Scouting Louisville basketball's 2025-26 roster: Aly Khalifa

After leading Louisville basketball to one of the largest turnarounds in Division I history, Pat Kelsey built a 2025-26 roster that's garnering lofty expectations. This summer, The Courier Journal is taking a player-by-player look at the team, dissecting what each one will bring to the Cardinals. Up next: Aly Khalifa.

To catch up on previous entries in the series, click here.

They call Aly Khalifa the Egyptian Magician.

For his latest trick, the Louisville basketball center got the NCAA to reverse an eligibility ruling that would have ended his collegiate career before he ever had the chance to log a minute for Pat Kelsey and the Cardinals.

"It was very stressful," Khalifa told reporters July 16. "If I wasn't eligible, I didn't know what the next step (would have been); but I'm glad they got it right."

For his next trick, he'll try to stake his claim as one of the country's best all-around big men.

"(With) the work that he's put in all last year, all offseason," fellow redshirt senior Kobe Rodgers said, "he deserves a chance to get out there and show what he's got."

Khalifa, a 7-footer from Alexandria, Egypt, spent the 2024-25 season on the bench while recovering from surgery to repair a hole in the cartilage of his left knee — dropping roughly 50 pounds with the help of strength coach Eli Foy. Forget everything else you know about Kelsey's Year 2 roster for a moment; his cerebral playmaking ability alone should be worth the price of admission to the KFC Yum! Center.

"I haven't seen it before — besides (Nikola) Jokić," said freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr., comparing his teammate to a three-time NBA Most Valuable Player. "He's the closest thing to Jokić when it comes to passing.

"It's so easy to play with him; just being able to hit him at the top of the key and (knowing) he's going to make the right play every single time. It's truly a blessing to be able to play with him."

That's high praise from a floor general who knows a thing or two about facilitating the rock. Will Khalifa live up to the hype? Here's a breakdown of his game and what his role could be for the Cards in 2025-26:

Scouting report: Recapping Aly Khalifa's 2024-25 season

Let's start with what we saw from Khalifa during his junior season playing for Kentucky coach Mark Pope at BYU, then dive into his contributions off the court during Year 1 of the Kelsey era at Louisville.

Despite being limited by his knee injury, Khalifa appeared in 29 of the Cougars' 34 games during the 2023-24 campaign and, per BartTorvik.com, was one of only six high-major players with a plus-30% assist rate (32.6%) and a sub-17% turnover rate (16.8%). He led the Big 12 (and all DI centers) with a 3.6 assist-turnover ratio to go along with 5.7 points on 38.6% shooting (31.5% from 3-point range) and 3.7 rebounds across 19.4 minutes per contest.

"I was doing conditioning only on the bike," Khalifa told The Courier Journal in May 2024. "I didn't really practice as much; I would only do half-court stuff; I didn't run in practice. I didn't even run in (pregame) warmups, because it would make my knee worse."

Still, he made his team better — by nearly six points per 100 possessions, going off his Bayesian Performance Rating on EvanMiya.com, which ranked 58th across Division I. He also made a lasting impact on his coach.

"We talk about processing speed all the time," Pope told BYU Sports Nation during the 2023-24 season. "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. ... It's pretty incredible."

Khalifa already knows he wants to be a coach when his playing days are over. So, in addition to hitting the weight room hard with Foy, he soaked up every opportunity to learn from Kelsey and his staff while on the mend last season.

"Now I feel like, when I'm on the court, I really know what he wants," Khalifa said.

"I don't think people give him the credit that's due to him (for) the job he did with last year's team," Kelsey added. "Even though he wasn't on the floor, man, he was a coach; he was an extension of me. He was like the bigs whisperer, helping James Scott and those other guys, and (was) unbelievable in the locker room."

Khalifa was cleared to practice in mid-January, at which point he joined Louisville's scout team. Ahead of the Cards' game against Creighton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Kelsey quipped: "Sometimes, I get a little bit worried it hurts our guys' confidence; because he's picking us apart with backcuts and things like that."

It was a sneak peek at what's possible in 2025-26.

Aly Khalifa's 2025-26 outlook with Louisville basketball

It feels like a match made in heaven: Khalifa as the hub of Louisville's offense — dropping dimes to Kelsey's arsenal of sharpshooters and making life easier for Brown as he acclimates to the DI level.

"He gives us a very, very dangerous weapon," the coach said.

Now that he's cut weight — closer to where he was as an underclassman who averaged 26.5 minutes per appearance with Charlotte from 2021-23 — the Egyptian feels up for the challenge.

"My conditioning — that's the biggest (improvement) since the last time I played, when I was at BYU," Khalifa said. "I feel like we play a very fast pace here compared to my old school; so that's what I've been working toward: my cardio and the conditioning to be able to play for longer minutes without getting as tired — especially in coach Kelsey's offense and defense."

Putting in work 👍#GoCards x @Aly_khalifa15pic.twitter.com/x58ceQ9H74

— Louisville Men's Basketball (@LouisvilleMBB) June 5, 2025

We'll get a gauge of Khalifa's ability to clock meaningful shifts before the 2025-26 season tips off, when the Cards host Kansas in an Oct. 24 exhibition at the Yum! Center. But, given current the state of Kelsey's frontcourt, he already has a strong case for being the starter at the 5.

Scott, of course, hit the NCAA transfer portal and landed at Ole Miss after being one of only four U of L players to appear in all 35 games of the 2024-25 campaign. Kasean Pryor is working his way back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and will likely be eased into the swing of things out of the gate. Kelsey signed three bigs from the international ranks, Mouhamed Camara, Sananda Fru and Evangelos "Vangelis" Zougris; but they're still new to his system — let alone life in America.

The door is open for Khalifa to take control of the top spot on the depth chart, which might not mean much considering how many bodies it's going to take to play at Kelsey's desired pace. There's no denying that, with his deft passing, he brings something to the table that the rest of the bigs on the roster don't have. But he's admittedly not the most athletic or the most physical of the bunch.

"To be able to jump ball screens or drop ball screens and hit dudes down low and try to block them and be stronger; this is the biggest thing I'm excited for," Khalifa said. "I feel like it's what I've been working on this whole time.

"I know myself; I work hard," he later added. "I feel like this is going to be the biggest key I have."

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball roster 2025-26: Aly Khalifa scouting report