Anthony Harris on His UNC Return: "Getting Some Run In Is Always Good"

Guard returned to the floor with a productive nine minutes

For the first time in nearly 13 months, UNC guard Anthony Harris took the court for the Tar Heels at Florida State over the weekend. He only played eight and a half minutes, all in the second half, but he made the most of it, tying for the team lead with three assists, scoring five points and having an incredible plus-10 plus-minus rating. Only two other Tar Heels had a positive plus-minus in the loss.

“It felt great to be back onto the court,” he said. “I've been out for over a year now so just getting some run in is always going to be good. I was ready to play today. I didn't fully expect to play but he told me to stay ready so that's what I did.”

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The team hoped Harris would be back by the start of the season, but the pandemic slowed his recovery process, since he wasn’t able to get treatment and work out on campus.

“Corona played a big deal in my recovery time,” he said. I’ve been feeling good for awhile now, but it’s not something you want to rush back into. Our staff has done a good job of making sure I’ve been comfortable in the practices I’ve been in, making sure I wasn’t rushing anything.”

Harris knows that his role for the team will be exactly what he provided on Saturday. “Just pretty much energy,” he said. “Bringing some new energy to the team, energy on defense, being vocal on the court. I feel like everyone feeds off of a vocal leader, someone that is going to stay locked in the whole game.”

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