Cincinnati Basketball Adds Two Transfers
With Cincinnati's season ending last week with an 88-80 loss to UCF in the Crown Basketball Tournament, Wes Miller and his staff have now turned their attention to the transfer portal.
After a quiet start to portal season, things picked up on Sunday as the Bearcats received commitments from West Virginia transfer guard Sencire Harris, as well as Kentucky transfer guard Kerr Kriisa.
An Ohio native, Harris spent his freshman year at Illinois before transferring to West Virginia. Harris entered the NCAA Transfer Portal in late March following the departure of former head coach Darian DeVries.
During his sophomore season, Harris started in all 32 of WVU’s games and earned All Big-12 Defensive Team honors after averaging 1.7 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. Offensively, Harris contributed 5.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per contest.
A former top-100 prospect, Harris brings a much needed toughness to the Cincinnati perimeter and should make an impact immediately.
The other addition to the Bearcats on Sunday is former Arizona, West Virginia, and Kentucky transfer guard Kerr Kriisa.
Kriisa, who is entering his sixth season, received a medical redshirt after playing in just 9 games this past season while at Kentucky. Kriisa underwent surgery for a broken foot in December. He suffered the injury in Kentucky’s victory over Gonzaga back on December 7. Kriisa scored 8 points in that game and also pulled down three rebounds to go with four assists.
Kriisa averaged 4.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game during 9 games with the Wildcats. He had a season-high 12 assists in Kentucky’s win over Bucknell in the second game of the season.
Through five seasons, the 6'3" 185 guard has averaged 9.3 pts, 2.0 rbs, 4.6 assists per game. Kriisa shot 42% from deep during his one season with the Mountaineers and is a career 36% 3-point shooter. For a team that is looking to improve on their consistency from the perimeter, Kriisa could be a valuable rotational piece, while also adding a true point guard that can set teammates up. Kriisa has also made 79.7% of his free throws throughout his career,
The Bearcats were also involved in Kriisa's recruitment the last two times he announced he would be entering the transfer portal.