Boyuan Zhang, 4-star wing, picks Louisville basketball, Pat Kelsey

Pat Kelsey did not have a freshman on Louisville basketball's 2026-27 roster when the calendar flipped to May.

Eleven days later, the Cardinals have a trio of first-year players on board.

Boyuan Zhang, a 6-foot-7 wing out of Veritas Academy in Garden Grove, California, became the latest to get in on the action when he announced his commitment to UofL on Monday to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. This pledge comes after he reportedly made a visit to campus that began Friday.

In addition to Louisville, Zhang also visited California, Illinois, Minnesota and Oregon.

Zhang moved to the United States before his senior year of high school. Averaging 27.6 minutes per appearance across 14 games at Veritas Academy, he finished second in Nike's EYBL Scholastic with 20.2 points on 40% shooting (27 for 92, 29%, from 3-point range) in addition to 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists.

Zhang has proven to be a better shooter from beyond the arc than his senior season would suggest. Representing China on the international circuit in 2024, he converted 41.8% (38 for 91) of his attempts from deep during the FIBA U17 World Cup and the FIBA U18 Asia Cup

During his most recent stint with China, in last year's FIBA U19 World Cup, Zhang averaged 14.7 points on 42.2% shooting (9 for 37, 24.3%, from 3) with 5.1 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.1 assists (against 1.9 turnovers) across 26.5 minutes per contest.

Zhang is the ninth new addition to the Cards' 2026-27 roster. He joins a pair of prospects who are reclassifying to enroll a year ahead of schedule — five-star center Obinna Ekezie Jr. and Overtime Elite record-setting guard Isaac Ellis — in the largest freshman class of Kelsey's tenure to date.

UofL had also secured six NCAA transfer portal commitments as of Monday: former Kansas big man ; former Oregon point guard ; former Arkansas wing ; former Iowa forward ; former USC center ; and former Dayton guard .