The transition from high school to college basketball isn’t always easy for a lot of athletes, but first-year Vanessa Harris has scratched that narrative in her first season with the University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team.
For Harris, the journey to ending up in Kingston came down to the Rams’ recruiting process.
“Rhode Island was different from the rest of the schools that were recruiting me,” Harris said. “They were very transparent in terms of what I’m good at, but also what I need to work on and what I need to do better to be good at the college level.”
Spending her first year of NCAA Division I college basketball at URI, Harris has been able to make an impact off the bench on both sides of the ball for her team.
Through 25 games, she is tied for second on the team in scoring, averaging 11 points per game to go with 3.5 rebounds per game. Additionally, she has collected 28 steals on the season, good for third-best on the team.
Success so early in Harris’ collegiate career wouldn’t have come without her supporting cast, as she attributes a lot of her strong play to the people she surrounds herself with day in and day out.
“[Rhode Island Head] Coach Tammi [Reiss] holds us to a really high standard, and she doesn’t let us slip,” Harris said. “We also hold each other accountable as teammates, and we just come in every day and work hard.”
Ranking inside the top 25 in the Atlantic 10 Conference for scoring, Reiss believes Harris is special compared to other rookies in the conference.
“She’s a lion,” Reiss said. “There’s no fear there, and she’s aggressive, and that’s what makes her different, especially offensively. She can get a shot anytime she wants. She can take you off the bounce and elevate over you and get a shot, and we haven’t had many players like that in our program.”
Along with her toughness, Harris doesn’t get affected by failure, one of Reiss’s favorite parts about her game.
“She doesn’t care if she goes 0-8 or 0-10; she believes the next shot’s going in, and you have to have that mentality, especially when you’re a freshman,” Reiss said. “You can’t get tentative, and she does not get tentative. She may not play well or make everything, but it’s not from a lack of aggression, which is what I love about her.”
There are still parts of Harris’ game she believes she needs to polish, but she knows she’s at the right place to get there.
“I just really need to improve on being efficient,” Harris said. “I feel like all freshmen struggle with that, coming from high school to college, but here at this program, they really help you. Being here in Rhode Island is a really comfortable space for me to get better at my game.”
Harris and the Rams look to continue their dominance in Atlantic 10 play against Fordham University on Saturday. The game will be available for streaming on ESPN+ with radio coverage from The Varsity Network and RIU2.org.
