During the hours when many students are still asleep or out enjoying leisure, LaMichael Harris can be found in the Activities Building with his team putting in long hours, sweat, and hard work.
Harris, business marketing freshman and forward for the IUS men’s basketball team, is a face that followers of the Grenadier basketball will see more of in the upcoming years.
“Harris is one guy we know we can count on,” Brad Zellner, assistant coach. “He is always ready to get out there and give it all he has in practice and during the games.
He’s one we don’t have to worry about because the effort will be there.”
Standing at roughly 6 feet 6 inches and 200-plus pounds, he makes ordinary people seem miniscule in stature.
Coming from Western High School in Louisville, where he played his senior year. Harris has added extra size and depth to an already winning Grenadier lineup this season.
He brings to the team an arsenal of post moves and versatility only a swingman of his size comes equipped with.
Harris said he believes his athleticism and willingness to do whatever it takes to help the Grenadiers win, are his two greatest attributes.
Harris also said he likes being tall because he can have a height advantage over most players.
“Yeah, I can dunk,” Harris said. “I don’t like to all of the time because of an old football injury to my knee, but if in the adrenaline of a game I usually go for the one-handed type dunks.”
He began his high school tenure at Butler Traditional High School in Shively, Ky., for three years before transferring to Western High School.
Playing sports for as long as he can remember, Harris said he decided early on that he wanted to focus on basketball, even though his father was a football player.
“My high school teams were tough, “Harris said “ I also played wide receiver for the football team, but came to the decision it was time to pick one or the other.”
Harris said he has always been athletic but never considered his height as a benefit.
“I played basketball just because of my love for the game, but when I realized I could play in college things changed, “ Harris said. “In fact, I stayed at 6 foot 1 inches for the longest time in high school before hitting a growth spurt my senior year. Suddenly I was taller than just about everyone in my class. When I hit six foot six inches I realized my height worked well for basketball.”
Harris decided on IU Southeast’s basketball program after receiving a plethora of collegiate offers for his basketball and football talents.
Harris said IUS men’s basketball Wiley Brown, head coach, and a former assistant coach were instrumental in his recruitment and influenced his final decision to choose IU Southeast’s program as opposed to other choices.
“I love playing for Wiley and Coach Z,” said Harris. “I think he won a championship with the Louisville Cardinals back in the ‘80s with Darrell Griffith and others. He’s a really cool guy.”
Harris also said Brown made the decision early in the year to start Harris, which was a significant responsibility for a freshman. Harris remained starting until an injury sidelined the forward in late November.
“I am ready to get back out there,” Harris said. “I have already returned to practice and am waiting to get some of the minutes I was seeing before the injury. I’m back but not back out there.”
Harris suffered a dislocated pinky, which he said has affected his ability to dribble and shoot cleanly for the past couple months.
Harris insists that he is feeling better and is eager for more playing time.
“I want to be able to help my team win games again,” Harris said. “It has been tough not being on the court, but I’ll do whatever it takes to help us win a national championship.”
Outside of basketball, Harris tries to fit in time to play video games, go to movies with his friends and spend time with his family.
“I’m a big fan of the 2K Sports line of video games, in particular the NBA 2K13,” Harris said. “I also really liked that new Batman movie. I think my favorite actor is Denzel Washington, but the Dark Knight Rises was pretty cool.”
As a business and marketing major, Harris said he would like to pursue the creation of his own venture one day in the future.
Brett Hancock
Staff
brjhanco@ius.edu