A day after Tennessee basketball fell to Florida Atlantic in the Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden, four-star shooting guard Juke Harris committed to Wake Forest over Tennessee. Before the Vols lost to Florida Atlantic, Rick Barnes’ staff thought there was a good chance that they were going to land Harris a day later.
While the Vols’ pursuit of Harris out of Salisbury High School was unsuccessful, the effort did not come in vain. After blossoming into an All-ACC contributor in two years at Wake Forest, Harris entered the transfer portal and landed at Tennessee. One of the top players in the portal, Harris chose the Vols over Michigan, Louisville and North Carolina.
Tennessee’s pursuit of Harris three years prior played a real part in the Vols landing the highly touted transfer guard.
“I think it played a huge factor into it (my commitment),” Harris said on The Mike Keith Show on Thursday. “I gained a true relationship with Coach Barnes. It’s crazy. I think him and Coach Forbes, those two head coaches are coaches I consider that I have so much love for. So when it came to the entering the portal, Coach Barnes was on me heavy. Coach Bryan Lentz was on me heavy. The whole program.”
Harris visited Michigan the first week after the season ended, taking in the national championship parade in Ann Arbor. Many viewed Michigan as the favorite to land Harris.
More From RTI: How Rick Barnes Separated Himself From Other Coaches in Juke Harris’ Portal Recruitment
But Rick Barnes and his staff went to Salisbury for an in-home visit shortly after Harris returned from his Michigan visit and were able to turn the tide in his recruitment. Barnes built a relationship not only with Harris but also with his mother.
Building relationships is extremely difficult in the rapidly moving transfer portal. Having a pre-existing relationship with Harris and his family, made it much easier to lean on trust as the Vols’ courted the star transfer.
“I feel like the relationship I built with Coach Barnes, I knew coming into this time in the transfer portal, I felt like that was going to be a big thing with me,” Harris said. “I’m a real family, loyal-type guy. So whenever I feel like someone genuinely cares for me outside of the basketball aspect of it, it’s kind of hard to look away. And it shows a whole bunch of light on them.
“So I think Rick Barnes and the whole coaching staff did that, especially from me not even choosing them out of high school, and they had the same love for me when I didn’t choose them. So I felt like it was the right choice to choose them this time.”
Harris comes to Tennessee coming off a season where he averaged 21.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. He shot 44% from the field, 33% from three-point range and 78% from the foul line. In Knoxville, he joins a talented backcourt including VCU transfer Terrence Hill Jr, Cal transfer Dai Dai Ames, Belmont transfer Tyler Lundblade and Notre Dame transfer Jalen Haralson.
