to-time, but was just 12-of-38 on far twos.

For as much as Montgomery brings to the table with his offensive game, he's an even bigger asset on the defensive end. He's an absolutely fantastic perimeter defender for a couple reasons. He positions himself well off of the ball to catch the other tea napping and jump passing lanes for breakaway steals, and does a great job on closing out and getting a hand up.

Montgomery is an aggressive and efficient on-ball defender as well. He does a great job at disrupting ball handlers at the top of the key and making swipes at the ball, and does so without getting in a lot of foul trouble. He not only averaged the 19th-most steals in the D1, that came getting called for just 2.4 fouls per 40 minutes.

Overall, this is a great pickup for Louisville. Montgomery excels on both ends of the floor, and provides some position versatility between the back court and the wing. He is someone who could absolutely push either Adrian Wooley or Karter Knox for a starting role.

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