Louisville basketball secured its first win of the 2026-27 season, but before the season tipped off, the Cardinals got a crushing injury update. Louisville made some big-time moves this offseason, adding 11 players, including eight transfers from the Transfer Portal.
3 bold predictions for the Louisville Cardinals 2026-27 season
Leading up to the Cardinals' second exhibition game, UofL fans learned that one of their transfers, Gabe Dyne, will be sidelined for at least four months with a shoulder injury. Well, unfortunately, that isn’t the only injury update heading into the 2026-27 season, as just moments before tip-off, Cardinals fans learned that 4-star transfer and key bench piece De'Shayne Montgomery will also miss at least a month of basketball due to injury.
De'Shayne Montgomery is out with a foot injury
Louisville fans have been eagerly waiting for this upcoming season, and a big reason is the haul Kelsey brought in from the Transfer Portal. A lot of the attention, of course, went to Flory Bidunga, Jackson Shelstad, and Karter Knox, but one key addition was Montgomery.
However, Louisville fans will have to wait for Montgomery to make his official debut, as it was reported Monday that the 4-star transfer from Dayton will be out for 4-6 weeks with a foot injury.
“He is a really good player,” Kelsey said of Montgomery after the Cardinals' 84-70 win over Chattanooga. “Other guys have to step up. Next-man-up mentality. Other guys have, and they will.”
Louisville’s De’Shayne Montgomery is expected to be out 4-6 weeks with a foot injury, per release.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) November 2, 2026
Montgomery comes to Louisville from Dayton and was one of their top transfer additions. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard ranked as high as No. 129 overall and No. 11 among combo guards in the Transfer Portal.
This is his fourth season in college basketball, and his fourth team, as he started at Mount St. Mary’s, then transferred to Georgia, then Dayton, and now Louisville. Through his three seasons, he has made a name for himself as an elite two-way player, and he showed that in Louisville’s three exhibition games.
In all three games, he scored 10 points or more, including the first, where he led Louisville in scoring with 20 points in their win over the summer in the Bahamas. He is an athletic guard who can space the floor and shoot from beyond the arc, making 83 3-pointers his freshman season on 41.2% shooting and 71 3-pointers this past season with Dayton on 33.5% shooting from downtown.
On top of his scoring ability, he is known as a physical guard who can force turnovers. He averaged 1.7 steals per game his freshman season, 1.1 his sophomore year, and a career-high 2.1 last year. There is a lot to look forward to with Montgomery, as he emerges as a clear X-factor off the bench for Kelsey, and this injury certainly hurts the Cardinals, as he will miss some major games.
But, as Kelsey said, it is a next-man-up mentality, and hopefully the Dayton transfer can get healthy and be ready and 100% in December or 2027.
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