Men’s basketball senior guard Jamir Harris announced Tuesday via Twitter that he would be transferring to Seton Hall. As a graduate transfer, Harris is eligible to play immediately next season and will have two years left of eligibility to play for the Big East school.
Harris entered the transfer portal on March 15 and heard from schools, like Kansas State, Arkansas and Stanford, before choosing Seton Hall. Located in his home state of New Jersey, the Pirates also secured a commitment from Harris’ younger brother JaQuan Harris, a current high school junior and three-star recruit, according to 247sports.
“For me, there’s no place like home, having the chance to come back home and play in front of my friends and family,” the elder Harris brother said in an interview with his younger brother on “The Front Office” Tuesday. “I feel like my entire college career I’ve been away from home [and] having the opportunity to come to the Big East conference, back to a major conference where I started, and to do so at home was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up.”
He will join a Seton Hall team that hopes to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2018-19 and after it had made the Big Dance for four straight seasons. Harris’s stellar outside shot is sorely needed at Seton Hall, as it finished toward the bottom of the conference in 3-point shooting during Big East conference play.
After transferring from Minnesota and sitting out his first year at AU due to NCAA transfer rules, Harris had two productive seasons as a guard for the Eagles. In a supporting role next to long time friend Sa’eed Nelson, Harris broke the school’s single-season record for free-throw shooting percentage in a season, knocking down 93.2 percent of his free-throws in the 2019-20 season, while also flashing his stellar 3-point shooting ability as he led the Patriot League in 3-point percentage during conference play.
While his first season at AU was impressive, Harris truly shined in his second and ultimately last season as an Eagle. Stepping up in the wake of the departures from Nelson and two other seniors — and playing through a chaotic season plagued by multiple starts and stops — Harris was named First Team All-Patriot League, averaging 20.5 points and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 43.8 percent from 3-point range. He also led the nation in threes made per game at 3.9.
While the scoring stats were impressive, Harris was also one of the vocal leaders for the Eagles during the turbulent 2021 season, and developed into an all-around player in the eyes of men’s basketball head coach Mike Brennan.
“Our team does a good job of moving the ball and trying to get him his looks,” head coach Mike Brennan said after the Eagles’ Feb. 28 victory over Bucknell. “And then he does a good job of moving the ball and cutting and not just being a one-dimensional, guardable guy. He’s done a good job, and when they do check him, he’s going by them now and he’s making plays … He’s quickly becoming the complete player that I thought he could be.”
Now, after two years as an Eagle, Harris is looking forward to leaving a mark on the Seton Hall program individually and with his family.
“It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” Harris said in the “The Front Office” interview. “Seton Hall is definitely a powerhouse in New Jersey, and I knew that being a part of that would be special for me. And just the fact that JaQuan felt the same way… everything just fell into place. It’s the perfect time to go on this journey together.”
This is the second straight year that the Eagles will have to replace a high-scoring guard and senior leader in their rotation. With Colin Smalls and Lorenzo Donadio back for their sophomore seasons and a commitment from guard Elijah Stephens, the 2021-22 season may end up as a transition year for the AU men’s basketball team and its backcourt.
