By R.L. Bynum

Anthony Harris still isn’t a Rhode Island student and hasn’t joined the Rams’ basketball team as was anticipated.

A resolution had been expected by Monday because that’s when the second semester started. But nothing has been decided either way for the former North Carolina guard.

It’s the latest setback for Harris, who dealt with injuries before he arrived in Chapel Hill and during his time at UNC. Harris didn’t play for the Tar Heels last season after Jan. 16, when he became ineligible, likely for academic reasons.

Rhode Island coach Archie Miller said that Harris, his family and the program are working through logistical issues and that he’s not on campus.

“That doesn’t mean that that will stay the same, and it also doesn’t mean that it will progress,” Miller said during a Monday press conference. “We’re in the midst of a lot of moving parts. As soon as we can come to a finality of how to work through a couple of the final pieces, I think we’ll be able to answer the question permanently or fully.”  

It’s not clear whether he’ll eventually enroll and join the team or if it won’t work out. Harris took classes remotely, but not with Rhode Island, during the fall semester in hopes of becoming eligible.

“We’d love for Anthony to join us,” Miller said. “We were hopeful he was going to be able to join us over the break. He wasn’t. As we move into the second semester, we’ll continue to work through the I’s and T’s. Hopefully, it will work. If it doesn’t work, obviously, we’ll have to make some adjustments, and we’ll make that announcement when it comes. But he’s not currently with us.”

Miller said that the hurdles keeping Anthony from being part of the school and team are school credits as he tries to complete his transfer and where he stands academically.

“We’re working through a couple of those final pieces,” Miller said. “It has nothing to do with anything other than that.”

Miller, a former N.C. State guard, is in his first season at Rhode Island.

Indiana fired him after the Hoosiers went 12–15 in the 2020–21 season, his only losing record in four seasons in Bloomington. The Rams are 7–12 and 14th in the 15-team Atlantic 10 with a 2–5 league mark.

Harris was part of a talented Roy Williams recruiting class that included Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony, UNC senior Armando Bacot and Jeremiah Francis, who is playing this season for Division II Emmanuel College in Georgia after transferring from New Mexico.

Harris tore his left ACL during his senior season in high school and didn’t make his college debut until Dec. 8, 2019. He played five games for UNC before he tore his right ACL against Yale on Dec. 30, 2019. He played 16 games the next season, which didn’t start until Jan. 16, 2021.

He played 14 games last season for the Tar Heels.

His career-high at Carolina was 14 points on Dec. 21, 2019, against UCLA, and he scored 10 on Jan. 23, 2021, against N.C. State. In 35 career games at Carolina, he scored 122 points and 10 3-pointers with 26 rebounds, 32 assists and 15 steals.