Brandon Huntley-Hatfield Suffered Foot Injury, Louisville 'Waiting' for Information on Severity

The starting forward for the Cardinals was forced to miss Saturday's game against North Carolina.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville men's basketball starting forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield was forced to miss Saturday's game against North Carolina due to an injury, and it's still unknown as to how long he will be on the bench.

Following the Cardinals' 80-59 loss to the Tar Heels, head coach Kenny Payne revealed that it was a foot injury that sidelined Huntley-Hatfield, and that they were hoping to know more about his status "in the next day or so."

"I'm still waiting on more information," Payne said. "I know that it's a foot injury or something. Hopefully in the next day or so, we'll get more information. We could've used him today. We got out-rebounded 40-31, and he is a big kid that can rebound the ball. We missed him out there today."

Coming over from Tennessee this past offseason after spending his first year at the collegiate level with the Volunteers, the 6-foot-10, 250-pound big man has displayed flashes of brilliance up to this point of the season. Starting all 17 games, he leads Louisville in rebounding at 6.0 boards per game, with his 7.5 points per game coming in at fourth, and his 47.6 shooting percentage trailing only Sydney Curry's amongst players who average double-digit minutes played per game.

Huntley-Hatfield had a minor role at Tennessee through the first three months of the 2021-22 season, but was inserted into the starting rotation for the final 13 games of the season following a season-ending injury to Olivier Nkamhoua. He averaged 3.9 points and 3.0 rebounds per game on 45.4 percent shooting in his lone season with the Vols.

The Clarksville, Tenn. native was a five-star prospect coming out of high school, and ranked as the No. 26 player in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite. He was formerly the No. 4 player in the Class of 2022, according to ESPN, before reclassifying to 2021.

Louisville (2-16, 0-7 ACC) will be back in action on Wednesday, Jan. 18 to host Pitt (12-6, 5-2 ACC). Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Brandon Huntley-Hatfield: Jordan Prather - USA TODAY Sports)

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