Anthony Harris, a North Carolina transfer, and Nigeria’s KC Nwafor join URI

Monday simply might need introduced an finish to this offseason’s roster makeover on the College of Rhode Island. 

Anthony Harris and KC Nwafor each dedicated to the Rams inside a 24-hour interval. Harris posted his announcement on his private Instagram web page whereas a URI supply confirmed Nwafor’s pledge to The Journal. 

Harris is a North Carolina switch and former top-100 prospect who affords but another choice within the URI backcourt. Nwafor is prepping in New Zealand and will be a part of the Rams both for the second semester subsequent season or on the outset of the 2023-24 marketing campaign.  

Harris is the fourth participant secured by assistant coach Kenny Johnson and the seventh newcomer total for the 2022-23 crew. Nwafor was recruited by Johnson and fellow assistant Austin Carroll. He would signify the primary future dedication underneath Archie Miller since his March hiring. 

Anthony Harris’ basketball profession

Harris was restricted to simply 35 video games over elements of three seasons in Chapel Hill attributable to harm and tutorial considerations. He’s suffered a pair of ACL tears since late in his prep profession and didn’t seem once more in 2021-22 attributable to off-court considerations after enjoying 16 minutes in a Jan. 8 win over Virginia. Harris notched double-digit minutes off the bench in 20 of his final 24 video games with the Tar Heels. 

Harris entered the NCAA switch portal in April and had visits with the Rams and Central Florida. The Golden Knights have been amongst a bunch of faculties that recruited the 6-foot-4 guard out of Paul VI Catholic Excessive. Harris additionally ran on the Nike grassroots circuit with Group Takeover. 

Harris was initially dedicated to Virginia Tech however determined to reopen his recruitment when coach Buzz Williams departed for Texas A&M. He in the end chosen North Carolina forward of affords from Indiana, Florida, Florida State, Louisville, Xavier, Georgetown, Ohio State, West Virginia, Miami, Connecticut and extra. Miller, the present Rams coach, was halfway by his four-year stint with the Hoosiers when he began recruiting Harris in 2018.  

URI males’s basketball picks up one other dedication:Former Wichita State ahead Josaphat Bilau

The Tar Heels wound up bringing in a adorned class for that 2019-20 marketing campaign. Harris joined one-and-done guard Cole Anthony and massive man Armando Bacot, one other Virginia native who was the breakout star of the latest NCAA Event. North Carolina was the runner-up to Kansas in New Orleans, dropping a 72-69 thriller. 

Harris makes it 4 perimeter additions for URI, becoming a member of George Washington switch Brayon Freeman, Seton Corridor switch Brandon Weston and wing Louis Hutchinson. The Rams even have commitments from a trio of frontcourt gamers in junior school switch Josaphat Bilau, Jeremy Foumena and Rory Stewart. URI retained guard Ishmael Leggett and wing Malik Martin after their very own entries into the switch portal. 

“There’s a necessity for them,” Miller stated final week at a charity occasion off campus — he didn’t handle any recruits by identify per NCAA guidelines. “There’s an affect on the market that may be made by gamers who select to return right here.  

“Slowly however absolutely we’re piecing it collectively. We actually tried very, very onerous to usher in guys who might work with us for a number of years.” 

KC Nwafor’s basketball profession

Nwafor has represented Nigeria on the worldwide stage — he is ending a level at Rotorua Boys Excessive. He’s earned a number of alternatives to the Steven Adams Excessive College Invitational Camp, which was based by the nine-year NBA veteran and Rotorua native. Nwafor was the slam dunk champion on the Nationwide Secondary Colleges 3×3 match in 2021. 

Nwafor is a 6-foot-7 ahead who might enroll with URI after first semester or grow to be its first Class of 2023 member. The Rams would want to maintain an open scholarship for Nwafor to hitch them in December, and they’d nonetheless have one remaining after the Harris dedication. URI might additionally push Nwafor’s arrival to subsequent September and discover its choices — a graduate switch for one yr or just ready for one more opening to shake out through commencement, switch or in any other case.   

bkoch@providencejournal.com    

On Twitter: @BillKoch25