TAMPA, Fla. — Senior guard Tyler Harris brings a lot to the USF men’s basketball team. 

 

The Bulls starting point guard is an elite shooter and a terrific playmaker, but his best attribute is something that doesn’t show up on a box score. “There’s a competitiveness and passion and kind of a little bit of a chip on the shoulder that he plays with that we needed,” USF men’s basketball coach Brian Gregory said.

 

  •  Memphis transfer Tyler Harris is thriving in his first season at USF

  •  Harris leads the Bulls in scoring, three pointers, and assists

  •  He recently became the American Athletic Conference's new all-time leader in career three-pointers (266)

 

For Tyler, that chip on his shoulder comes from a number of places. It comes from being doubted because of his 5-foot-9 frame. It also comes from being born and raised in the basketball crazed city of Memphis. “Basketball is huge in the city of Memphis,” Harris said. "Everyone growing up has dreams of playing basketball. I feel like we don’t get a lot of rep around the country because it’s a small city so a lot of guys from Memphis play with a chip on their shoulder.”

Like many Memphians, Tyler had dreams of one day playing for his hometown Tigers. He got to live out that dream for three seasons before the team decided to go in a different direction. “It’s always difficult leaving home. Ended up having a good run at the end of the season. We had a lot of guys leave so it was kind of tough because I kind of wanted to stay in Memphis.”

Tyler entered the transfer portal and had multiple schools reach out to him. But it was his relationship with the Bulls’ coaching staff that ultimately led him to choose South Florida. “When I hit the portal, Coach Justin Slay was hitting me every day,” Harris said. “I talked to him, I was already at Memphis so I watched South Florida being around coach Gregory he made a couple jokes during the game so I was like,  I like that guy he’s cool.”

With a new team, came a new role for Tyler.

“He was going to have to run the team, he was going to have to distribute the ball, he was going to have to make good basketball decisions, going to  have to defend much more out of the comfort zone that he played in,” Gregory said. While there were some growing pains to start the season, Tyler is now finding his stride. He leads the bulls in scoring (16.7), assists (3.5), and he recently became the American Athletic Conference’s all-time leader in career three pointers (266). “I’m learning more and more how to lead a team. Learning everyday how to make decisions, time to score, when to shoot, when to not shoot, when to get guys involved, when to take over games. I’m learning all those types of things instead of just being a role guy.”