Dreams coming true: Gamecock great Ty Harris drafted in first round
In 2017, a freshman point guard took over halfway through the season for South Carolina women’s basketball and helped push the Gamecocks to a national title at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
Now, she’s joining two teammates from that championship run, back where it all ended — Tyasha Harris was picked seventh overall in Friday’s WNBA draft by the Dallas Wings, who also have former Gamecocks Allisha Gray and Kaela Davis.
“It’s gonna be really nice,” Harris said on a conference call with reporters about the thought of reuniting with Gray and Davis. “I’m excited just because we played together for a year, I know them, so I’ll get accustomed to compete with them and stuff.”
Gray and Davis went pro after that 2017 championship run, but Harris went on to break the program record with 220 assists as a sophomore, teaming up with A’ja Wilson to lead the Gamecocks back to the Elite Eight.
And as a senior, she scored a career-high 12.0 points per game, in addition to an SEC-best 5.7 assists per contest. She also averaged 3.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game and shot 38.4% from 3 en route to earning All-American honors from every major organization that recognizes a team.
Harris leaves the Gamecocks as the program’s leader in career assists, assist to turnover ratio and career games played. She also was the sixth Gamecock to be named All-SEC three times and earned the reputation as a consummate point guard in the mold of her coach, Dawn Staley, who earned All-American honors and Olympic gold medals as a player.
“I give a lot of credit to her,” Harris said of Staley’s impact on her development. “Just because she was a great point guard when she was playing and very highly decorated. I mean, just every time she talked, she would give me a real lesson on just how to be a great point guard. And I took advantage of it. I mean, that was one of the reasons why I went to South Carolina, so I could learn from her and she could help me out and be a better player, and a person.”
Counting fellow senior Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, who was taken the pick before her on Friday at No. 6, Harris is South Carolina’s 12th WNBA draft pick and ninth in the first round. At No. 7, she is the fifth highest selection in program history.
Joining the Wings, Harris has landed with a young franchise that leaned on both Gray and Davis last year, with each starting at least 16 games and averaging six or more points. And with the departure of star point guard Skylar Diggins-Smith via trade this offseason, Harris will likely have plenty of opportunities too early on in her career.
“I’m super excited for that. I’m a very competitive person,” Harris said.
Even though they won’t be teammates, Diggins-Smith has already sung the praises of Harris, a fellow Indiana native, in an Instagram Live interview with analyst LaChina Robinson before the draft.
“Not enough people are talking about Ty Harris, but I think she has it up here,” Smith said, pointing to her brain. “And as a point guard in the WNBA, you have to have it up here, because think about the point guards in our league. They’re very cerebral.”
On Friday, Harris made it clear how special that compliment was to her.
“It means the world, just because I’ve looked up to Skylar ever since I was a little girl,” Harris said. “We kind of come from the same area. She was born and raised in South Bend, and my dad was from there, so I was raised there for a little bit ... And I mean, it’s great that we can both represent Indiana well and she speaks highly of my game.”
This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 7:52 PM.
