Sencire Harris: The Return and Review

I wrote rather extensively on Sencire Harris towards the end of the year. Despite a mysterious deleted twitter post, Harris announced he was returning to the Illini on April 4th for his sophomore year. As I focused mainly on his strengths in that piece, this will be more focused on some of his weaknesses, and projecting what next year might look like. With how liquid things have become in college basketball, nothing is guaranteed. Even with his promising freshman year, Harris will need to build on it to solidify his future in Champaign.

The Numbers

Harris made his presence felt immediately on the defensive end. Alongside Dain Dainja, Harris was inserted into the starting lineup during their lackadaisical late December. With the Illini ditching their five out offense and switch everything defense, Harris provided an elite point of attack defender for their drop coverage.

The Good

As covered, Harris was metrically the Illini’s best defender. He graded in the 85th percentile nationally in Pick and Roll defense per Synergy Sports, and in the 88th percentile overall defensively. He ended the year first on the Illini in Defensive Box Plus Minus as well. As far as more traditional stats, in just 479 minutes he had 27 steals and 11 blocks. For reference, back-to-back Big Ten defensive Player of the Year Caleb McConnell had 26 steals and four blocks as a freshman in 481 minutes. Per HoopLens, the Illini forced more turnovers and had a better two-point and three-point defense when Harris was on the floor.

On the offensive end, Sencire provided just under four points per game and shot 32% from three, which based on reports over the summer might have been better than expected. He also had the fifth highest assist percentage on the team at about 11%.

The Bad

Despite these small bonuses, Harris’ offense was nowhere near his defense. Sencire was a scorer in high school, leading St. Vincent St. Mary’s to the second of back-to-back state titles in Ohio as their primary offensive option. Naturally on a talented Illini squad, Harris wasn’t one of the primary scorers, often playing as a connector and spot up player. Of the rotation players, his 15.7 Usage Percentage ranked third least, ahead of Luke Goode and Ty Rodgers. He graded in the 28th percentile in Spot Up possessions offensive per Synergy, and just the 15th percentile in transition. However, to me the biggest issue was his complete inability to make free throws. He shot just 20% from the free throw line. It’s hard to find solid data, but I would guess he was one of the worst free throw shooting guards in the country.

While it was by no means a glaring weakness, compared to his on ball defense, his off ball defense had room for improvement. He graded in the 39th percentile per Synergy in Spot Up and Off Ball Screen possessions. Most of this to my eyes was freshman mistakes, either falling asleep for a moment or trying to cheat a screen for a steal and getting burned. I’d expect that to improve with experience, allowing him to reach another level defensively.

The Future

The path forward for Sencire is pretty clear. In order to become a 20+ minute per game team against every and any opponent, he has to be a more effective and efficient offensive player. The free throws becoming less of an issue will go a long long way toward that goal. Harris knows he’s poor from the line, and it affects his driving. For such an explosive player he had the lowest Free Throw rate in the rotation ahead of just Luke Goode. Adding some weight and confidence in his free throw shooting will allow him to become a more threatening weapon in the half court and transition. Continuing to progress as a three-point shooter will also be a big boost for Harris.

The Film

As Sencire is a defense first player, it’s a little difficult to find a ton of clips from the season. Highlight videos generally do not contain a ton of missed shots and tough fighting around on ball screens. What I can show however, is a collection of takes and makes from Harris inside the arc:

Yep, for a left-handed player, there are *zero* left-handed makes in that video. There are barely even any left-handed attempts. Along with the improvements above, becoming a more two-handed driver and finisher around the basket will behoove Harris greatly.

The Future

Improving his offense will make Harris an elite player. It’s difficult to know just how big of a leap he can make in one offseason. He has a lot to work on, but an all-around improvement to his offensive skills will be huge. Even just getting to 60% from the line and 34% from the deep would change everything from him on that end. He will have another offseason to get bigger, stronger and maybe even more explosive. It will be interesting to see how much bigger he gets, as he could lose some of his maneuverability around screens may suffer from a wider circumference.

In the old days so to speak, Harris’ long-term future would be much clearer. He would either develop his offense into being an NBA player or be a four-year program guy who is the defensive tone setter. In the age of the portal as we have learned with RJ Melendez and Jayden Epps, even with a big role players can look for more. With Illinois’ aggressiveness in pursuing outside talent to put out the best possible team each year, a guy like Harris may think he can do better for himself. I hope we never see Harris in another college uniform, and I think the Illini’s staff would agree. Finding the balance of continuity and augmentation will be key, and no player will be a better test case than Harris.