Harry Giles (basketball)

Harry Lee Giles III (born April 22, 1998) is an American College basketball player for the Duke Blue Devils of the Atlantic Coast Conference(ACC). Giles is a five-star recruit and is generally seen as the best overall recruit in the 2016 Class by most basketball recruiting services. On November 6, 2015, Harry announced his intentions to attend and play for Duke University.

Giles was born April 22, 1998 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to parents Harry Giles Sr and Melissa Addison Giles. His father played both basketball and football for Winston-Salem State University.

Giles attended the Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point, North Carolina for three years until he decided to transfer to the Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia for his senior year. As a freshman, Giles averaged 12.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game after leading Wesleyan Christian to the 2013 NCISAA State Championship alongside current UNC shooting guard Theo Pinson. Giles missed his entire sophomore year due to a left knee injury. Giles participated in the Under Armour Elite 24 game in Brooklyn, New York in the summer of 2014. Harry returned for his Junior Season in the 2014-15 season. In first game back since his injury, Harry recorded a career high 38 points and 19 rebounds in a win over Northside Christian Academy. On the season he averaged 23.9 points per game and 12.5 rebounds per game while leading the Wesleyan christian Trojans to a 30-5 record and a NCISAA state championship appearance. Giles competed for the AAU Team CP3 All Stars, sponsored by fellow Winston-Salem native and NBA superstar Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers. Harry led the Team CP3 All Stars to the 2015 Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) Peach Jam semifinals against the St. Louis Eagles featuring future Duke teammate Jayson Tatum. Unfortunately Team CP3 would lose by a game winning buzzer beater. He averaged 18.2 points per game in 16 games on the EYBL circuit. Before his senior season Giles decided to attend and play for the high school basketball powerhouse Oak Hill Academy.

Giles dominated the majority of his high school career; however, his senior year ended with a very serious injury. The injury occurred during his first scrimmage game with Oak Hill Academy. Weeks later, Giles enrolled to Forest Trail Academy in Kernersville, North Carolina to take online courses to finish his senior year of high school while rehabbing his knee injury. He was selected to play in the 2016 Jordan Brand Classic and Nike Hoop Summit but was unable due to injury. Giles was rated as a Five-star recruit. He was rated the No.1 overall player in the 2016 recruiting class by ESPN and rated No.2 by Scout.com.

Duke (2016-present)

Giles was originally recruited by Wake Forest University, Duke University, University of North Carolina, University of Kentucky and University of Kansas. On November 6, 2015 Giles committed to Duke University. On October 3, 2016 it was announced Giles would likely miss up to six weeks to have surgery on his knee.

On December 19, 2016, Giles made his college debut against Tennessee State, playing for four minutes.

Harry Giles competed for Team USA in the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Greece. In the tournament he finished third in points per game per 40 minutes with 26.4, second in offensive board percentage with 17.1%, and first in defensive rebounding percentage with 28.7%.