LJ Wells will have a new basketball home this winter.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-8 forward, an Eau Claire Memorial alum, announced earlier this week via social media of his commitment to the Louisville Cardinals basketball team after spending four years at Northern Kentucky University.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an honor for sure,\u201d Wells told the Leader-Telegram. \u201cThis is a phenomenal program, so I\u2019m definitely super grateful to call myself a Louisville Cardinal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wells averaged 15.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.1 assists across 33 games started with the Norse last season.<\/p>\n
Wells was named to the Horizon League all-tournament team after averaging 22.3 points and 8.7 rebounds over three games in March. He started 16 of 32 games in 2024-25 as a junior and 27 of 33 as a sophomore, and he played in 18 games as a freshman.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I took a step each year,\u201d Wells said. \u201cNot even just like by the numbers, but like as a person as well. My biggest thing was consistency, and I worked on that, especially my senior year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was arguably NKU\u2019s best and most valuable player,\u201d Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey said via Wells\u2019 announcement. \u201cWe are excited to add someone like LJ that fits our culture perfectly. He\u2019s one of us before he even arrives.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the NCAA\u2019s implementation of a new age-based, five-year eligibility model, Wells was among a group of athletes who sought the right to play a fifth season from a Jefferson County court in Kentucky.<\/p>\n
Wells won his suit, granting him a temporary restraining order and a fifth year.<\/p>\n
With a little help from Norse coach Darrin Horn, who is friends with Kelsey, Wells found his way to the Cardinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cPat Kelsey had reached out to my agent, and so my agent told me, \u2018Hey, there might be some interest in Louisville,\u2019\u201d Wells said. \u201cI got on the phone with Pat Kelsey, and we were kind of talking through kind of the works of getting me down there if it was possibility (or) if I was interested.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a couple phone calls, and then the last phone call we had he asked me if I was ready to be a Cardinal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wells said it was convenient that Northern Kentucky is just over 100 miles away from Louisville. But, his decision was more focused on basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it\u2019s about getting better,\u201d Wells said. \u201cThere\u2019s some of the best players in the country on this team, and I figured if I have the opportunity to practice against these guys each day, that\u2019s only going to help me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cardinals are coming off a 24-11 season where they reached the second round of the NCAA tournament, a place Wells has his sights on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like everybody who plays basketball around March, they turn their TV on and hope that that can be them someday,\u201d Wells said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely super special to think that that can be me.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his high school days, Wells was a standout for the Old Abes under coach Chad Brieske.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am extremely proud of watching him grow into the man he has become,\u201d Brieske said. \u201cIt is exciting to see him achieve one of his dreams of playing basketball at the highest level of college basketball, but I am even more proud of him graduating with a college education and being a mentor to so many young kids in this area who have similar aspirations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wells, a 2022 Memorial grad, earned a high honorable mention on the Associated Press\u2019 all-state teams and second-team All-Northwest honors during his senior year with the Old Abes.<\/p>\n
He led Memorial in scoring (15.8 points per game) and rebounding (9.5 per game) and helped Memorial to a 13-1 in-conference record and its first Big Rivers Conference title in six years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely an honor to be able to inspire all the kids that love basketball (in Eau Claire) and show them that it\u2019s possible to do it from a smaller, underrated city, that it\u2019s still possible to reach your dreams in basketball,\u201d Wells said.<\/p>\n
Wells said he still talks to Brieske and the Old Abes program. He also said Brieske was elated of his commitment and hopes to make it to a game or two in Louisville.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a true success story of the importance that athletics can play in a well-rounded educational experience at Eau Claire Memorial,\u201d Brieske said. \u201cWe look forward to supporting him and the Louisville Cardinals this season. The ACC is an amazing basketball conference, and I love that LJ has the opportunity to play in that conference and push himself to be the best version of what he can be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LJ Wells will have a new basketball home this winter. The 6-foot-8 forward, an Eau Claire Memorial alum,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,231,772,5194,1544,7955,66],"class_list":["post-840574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-college-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaa-division-i-men","tag-ncaab","tag-pat-kelsey","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117310669727648758","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}