Darius Perry transferring from Louisville

The guard will be eligible to play immediately somewhere else next season as a grad transfer.

Darius Perry will be playing his final season of college basketball somewhere other than Louisville.

Perry, a junior guard, confirmed Monday night that he has put his name into the NCAA transfer portal.

Perry came to Louisville expecting to play in Rick Pitino’s up-tempo, high-pressure system, a dream which never had a chance to be realized. Instead he played his freshman season for interim head coach David Padgett, and his next two seasons under Chris Mack, whose offensive and defensive philosophies never seemed to fit Perry.

Even so, Perry was a starter for the first half of his junior season, though his minutes began to dwindle following the emergence of freshman point guard David Johnson. He finished the season with modest averages of 5.2 points and 2.1 assists per game.

“We appreciate Darius’ contributions to the Louisville basketball program his first three years,” Mack said in the statement. “We wish him the best for his final year of college basketball as he will graduate in May.”

Perry’s departure means that Mack will now be looking to replace seven scholarship players from the 2019-20 team. Louisville has already signed three players for next season, but the most highly-touted among that group — top-rated Juco star Jay Scrubb — could opt to skip D-I ball altogether and enter the NBA draft.

It would seem extremely likely that U of L will be one of the most active players in the transfer market over the weeks to come.

As for Darius, he’ll have one year of eligibility remaining and will be able to play immediately wherever he goes. I’ll miss the intensity, I’ll miss the high-pressure defense, and I’ll definitely miss the bench antics.

Best of luck with whatever’s next, Darius.