Sencire Harris is known for his abilities on the defensive end of the floor. But it wasn’t always that way.
The 6-foot-4 transfer guard admittedly struggled on defense early in his high school career until the coaching staff at St. Vincent-St. Mary put him in drills during his sophomore season where he was forced to guard everybody on the team the full length of the court.
Something about that just clicked with his overall athletic profile.
“And I struggled a couple of days. It was every day after practice and then after that it became natural,” he said. “And then it just fed me to guard everybody now.”
Harris, who transferred to West Virginia this past off-season after two seasons at Illinois, has now fully embraced how he can impact the game on the defensive end of the floor. A plus on-ball defender, Harris has the size, length, and willingness to create problems for opposing guards.
“I’d say very passionate about guarding the ball,” he said.
The biggest reason for his success on that end is the confidence that he carries. Harris comes into every game believing that he is going to shut down the opposing offensive player all night and understands that’s one of the things he can bring to the table to help his team have success.
He showed that during his freshman season at Illinois and has done that thus far in Morgantown so the coaching staff can rely on him to make things difficult for opponents.
“Even though we break down film on them, I break down film myself and find their go-to moves and all of that,” he said. “I study myself on that side of the ball.”
But there’s more to his game than just his defense. Harris spent last season redshirting at Illinois, a choice that he made himself in order to further develop his offensive game. He played in 33 games as a freshman, starting seven, and averaged 3.7 points per game and 2.1 rebounds per game to go with 27 steals and 11 blocks making the decision an interesting one in today’s college basketball.
But with so many older players on the roster, Harris saw the big picture as he spent the year working with now West Virginia associate head coach Chester Frazier when he was with Illinois.
“I wanted to be more than just a defensive guy,” he said. “…And I just think I took that time to expand my game on the scout team and just keep building myself to have more confidence in my game.”
That is one area that has continued to improve, and he believes that he has a skill set that can make an impact there as well.
“I can get to the bucket. I can create for others. When I drive the ball, I’m always bringing two to the ball so it’s always an open defender and making teams play in rotation,” Harris said. “And hitting open shots when they come to me. I’m not going to be on the ball necessarily this year but when the ball comes to me being able to hit open shots for my teammates.”
Now in Morgantown with a fresh start, Harris wants to showcase those improvements on both ends of the floor for a West Virginia team that is looking to surprise in year one under head coach Darian DeVries.
“It helped unlock some things that I could work on myself,” he said.
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