LAS CRUCES, N.M. - An Aggie in Albania.
In an announcement made Sunday on his Instagram page, former NM State men's basketball guard AJ Harris made it known he would be starting his professional basketball career soon as he signed a deal with KB Vllaznia.
KB Vllaznia is based out of Shkodër, Albania, and competes in the Albanian Basketball Superliga of the Albanian Basketball League and the Balkan International Basketball League. With Sunday's announcement, Harris is the second recently-graduated Aggie in the last few months to turn pro, joining Ivan Aurrecoechea who inked a deal with Iceland's Þór Akureyri in late August.
"We are excited to see AJ take the first step on his professional basketball journey," commented NM State head men's basketball coach Chris Jans. "It's always rewarding to see players from our program move on to the next level with an NM State degree in hand."
Though his NM State career ended prematurely in January of 2020 after suffering a season-ending foot injury, Harris was still an integral part of the Aggies' successes during his three-year stint in Las Cruces. After becoming eligible to play prior to the start of the 2017-18 season, Harris made a name for himself as the premier floor general in the WAC.
A member of the WAC All-Newcomer Team in 2018, Harris would go on to secure WAC All-Defensive Team and All-WAC Second Team laurels in 2019 while helping NM State capture WAC regular season and tournament titles in each of those two seasons. An Ohio State transfer, Harris helped NM State go 83-17 from 2017-20 and was instrumental in leading the Aggies to a 43-3 record in WAC play through that same span.
While calling the shots in the Aggies' backcourt, Harris played in 69 games and averaged 9.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. Two separate injuries kept Harris out of all but three games in 2019-20, and though he applied for a sixth-year waiver from the NCAA the Dayton, Ohio, product was unfortunately denied it. That, however, made it possible for Harris to begin his professional basketball journey.
With Harris on their side, NM State scored five victories over Power Five programs. Those wins came against Illinois (Dec. 16, 2017), No. 6/7 Miami (Dec. 23, 2017), Washington State (Dec. 1, 2018 and Dec. 23, 2018) and Mississippi State (Dec. 22. 2019).
NM State - as well as the vast majority of the other NCAA Division I men's basketball teams across the country - wrapped up its 2019-20 season prematurely in March of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic. The Aggies closed out their season on Thursday, March 5, with an 83-50 shellacking of California Baptist which put the finishing touches on their perfect 16-0 run through WAC regular season action. That win made the Aggies the first time in league history to go 16-0 in regular season WAC play and was the team's 19th-straight win - a streak which is the second-longest active streak in the nation.
The Aggies are scheduled to begin their 2020-21 season on Nov. 25, 2020. NM State's full schedule will be announced at a later date.
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