Second-year NC State basketball head coach Kevin Keatts announced Tuesday afternoon that sophomore guard Blake Harris has been ruled immediately eligible by the NCAA. Harris transferred from Missouri to NC State midseason last year and wasn't expected to be eligible until after the fall semester concluded.
"I'm excited for Blake that he has an opportunity to join our team immediately," Keatts said in a prepared statement. "I'm very appreciative of our compliance staff for working diligently with Blake on the waiver and thankful to the NCAA for approving it."
Harris, a Chapel Hill native, averaged 3.8 points and 3.1 assists per game in 14 contests at Missouri before leaving. His 44 assists were leading the team at that point.
While Keatts has added a player to the rotation perhaps earlier than he expected, the frontcourt depth took a hit. Freshman Manny Bates will redshirt this season after having shoulder surgery in August. Bates, who missed almost all of his senior campaign at Northwood Temple Academy in Fayetteville, N.C., with a shoulder injury, dislocated his left shoulder at the beginning of August.
"Obviously this is not how any of us wanted Manny's college career to begin," Keatts said. "But Manny has a positive outlook on the situation, and I know he will work hard to rehabilitate his shoulder."
Rivals.com rated the 6-foot-11, 221-pound Bates as the No. 139 player in the country in the 2018 class, and he picked the Wolfpack after officially visiting Georgetown and cancelling plans to see South Carolina and Georgia Tech.
With Bates injured, the primary post players will be redshirt junior Wyatt Walker, a grad transfer from Samford; redshirt sophomore DJ Funderburk, a transfer from Northwest Florida State College who began his career at Ohio State; and freshman Ian Steere, a four-star prospect and a former teammate of Bates at Northwood Temple Academy.
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