UNC Basketball: Anthony Harris season review

Anthony Harris had a season that was unfair by any measure. The freshman guard battled his way back from a knee injury that sidelined him at the beginning of the season, forced into action by the injury to Cole Anthony and nearly everyone else. Unfortunately, the back end of his season was cut short as well by a torn ACL in the final non-conference game against Yale.

Despite the bookending injuries, the flashes of promise that Harris showed in just five games of work gives everyone reason to be optimistic about his return. In what is obviously a small sample size relative to others, Harris was fifth on the team in points per game with 6.8. Putting any stock in that ranking might be unfair to the likes of Leaky Black and Christian Keeling, but it does show the effectiveness Harris had when he was on the court.

In those five games, Harris shot 55% from the field and 43% from three. All the caveats apply here because of the limited number of games, but there was an obvious reason for optimism before the knee injury shut his season down prematurely.

The biggest thing to keep an eye on will be how Harris recovers from here. He’s now had significant injuries to both knees in the last two years, but hopefully he’s able to make a full recovery sooner rather than later. Having him as an option going forward would be a big boost to Roy Williams’ arsenal of guards for next season and beyond.