Louisville Center Aly Khalifa Wins Appeal, Eligible to Play 2025-26 Season

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Aly Khalifa will indeed get to play this upcoming season.

The Louisville men's basketball program announced Friday that the center has won his appeal after originally being deemed ineligible by the NCAA to play the 2025-26 season.

"University of Louisville men’s basketball student-athlete Aly Khalifa has been granted eligibility to compete in the 2025-26 academic year," the program said in a statement. "The University is grateful for the thoughtful consideration given to Aly’s circumstances through the NCAA process and we look forward to his return."

Khalifa's waiver to extend his eligibility clock and play for the upcoming 2025-26 season was originally denied by the NCAA back on May 15. Having played three on-court seasons in five years, Khalifa's waiver sought to extend his eligibility clock to six years. Under normal circumstances, student-athletes have five years to play four on-court seasons.

Louisville and Khalifa immediately filled a waiver in the wake of the decision, and even retained sports lawyer Darren Heitner as part of their appeal.

"Thank you to everyone at Louisville, from Coach Kelsey to Josh Heird and everyone in between, as well as Aly's amazing supporters," Heitner said on Twitter/X following the announcement of Khalifa's successful appeal. "The NCAA did the right thing on appeal. No one deserves this chance more than Aly."

The 6-foot-11, 250-pound center joined as transfer from BYU last offseason, but had to redshirt the 2024-25 season to rehab a knee injury. Khalifa, who previously played his first three years at Charlotte before spending a season with the Cougars, had also redshirted his true freshman campaign with the 49ers in 2020-21.

During his rehab process this past year, Khalifa lost nearly 50 pounds after weighing as much as 299 during his official visit in April of 2024. He was officially cleared to return to practice this past January, but still was unable to play the 2024-25 season.

"Being cleared to play, and being able to play at a high level (are different)," head coach Pat Kelsey said back in January. "They can give you a possession or two at a time. It's going to take them time to get stronger, 100 percent."

When healthy, Khalifa is one of the top playmaking big men in the nation. In 29 games and 26 starts with BYU during the 2023-24 season, he averaged 4.0 assists to just 1.1 turnovers per game, with his 3.59 assist-to-turnover ratio ranking seventh in D1. He also put up 5.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, and shot 38.6 percent from the field plus 31.5 percent on threes.

"Aly is one of the best passing big men in all of basketball," Kelsey said in a statement last summer. "His assist to turnover ratio is astonishingly positive. He plays the game with a level of intelligence and creativity that is rare to see. He's a high IQ player that has been well coached throughout his basketball career. Aly's unselfishness and passion for helping others extends off the court as well. He has a fantastic heart and a great way about him."

His best season came as a redshirt sophomore at Charlotte in 2022-23, when he averaged 11.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 34 starts. As a redshirt freshman with the 49ers, Khalifa was named the Conference USA Rookie of the Year after putting up 7.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 32 appearances and 30 starts.

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