LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The highest-ranked freshman to play for the Louisville men’s basketball program this past season has picked his transfer destination.
Former Cardinals center Dennis Evans announced Friday that he has committed to Grand Canyon. Evans is now the eighth former Card overall to find his new transfer home.
Skyy Clark is heading back home to UCLA, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Mike James are joining forces at NC State, Tre White is going to play for Illinois, J.J. Traynor will finish his career at DePaul, Curtis Williams will continue his at Georgetown and Kaleb Glenn is heading down south to Florida Atlantic.
The lone former Louisville players who have yet to decide their next school are Koron Davis, Ty-Laur Johnson, Danilo Jovanovich and Emmanuel Okorafor.
The 7-foot-1, 215-pound center was a massive addition, both literally and figuratively, out of high school. Evans ranked as high as the No. 11 prospect in the nation according to Rivals, and was the No. 39 player in the 2023 cycle according to the 247Sports Composite.
Once on campus, the Riverside, Calif. native displayed his longterm potential, but was still an incredibly raw prospect. Evans played in the first seven games of the 2023-24 season, five of which were starts, totaling 11 points, six rebounds and five blocks.
Then, after missing the next six games due to what was only described as a shoulder injury, Louisville announced on Jan. 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 announced in a statement. “We are disappointed by the news and will not be releasing any additional information out of respect for Dennis’ privacy.”
With Louisville seeing all 12 scholarship players depart the program following the firing of head coach Kenny Payne, they are in line to return just walk-on guard Hercy Miller from last season. But since new head coach Pat Kelsey’s hiring on Mar. 28, he and his staff have hit the ground running out on the recruiting trail, landing eight transfer commitments so far in this cycle.
Reyne Smith and James Scott are both following Kelsey from Charleston, while 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 Chucky Hepburn are also joining the fold.
