Juke Harris has committed to Tennessee basketball as the jewel of UT’s elite transfer portal class.
The former Wake Forest guard announced his decision Monday to join the Vols and withdraw from the NBA Draft, giving Tennessee its seventh transfer and its biggest one yet. He was courted by Michigan and North Carolina after entering the NBA Draft and the transfer portal, but the Vols and coach Rick Barnes won out.
The 6-foot-7 guard averaged 21.4 points in his second season at Wake Forest. He had an effective field goal percentage of 52.7%, while shooting 44.4% from the floor and 33.2% from the 3-point line. He averaged 6.1 points in 19.0 minutes per game as a freshman in 2024-25.
Harris is ranked as the No. 1 transfer in the class by On3. He joins guards Dai Dai Ames, Terrence Hill Jr. and Tyler Lundblade and forwards Jalen Haralson, Braedan Lue and Miles Rubin as commitments in the transfer class.
Tennessee had an in-home visit with Harris and his family on April 12 in North Carolina. Barnes and assistant coaches Earl Grant, Steve McClain and Bryan Lentz flew to California to meet with Harris on Wednesday to close the deal with Harris.
Harris picked Wake Forest over Tennessee out of high school, as a four-star prospect out of Salisbury, North Carolina. He was No. 95 overall player in the 2024 Rivals Industry Ranking, the No. 34 small forward in the class and the No. 9 player in North Carolina.
Tennessee is retooling the majority of its roster after a third straight Elite Eight under Barnes, who is leading the program through the best run in its history. Harris is a centerpiece of that process as an elite scorer on the wing, where he will anchor a team that could be the best scoring group that Barnes has had at his disposal.
The Vols have added scoring ability in droves via the portal with all seven additions averaging double-digit points. Harris was the highest-scoring player among the group and the fifth to score more than 15 points per game last season.
Guard Dai Dai Ames averaged 16.9 points at Cal last season, forward Jalen Haralson averaged 16.2 points at Notre Dame, guard Tyler Lundblade averaged 15.6 points at Belmont and guard Terrence Hill Jr. averaged 15.0 points at VCU and
Forward Miles Rubin averaged 11.3 points at Loyola (Chicago) and forward Braedan Lue averaged 10.5 points at Kennesaw State.
The transfers combined to score 106.7 points per game last season.
