Tennessee Transfer Forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield Commits to Louisville
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program has officially landed their first commitment of the Kenny Payne era.
Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, a former Tennessee forward and top-five recruit coming out of high school, announced Sunday that he has committed to Louisville. He chose the Cardinals over Auburn, SMU, Arizona State and Wake Forest.
“The connections Coach KP has is amazing and I genuinely feel like he’s being honest with me," he told On3's Joe Tipton. "Whilst he was at Kentucky, he recruited & developed so many guys like me… guys that are where I ultimately want to get one day. I feel like he can help me in multiple ways.”
Huntley-Hatfield had a minor role with the Volunteers through the first three months of the 2021-22 season. However, with Olivier Nkamhoua suffering a season-ending injury, the true freshman was inserted into the starting rotation for the final 13 games of the season.
He averaged 3.9 points and 3.0 rebounds per game on 45.4 percent shooting for the entire season, but some of his better performances came in the postseason. In three SEC Tournament and two NCAA Tournament games, the freshman tallied 6.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game while shooting 50.0 percent.
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.
With Huntley-Hatfield's commitment, Louisville likely solidifies their front court for the 2022-23 season. Projected starters Jae'Lyn Withers and Sydney Curry confirmed they would be returning, as did backups J.J. Traynor and Roosevelt Wheeler.
Adding in El Ellis and Mike James, the Cardinals have just six scholarship players returning for next year. Eight players from last season's 13-19 team either entered the transfer portal or graduated.
Fortunately, Kenny Payne has been hard at work behind the scenes trying to build Louisville's roster for his first year at the helm. '22 commit Devin Ree recently took a visit and subsequently set a commitment date of May 2, and several other high school prospects and D1 transfers have been contacted by Payne.
(Photo of Brandon Huntley-Hatfield: Calvin Mattheis - News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK)
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