Louisville F Brandon Huntley-Hatfield Out vs. North Carolina

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When Louisville takes the floor against ACC foe North Carolina in an attempt to secure their first conference win of the season, they will be doing so without one of their starting

Starting forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield will not be available for today's contest against the Tar Heels due to an undisclosed injury, the school announced prior to the matchup. Forward J.J. Traynor will start in his place.

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.

Tipoff between the Cardinals (2-15, 0-6 ACC) and Tar Heels (11-6, 3-3 ACC) is set for 2:00 p.m. EST on ESPN.

(Photo of Brandon Huntley-Hatfield: Matt Stone - Louisville Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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