March 20, 2026, 1:11 p.m. ET
Louisville will make its March Madness journey with out reserve guard Skylar Jones.
Cardinals coach Jeff Walz introduced on Friday, March 20, that Jones, a junior, is now not with the crew and won’t play in any video games for them within the Women’s NCAA Tournament. Her bio page has been scrubbed from Louisville’s athletics website.
“She will not be participating,” Walz mentioned. “She’s no longer with the team, so we’ve just parted ways. It’s best for both parties.”
A Chicago native, Jones transferred to Louisville final season after spending the primary two years of her collegiate profession at Arizona. She turned a key piece of the Cardinals’ backcourt rotation, that includes in each recreation for the Cardinals and rating seventh on the crew with 16.6 minutes performed per recreation.
Jones additionally averaged 8.4 factors, 2.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.5 steals per recreation. She had a handful of spectacular scoring performances, placing up 21 factors in a win over Colorado, 17 in an additional time victory at North Carolina State, 20 in a win over Ball State and 13 in a loss to Connecticut. Jones scored within the double figures 15 occasions this season.
Her taking part in time had diminished just lately, as she performed simply 5 minutes within the common season finale in opposition to Notre Dame, seven minutes in an ACC Tournament win over North Carolina and 4 minutes within the ACC title recreation loss to Duke.
“I think if you go back to the past month, it’s really not going to change much,” Walz mentioned of his guard rotation with out Jones. “We have plenty of players. I mean, at this time of year, look what Siena men did with five (players). You’re just putting your best ones out there. Unless they’re in foul trouble or they’re about to just keel over and die because they’re exhausted, you keep playing them. It’s not like you’re saving them for the next game.”
Louisville has had among the finest scoring benches within the nation this season, led by ACC Sixth Player of the Year Imari Berry who averages 11.2 factors, 4.8 rebounds and a pair of.7 assists per recreation.
The No. 3-seed Cardinals face 14-seed Vermont within the first spherical of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, Marh 21 at midday ET on ESPN.
