Former Louisville Forward Jae’Lyn Withers Commits to North Carolina

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Another former member of the Louisville men’s basketball program has found their new home, and they’re staying in the ACC.

Forward Jae’Lyn Withers announced Tuesday that he has committed to North Carolina. He is the second former Cardinal to find his new transfer home, following Kamari Lands’ commitment to Arizona State.

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 in Payne's first season at the helm. On top of Withers and Lands, the Cardinals also lost leading scorer El Ellis, Devin Ree, Fabio Basili, Sydney Curry, Roosevelt Wheeler to the transfer portal.

Conversely, Payne and his staff have been hard at work attempting to bring in fresh talent for next season. So far this offseason, Louisville has landed five-star 2023 center Dennis Evans, former Illinois guard Skyy Clark and five-star 2023 reclass wing Trentyn Flowers. They are 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.

(Photo of Jae'Lyn Withers: Brett Davis - USA TODAY Sports)

You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleReport
Twitter - @UofLReport
Instagram - @louisville_report

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter

Add us as a preferred source on Google