Jae'Lyn Withers on transferring from Louisville basketball, embracing new role at Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A lot has gone right for Jae'Lyn Withers after seemingly everything went wrong during his final season with the Louisville men's basketball team.

All he had to do was take the NCAA transfer portal home to the Tar Heel State.

Withers, a 6-foot-9, fifth-year forward from Charlotte, North Carolina, hasn't had this many loved ones showing up to his games since he was a junior at North Mecklenburg High School. He's playing considerably fewer minutes now than he did during U of L's disastrous 2022-23 campaign; but his new team, No. 3 UNC, throttled the Cardinals on Wednesday and appears primed for a deep NCAA Tournament run.

Withers posted his first double-double of the season, 15 points, 10 rebounds in a season-high 24 minutes, during North Carolina's 86-70 victory.

His reunion before tipoff at the Dean E. Smith Center with his former head coach, Kenny Payne, and teammates such as Brandon Huntley-Hatfield had been a long time coming. Their bond, he said, powered him through a 4-28 season that went down as Louisville's worst during the modern era.

"He'll always be one of our brothers," Huntley-Hatfield said. "He'll always have a special place in my heart."

But Withers said he needed a change of scenery. And now that he's settled in as a "glue guy" for North Carolina, it's full steam ahead for this "die-hard Tar Heel."

"It's been up and down, my collegiate career," said Withers, whose team improved to 14-3 (6-0 ACC) with Wednesday's victory, "so I think that this year (has been) extremely beneficial.

"It's always great to win; and I think that (has) brought back a lot of happiness that I had toward basketball."

Payne named Withers a captain of his inaugural U of L squad. As a redshirt junior, he started 29 of the Cards' 32 games, averaged 8.9 points and 5.3 rebounds across 25.2 minutes per contest and saw his 3-point percentage skyrocket from 23.4% in 2021-22 to 41.7%, which ranked first on the team and 90th in the country.

“He was really good for us throughout, (especially considering) the way our season went," Huntley-Hatfield said. "We all tip our hats to him."

Yet, Withers admittedly struggled with self-confidence as the losses piled up.

Payne, he said, provided him with resources to help keep his mental health in check and told him, "When you’re not in tune, whenever there’s self-doubt, you look different. You walk different; you act different. I don’t want to see that guy ever." He and his teammates built camaraderie by going out to eat at restaurants such as BJ's and El Nopal and were constantly in one another's ears "being as positive as possible."

Withers told The Courier Journal he "tried to stay bought in as much as I could and as long as I could." But when the season ended at the ACC Tournament, he said he was flooded with emotions and thoughts of greener pastures.

Thirteen days later, Withers became the sixth Louisville player to enter the transfer portal. His career with the Cards spanned 82 games (64 starts) between 2019-23, during which he averaged 7.9 points on 45.8% shooting (34.8% from 3) and 5.5 rebounds per contest.

North Carolina came calling; and head coach Hubert Davis' offer was too good to pass up.

"He's on a great team and deserves to be there," Payne said. "I wish him well — except for when we play him."

But before Withers could join UNC's quest to bounce back from missing March Madness for the first time since 2010, he said he needed some time to decompress from a taxing season.

So he took his four younger siblings to Carowinds, an amusement park at the North Carolina-South Carolina border, twice in one week and "let them run loose," enjoying as many rides as they could from "sunrise to sunset."

Withers' 62.7% minute share during his final run at U of L has been nearly cut in half this season. Entering Wednesday, he had played in 33.6% of North Carolina's available minutes through its first 16 games, averaging four points on 46.7% shooting (2 for 12 from 3) and 3.1 rebounds per contest.

As far as Davis is concerned, Withers has been "everything that I hoped for," a versatile forward who leads by example and brings experience, and the ability to guard every position, off the bench.

"He's just an unbelievable person," Davis told The Courier Journal. "He's a great teammate."

Payne has taken notice, too.

"His role has changed, and it seems like he's embraced it," he said. "He's active defensively, which he was here. He's understanding, and they're stressing to him, the importance of being a great rebounder. He's bought into that role. He flies out in transition. He's very good in the open court; and they've got a great transition team, which plays right into his hands."

But Withers said the transition wasn't easy.

"I (was) coming from a situation where I had to be one of the go-to options on the team and produce at a higher amount," he told The Courier Journal. "I think that it was tough to conform and understand that there are a lot more weapons — there's a lot more talent, and we have a lot more depth — here compared to when I was at Louisville, at least (during the 2022-23) season.

"It's really just been me understanding that, at the end of the day, the goal is to be on the court."

To earn playing time, Withers has had to embrace the "dirty work" — and advice from his two former head coaches.

As an underclassman under Chris Mack, he learned how to showcase his athleticism and how to defend with intensity. In one season under Payne, he sharpened his shooting mechanics and grew to understand exactly how hard one has to work to be a major contributor each game.

Now, all Davis has had to do is get him to bring that energy consistently.

"I wouldn't say that I have it all figured out," Withers said, "but I think that I, more or less, have a lot of the intangibles that are needed for competing at this level."

He's also been using the adversity he faced during the 2022-23 campaign as perspective, insisting to his new teammates that one loss is not "the end of the world. It's just one game." And, as for the people who helped him through the tough times, he's enjoying seeing Louisville make strides, no matter how small, in Year 2 under Payne.

"It's good to see that KP has a group of guys who are really competing and fighting to win every game any time they step on the court," Withers said. "And I think that it's great that the guys who were part of the team last season are having a little bit more success than the previous one."

What's next? Withers plans to keep riding this wave of success at North Carolina. He recently enrolled in a master's program — a mix of human development, psychology and sports science — and can return for one final go-around in 2024-25 due to a redshirt he received for sitting out his first season at U of L.

His biggest regret from his time with the Cards? Not participating in last year's senior night festivities with El Ellis and Sydney Curry before what proved to be his final game at the KFC Yum! Center.

"I think that that would have been really good for not only me but also for my family," Withers said. "Sadly, I can't go back in time. I just have to have one here."

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: Louisville basketball transfer Jae'Lyn Withers on new role at Carolina