KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — One day before the start of the 2026-27 season, Tennessee men's basketball player Juke Harris earned his sixth preseason honor. Harris was one of 50 players named to the Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Men's College Player of the Year Watch List, announced Monday afternoon.
Fourteen SEC players made the list. Along with Harris, they are Alabama's Amari Allen and Aden Holloway, Florida's Rueben Chinyelu, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh, Missouri's Jason Crowe Jr., Texas A&M's P.J. Haggerty, Kentucky's Milan Momcilovic, Auburn's Tahaad Pettiford, Texas' David Punch and Matas Vokietaitis, Arkansas' Jordan Smith Jr., and Vanderbilt's Tyler Tanner.
Harris is a junior guard from Salisbury, North Carolina, in his first year at Tennessee after two seasons at Wake Forest. He was a second-team All-ACC pick and the ACC Most Improved Player in 2025-26. As a sophomore, the 6-foot-7, 205-pounder averaged 21.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals in 35.1 minutes per game. His scoring average ranked 14th nationally and his 750 points ranked sixth.
Harris has piled up preseason attention. He was named to the NABC Player of the Year Preseason Watch List and the Julius Erving Award Top 20 Preseason Watch List, and the Blue Ribbon Yearbook put him on its preseason third-team All-America team. SEC media picked him first-team preseason All-SEC, and the league's coaches chose him second-team.
Tennessee noted a pair of notable names in his statistical company. The only other ACC players this century to average at least 21.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steal in a season are Duke's Cameron Boozer in 2025-26 and Duke's Zion Williamson in 2018-19. Both won national player of the year.
The Volunteers open the season Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m. Eastern against Wofford at Food City Center, with the game live on SEC Network. Tennessee is ranked in the top 10 in the preseason polls and is coming off a season that included a fourth straight Sweet 16 and a third straight Elite Eight.