North Carolina has quickly added to its frontcourt depth for the 2025-26 season in 6-foot-2 forward Nyla Harris from Louisville. The news was first report Friday by On3.
Harris played three seasons at Louisville and has one year of eligibility remaining. Harris averaged 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds this season at Louisville. She shot 54% from the field and 77.6% from the free throw line. Harris scored a season-high 18 points in an overtime win against Wake Forest in January. She recorded two double-doubles this season, one against Grambling State and another against Syracuse.
North Carolina defeated Louisville on the road this season, and Harris finished with 10 points and six rebounds in 21 minutes for the Cardinals.
Harris’ best statistical season came in her sophomore year, when she posted career highs in points (10.4), rebounds (6.6), minutes (27.3) and field goal percentage (56.3%). She has played 105 games in her collegiate career.
Harris played high school basketball at Lake Highland Prep in Orlando. She was ranked as the No. 35 player on ESPN’s Hoopgurlz rankings for the class of 2022.
North Carolina will lose post players Alyssa Ustby and Maria Gakdeng due to expired eligibility. Ustby and Gakdeng were the team’s two leading scorers and rebounders in the 2024-25 season. That duo played a combined 3,732 minutes across 132 games the last two seasons.
Currently set to return to UNC’s post rotation are the 6-foot-4 Ciera Toomey and the 6-foot-5 Blanca Thomas.
Toomey missed her true freshman season last year due to a wrist injury, and she also came into school after working through an ACL injury she suffered in high school. Toomey played 32 games and averaged 3.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per game in 10.4 minutes per game. She shot 39.8% from the field, and 51 of her 103 field goal attempts were 3-pointers. Toomey provided a lift off the bench in the team’s loss to UConn, scoring 10 points in Greensboro and helping the team hang with the Huskies in the second half.
Thomas averaged 2.4 points and 3.5 rebounds in 33 games, and she averaged 11 minutes per game. Thomas’ most productive performance came in UNC’s overtime win against Duke, when she recorded seven points, eight rebounds and three blocks. The freshman center started in five games.
North Carolina finished the season with a 29-8 record and ranked fifth in the ACC with a 13-7 record. The team earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and lost to Duke in the Sweet Sixteen.
UNC will add five-star recruits Nyla Brooks and Taliyah Henderson, along with four-star Taissa Queiroz, who enrolled early this spring to practice with the team. Along with Ustby and Gakdeng, the team will lose guards Lexi Donarski and Grace Townsend. UNC is 125-64 through six seasons with Courtney Banghart at the helm. The Tar Heels have made the NCAA Tournament five seasons in a row.
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