Louisville star player admits he wants to depart

Evans is one of eight former Cardinals who have announced their transfer destinations this offseason.

The highest-ranked freshman to play for the Louisville men’s basketball program this past season has decided where he will transfer.

Former Cardinals center Dennis Evans announced on Friday that he has committed to Grand Canyon. Evans is the eighth former Card to find his new home.

Skyy Clark will return to UCLA, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Mike James will team up at NC State, Tre White will play for Illinois, J.J. Traynor will finish his career at DePaul, Curtis Williams will continue at Georgetown, and Kaleb Glenn will attend Florida Atlantic.

Koron Davis, Ty-Laur Johnson, Danilo Jovanovich, and Emmanuel Okorafor are the only former Louisville players who have yet to decide on their next school.

The 7-foot-1, 215-pound center was a huge addition, both literally and metaphorically, coming out of high school. Evans was ranked as high as the No. 11 prospect in the nation by Rivals and the No. 39 player in the 247Sports Composite for the 2023 cycle.

Once on campus, the Riverside, California native demonstrated his long-term potential but remained an extremely raw prospect. Evans started five of the first seven games of the 2023-24 season and finished with 11 points, six rebounds, and five blocks.

Then, after missing the next six games with what was only described as a shoulder injury, Louisville announced on January 4 that Evans was no longer “medically cleared to compete” at Louisville.

“Freshman center Dennis Evans will not be medically cleared to compete at the University of Louisville moving forward,” Louisville said in a statement. “We are disappointed by the news and will not be releasing any additional information out of respect for Dennis’ privacy.”

With all 12 scholarship players leaving the program following the firing of head coach Kenny Payne, Louisville is expected to return only walk-on guard Hercy Miller from last season. However, since new head coach Pat Kelsey was hired on March 28, he and his staff have hit the ground running on the recruiting trail, securing eight transfer commitments this cycle.

Reyne Smith and James Scott are following Kelsey from Charleston, as are James Madison’s Terrence Edwards Jr., Colorado’s J’Vonne Hadley, BYU’s Aly Khalifa, Washington’s Koren Johnson, Long Beach State’s Aboubacar Traore, and Wisconsin’s Chuck Hepburn.