Memphis guard Dante Harris enters transfer portal
Harris departs the Tigers after half a season. (Image Credit: Memphis Athletics)
Memphis basketball—as things currently stand—is not expected to return any scholarship players for the second straight season.
Backup point guard Dante Harris, who joined the Tigers midseason this year, entered the transfer portal Wednesday, a source confirms to Bluff City Media. Harris becomes the seventh Memphis player to enter the portal this offseason.
The Washington D.C. native is technically ineligible to play next season if he transfers, since he’s joining the open market after the April 22 entry deadline for immediate eligibility. But he will likely file for a run-off waiver to play in 2025-26, which Memphis would probably sign off on, the source adds.
The 6-foot redshirt senior averaged 2.4 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.1 steals in 16 appearances for Memphis. He made one start in place of point guard Tyrese Hunter against Temple on Feb. 9, recording 14 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and an assist on 6-for-8 shooting.
Harris served as the Tigers’ lead ball-handler off the bench for most of American Athletic Conference (AAC) play before suffering a season-ending ankle injury at UTSA on March 4, missing Memphis’ entire postseason run that produced an AAC Tournament championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Harris began his college career at Georgetown, where he tallied 11.9 points, 4.1 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game in 2021-22. He also won the Big East Tournament MVP in 2020-21, and helped the Hoyas clinch their first March Madness berth since 2007 that year.
Harris then spent the 2023-24 campaign at Virginia after transferring there in December 2022. He put up 2.5 points, 2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per contest in 24 outings with the Cavaliers.
Memphis is already losing Hunter, Colby Rogers, Nick Jourdain and Moussa Cisse to expired eligibility. Harris now joins All-American PJ Haggerty, PJ Carter (LSU), Baraka Okojie (Mercer), Jared Harris (Wyoming), redshirt forward Bouna Kebe and walk-on Damarien “Dink” Yates (Alabama State) in the transfer portal.
Tigers coach Penny Hardaway has replenished much of that core with Kansas State guard Dug McDaniel (11.4 points, 4.9 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game), McNeese State guard Sincere Parker (12.2 points and 2.5 rebounds), Western Kentucky guard Julius Thedford (12.4 points and 3.8 rebounds), Temple guard Quante Berry (10.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.3 steals) and LSU guard Curtis Givens III (4.8 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists).
He’s also added wing pieces in South Carolina forward Zachary Davis (8.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals) and Texas Rio Grande Valley guard Hasan Abdul Hakim (13.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals), along with frontcourt contributors like Ohio State center Aaron Bradshaw (6 points and 2.7 rebounds), Saint Mary’s forward Ashton Hardaway (2.1 points and 1.2 rebounds) and Lane College forward Mason Matthews (11.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists).
Star center Dain Dainja (14.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks) is presently out of eligibility. But he officially petitioned the NCAA last month for a waiver to rejoin Memphis next season, multiple sources tell Bluff City Media. Dainja didn’t enter the transfer portal ahead of the April 22 deadline, despite multiple reports claiming the opposite.
McDaniel, Parker, Davis, Abdul Hakim, Bradshaw, Thedford, Berry, Givens, Ashton Hardaway, Matthews, Eastern Florida guard Felipe Patino and Overtime Elite guard Daniel Vieira-Tuck make up the incoming players for next year’s team as of now.
This leaves Memphis with one open scholarship headed into Penny Hardaway’s eighth season, though it can increase to three if the House v. NCAA settlement is officially approved.
Memphis has reached out to the following players in the transfer portal:
Maryland center Tafara Gapare (visited this month)
Temple forward Elijah Gray (visited last month)
High Point guard Kezza Giffa
UMass forward Daniel Rivera
Fairfield guard Prophet Johnson
North Carolina A&T guard Ryan Forrest
Gonzaga forward Graydon Lemke