Aly Khalifa was reluctant to give basketball a try as a kid growing up in Alexandria, Egypt.

His older sister, Nesma, fell in love with the game first and had to badger him to take the court.

When he finally did, his life changed forever. If you would have told him then all the places he'd go — and that he would become only the second member of his family to graduate from college — he would have said, "You're lying."

Now, he's basking in "a dream come true" and trying to pay it forward.

Khalifa arrives in Louisville from BYU next month as perhaps the most intriguing player new Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey has landed yet through the NCAA transfer portal. The buzz surrounding the 6-foot-11, 270-pound junior center is a mixture of what he has been and what he could be.

Khalifa's cerebral playmaking ability has earned him a nickname, "The Egyptian Magician." During his lone season with the Cougars, who were led by new Kentucky coach Mark Pope, he finished second on the team in assists with 115 and turned the ball over only 32 times.

His 3.6 assist-turnover ratio was the best in the Big 12 and among all Division I bigs.

It'll be a while before Khalifa dons a U of L uniform, though. He will redshirt the 2024-25 season to undergo, and rehab from, surgery to repair a hole in the cartilage of his left knee; which he said has been bothering him since his collegiate career began at Charlotte.

His goals while sidelined are simple: get healthy, get into the best shape of his life with strength coach Eli Foy and return for the 2025-26 campaign as the best possible version of himself. While he's doing all of that, Kelsey has asked him to be a leader and to impart his basketball acumen to his teammates on an overhauled roster.

It'll be good practice for someone who wants to pursue coaching when his playing days are over.

"I want to help this team win," Khalifa said, "no matter what I do."

Khalifa entered the portal April 12 — the same day Pope was formally named John Calipari's successor at his alma mater. He said he did so with a do-not-contact tag because he "didn't want any other schools to bother me" unless he initiated the conversation.

Returning to BYU was in consideration; as was following his former coach to Kentucky.

Khalifa said he loved his time in Provo, Utah, with Pope and his staff and appreciated the care they took in managing his workload to account for his knee injury. But he also said he "wanted to explore my other options;" because an examination after the season ended led doctors to recommend he undergo surgery as soon as possible to avoid the injury hindering his career in the long term.

This is where his connections to Louisville entered the picture. They're so strong his agent decided to gauge Kelsey's interest in adding a big for the future. He committed the day of his visit, April 18.

"It was special," Khalifa said. "I just felt like, 'I'm home.'"

Khalifa's guardian in the United States is Ahmed Awadallah, a U of L graduate who serves on its alumni board. Awadallah, a fellow Egyptian who for years has worked closely with Basketball Africa League, helped bring Emmanuel Okorafor and Anas Mahmoud to the Cards.

Having played together in spurts on Egypt's national team, Khalifa and Mahmoud are close, too.

Then, there's assistant Michael Cassidy. Khalifa said he played a big role in his development as a passer as his coach at the NBA Global Academy in Canberra, Australia. One of his teammates there was Reyne Smith, an Aussie sharpshooter who was Kelsey's first U of L commit after three years of playing for him at Charleston.

Because of his bonds with Cassidy and Smith, Khalifa found himself tuning in to Charleston games when he could while at Charlotte and BYU. He liked what he saw, especially Kelsey's energy on the sideline.

"He's going to help me a lot, just developing myself as a human and as a player," Khalifa said. "I'm really excited."

He was so excited that, the day after he committed, he contacted new teammate James Scott, a 6-11 freshman who is following Kelsey from Charleston, and told him he wants to be his mentor while recovering from his knee surgery.

"I told him, 'We're going to get to work. I'll be with you all year,'" Khalifa said.

Kelsey's offense — with Cassidy serving as a coordinator of sorts — runs a lot like Pope's. Both schemes move fast, demand sharp passing and emphasize high-percentage shots.

In spite of his "bum knee," Khalifa fit in pretty well at BYU, which ranked 14th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 18th overall on KenPom.com. He said he pushed himself to play through it after one teammate went down with a hamstring injury in the early going.

"I was doing conditioning only on the bike," he said. "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."

Assists aside, Khalifa's 2023-24 stats won't blow you away: 5.7 points per game on 38.6% shooting — 29 for 92 (31.5%) from 3-point range — with 3.7 rebounds across 19.4 minutes per contest. He scored 10 or more points on only three occasions and went scoreless in the Cougars' season-ending loss to Duquesne in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

When his facilitating was taken into account, however, Khalifa ranked among the 35 most-impactful players in the country on offense, per college hoops statistician Evan Miyakawa's advanced analytics.

Pope in January lauded Khalifa's "processing speed" during an interview with BYU Sports Nation and said it's something that's hard to develop in players.

"You can always help people a little bit," the coach said, "but Aly just sees this game at a different speed than all the rest of us."

Where does that ability come from? Khalifa said he understood at a young age that he would never be the fastest or the most athletic guy on the court. But, if he dedicated himself to studying the game, he could be the smartest.

He devours film and has even learned how to cut it himself through friendships with staffers at Charlotte and BYU. While they worked, he'd ask them for tips on everything from drawing up plays to navigating the recruiting trail.

The way he sees it, he'll need to know how to do it all if he wants to coach a team of his own one day. His desire to do so can be traced all the way back to his sister, who played collegiately at Cincinnati and now works for the Basketball Africa League.

Without her early encouragement and instruction, who knows. He'd probably still be sitting on the sideline.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Aly Khalifa feels at 'home' with Louisville basketball, Pat Kelsey