Aly Khalifa, who played for Mark Pope at BYU, commits to Louisville basketball via portal
The rivalry is on between Louisville men's basketball head coach Pat Kelsey and Kentucky's new leader, Mark Pope.
The Cardinals on Thursday landed a transfer commitment from Aly Khalifa, who in his lone season playing for Pope at BYU was the best passing center in the country.
There's a catch, though. The 6-foot-11, 270-pound Egyptian plans to redshirt during the 2024-25 season.
In reporting Khalifa's entry into the NCAA transfer portal last week, Jeff Hansen of Cougar Sports Insider, a 247Sports affiliate that covers BYU, said the junior big man played on "a hurt knee that could require offseason surgery."
Khalifa visited U of L on Thursday. It was one of his three options for his final year of eligibility; the others being following Pope to Lexington or returning to the Cougars for another go-around.
Khalifa is Kelsey's fifth transfer addition to a haul that was seventh on 247Sports' national rankings before his pledge.
He joins Colorado senior guard J'Vonne Hadley, James Madison wing Terrence Edwards Jr., a redshirt junior, and two players from Kelsey's final Charleston team — junior guard Reyne Smith and freshman forward James Scott.
The Athletic considered Khalifa the 129th-best transfer available as of Wednesday, although the news of his redshirting could affect his stock.
An Alexandria, Egypt, native, Khalifa appeared in 29 games (26 starts) for BYU during the 2023-24 season, his first with the Cougars. Combined with the two years he spent at Charlotte, he has appeared in 94 games at the Division I level, starting all but four.
As a junior, he averaged 5.7 points per game on 38.6% shooting — 29 for 92 (31.5%) from 3-point range — and grabbed 3.7 rebounds across 19.4 minutes per contest.
His best game of the 2023-24 season from a scoring standpoint was his 21-point performance during a Jan. 20 loss to Texas Tech. From an all-around standpoint, it was when he had 14 points, seven rebounds and as many assists to help BYU upset then-No. 11 Baylor on Feb. 20 in Provo, Utah.
What stands out the most about Khalifa's game is his playmaking ability. It's a big reason why college hoops statistician Evan Miyakawa's formulas rated him among the 35 most-impactful players in the country on the offensive end.
Khalifa finished second on the team in assists with 115, averaging right under four per game, and turned the ball over just 32 times. That gave him the best assist-turnover ratio (3.6) in the Big 12 — and the best in the country for a center.
"We talk about processing speed all the time," Pope said during an interview with BYU Sports Nation in January. "I don't really know how to coach processing speed and make huge inroads. You can always help people a little bit; but Aly just sees this game at a different speed than all the rest of us."
BYU finished the 2023-24 season with a 23-11 (10-8 Big 12) record and reached the NCAA Tournament for just the second time dating back to 2016. As a No. 6 seed, the Cougars were upset by No. 11 Duquesne in the first round.
Khalifa was held scoreless, with only two rebounds and an assist, across 16 minutes of run in March Madness.
U of L will be Khalifa's third stop in his collegiate career; which began with him being named Conference USA Freshman of the Year during the 2021-22 season at Charlotte.
Across his three DI seasons, he's averaging 8.5 points per game on 47% shooting (35.3% from 3) to go along with 4.8 rebounds, a 2.2 assist-turnover ratio while playing 24.3 minutes per contest.
Khalifa prepped for the college game at NBA Global Academy in Canberra, Australia. One of Kelsey's assistants, Michael Cassidy, is an Aussie with ties to the program; which is located in his hometown.
As of Thursday, all of the Cards' scholarship players from the 2023-24 season had entered the portal, which is open through May 1.
At the time of publication, four had found new homes: Skyy Clark (UCLA), Tre White (Illinois), JJ Traynor (DePaul) and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (N.C. State).
Aly Khalifa highlights: Watch Louisville basketball transfer portal commit
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Aly Khalifa commits to Louisville basketball over UK, Mark Pope
