Louisville basketball loses fourth player to NCAA Transfer Portal

With Kenny Payne now the head coach at Louisville, players are deciding whether or not to return to the Cardinals’ program for the 2022-2023 season or enter their names into the NCAA Transfer Portal.

While three players under former head coach Chris Mack have already publicly announced that they’re coming back to Louisville to play for Payne, four other players have decided to take the portal route – with the latest addition being guard Noah Locke, per On3’s Matt Zenitz and Jamie Shaw.

Locke, a 6-foot-3 guard, averaged 9.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game for the Cardinals last season after transferring from Florida – where he put up 10.6 points per game in 2020-2021.

A Baltimore, Maryland native, Locke joins Louisville teammates Gabe Wiznitzer, Samuell Williamson and Matt Cross in the transfer portal.

LOOK: Mike James makes decision on future with Cardinals

Louisville men’s basketball and new head coach Kenny Payne received some good news on Monday, as former four-star freshman guard/forward Mike James announced his decision to return to the Cardinals’ program for the 2022-2023 season.

“Back and Better Card Nation,” James wrote on his Twitter page, which was accompanied with a graphic that read, “The Comeback.”

Back and Better Card Nation❤️⏳ pic.twitter.com/HY9HskwjGn

— 𝓜𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓙𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓼✞ (@MichaelToReal0) April 4, 2022

James – a highly-touted On3 Consensus four-star prospect coming out of Oak Ridge High School in Orlando, Florida – was expected to play a big role for Louisville as a true freshman before suffering a torn Achilles tendon in practice on Oct. 6, 2021 that resulted in him missing the entire 2021-2022 season.

James, who averaged 19.4 points and 10.8 rebounds per game as a senior in high school, joins forward Sydney Curry and guard El Ellis as Cardinals’ players to announce a return for next season under first-year head coach Kenny Payne.