How does an Australian kid from Queensland find himself living in California at 15 years old? How about how he is suiting up for one of the most prestigious college basketball schools alongside LeBron James’ son, Bronny?

It’s a pretty wild situation and questions I wanted all the answers to.

*Photo by John McGillen - USC Athletics*

Harrison Hornery, a 6’10 Junior playing for USC, is an up and coming Australian basketball player and I was super keen to dive into who he was and everything that has come from playing at the University of Southern California. Thanks to Harrison, I was able to do just that.

My home in Southern California

After moving to Southern California in 2017, now 22 year-old Harrison has been living in the States for 7 years. The move was for his Freshmen year in high school and ever since then he’s basically been a local. A part of the furniture is the vibe I got from the conversation. Someone who is comfortable with the American culture and living arrangements.

For someone like me who’s always watching American basketball, I’ve often thought to myself “hey, I wonder what moving to the States would be like if some crazy opportunity ever presented itself?”

Daunting.

That’s the word I always came to.

“I was too young. We would just like, give anything a go, really. Just kind of took a shot on it and it ended up working out.”

Harrison sounded almost unfazed by the move. Daunting wasn’t a word that resembled his emotions, even at 15 years old. Full credit to him though, as he thought he was mature for his age and trusted himself in making important decisions back then.

“You do have to grow up really quick.”

This was the beginning of my realisation that Harrison has a good head on his shoulders.

Early 2017 was the last time Harrison hooped ‘down under’. That was during his rep basketball days with Ipswich and clearly he left an impression on the Ipswich community as multiple people have asked him to come and play for their NBL1 club since then.

The NBL1 is the competition below the NBL, the main league here in Australia.

Back to where it began

Let’s throw it back a bit, I wanted to know how basketball even came about for Harrison, especially considering it wasn’t even the first sport he played.

Depending on where you grow up in Australia, the main sports are Footy (AFL) or Rugby (NRL). Being in Queensland which is a heavy Rugby state, Harrison was a big Rugby kid growing up.

He played from under 6’s to under 12’s and it took him a few looks in the mirror along the way to see how tall he was growing and to realise that basketball might make a lot of sense now.

It was “an athletic step I thought I could do” and it helped that his older brother played also.

From there it was all about basketball.

*Photo by Scott Varley, Contributing Photographer*

Enter Mater Dei High School, a life changing experience

The day Harrison was taken to Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California by his current coach, effectively changed Harrison’s basketball future.

“I would just love to get the awareness out of what I think Mater Dei did for me. I’m so grateful for coach (Gary) Mcknight and everything he did. He gave me an opportunity to come over here and that’s the sole reason I’m here at USC. I remember him telling me when I was a Freshmen that you’re going to be a Pac-12 player one day. A year later they offered me and the process started from there, it was crazy.”

Harrison made a point to reference back to just how special Mater Dei was to him and how important that experience was.

In the middle of all of that was coach Gary Mcknight.

“Mcknight kind of took a shot on me and I’m very grateful for that. I had some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”

In his own words - Exposition article

A quick shoutout to Harrison’s own article he wrote for Exposition, a website run by beach volleyball players at USC, so check that out as well as it’s a great insight.

The jump to college basketball at USC

Harrison is currently a Junior at USC, which is 3 years into his time there and I had to know what it felt like jumping into that world of basketball and the differences between high school and college play.

“The IQ stuff I’m really good with but it was just the athletic difference is insane.”
“I think from NBL1 to college…it’s a different level of athleticism and the pace the team’s play with, we just got done playing Gonzaga and we got smacked. They just get the ball out and go, team’s are machines, it’s kind of crazy.”

I loved the enthusiasm he spoke with here. Harrison was also very complimentary of Mater Dei in terms of it being ran like a college, therefore really preparing him well for USC.

Evolving as a player

Every basketball player develops in many different ways during this stage in their career and it even stumped Harrison a little when talking about how his own game has changed.

“I came in, was a 6’9 stretch four, a five man-ish… I can play every position now, I’ve played every position on the floor this year, it’s kind of crazy.”
“You have to guard or you can’t play, that’s been my biggest thing.”

Playing defense was certainly a highlight here, as was going against teammates Isaiah Collier (don’t worry we will get to him later) and Boogie Ellis in practice.

*Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images*

Pinch yourself moments

Kansas is on my screen, another Aussie in Johnny Furphy is running around and I think to myself, “how cool is it to see Australian’s representing such a big program over there in the States?”

So I asked the question.

Did Harrison ever look down to see the letters “USC” across his chest and think, “damn, I’m doing pretty well for myself?”

He laughed and said “I have pinch myself moments all the time.”

“Anytime you’re just out there, you’re playing in the Pac-12 Conference and you have USC on your chest, it’s pretty surreal. That fight song, the band, everything about it, you won’t get anything like it anywhere else. The time’s gone so fast, I can’t believe I’m a Junior now, it’s almost over. But it is surreal, I’m very thankful for sure.”

I loved the honesty here.

Arriving on campus in his Freshmen year, officially being a USC athlete, beating UCLA at home and having the fans storm the court – these were all moments Harrison detailed.

“Great night out too, it was awesome.”

An important detail to know about the aftermath of beating UCLA.

On court persona

“I think I’m just your typical Aussie basketball player, just tall.”

This quote was amusing upon reflection but not his proper answer on how he would describe his game.

“Someone who’s going to play very hard every possession, I learned that here, play hard both ends of the ball. Can shoot it, I feel like I have a really good IQ of the game. I can kind of see things before they come.” “At a taller position I can run, 3, 4, 5 and kind of have eyes out there like a point guard and make sure I have guys in the right spots and make the right play every time.”

Like many other athlete’s and specifically NBA ones, Harrison is a golfer. Admitting he’s quite good at it these days but right now his other hobbies simply include family time when he’s in Australia, hanging out with friends and enjoying the college experience.

“Living your typical life as a college student would. It’s very fun over here.”
“Everything you think an American college student would be doing, that’s what I’m kind of doing.”

Again, important things to note!

Bronny James

“You can see he just wants to be a normal kid.”

This was the main bit of the conversation that really stood out to me about Bronny James. Ok, there were many but this hit home in a different way.

Imagine everything that comes with being the kid of LeBron James. The LeBron James.

It would be crazy. The pressure, the attention, the unfair criticism. I can picture it all.

“It’s insane”, Harrison said when talking about the flock of fans that run up to Bronny and the fact that he needs security around him.

“Off the court we hang out all the time.”
“He is a very normal, most humble kid you’ll ever meet. Just a really nice guy actually.”
“I don’t think he lets it get to him. You see LeBron in the media, just like, he blows off a lot of stuff, I think Bronny is exactly the same way.”

The ability for Harrison to recognise these niche similarities to his Dad is a pretty cool thing. Including referencing their on court play which is a 100% a hook to get you to continue reading this next bit.

“He’s like his Dad, he makes the right play every single time. He’s learned from the best.”
“His IQ is crazy, he’s very fast.”

As well as his IQ and quickness, Bronny’s jump shot was something Harrison repeatedly brought up when it came to “James Junior”.

“You see that ‘James Junior’ on his back of his jersey and it’s like, woah.”

The weight of expectation from having that last name in that bloodline is unimaginable so I’m definitely rooting for the kid. The way Harrison speaks of him makes me think he’s just a genuine, friendly person as well which helps. I could hear the warmth coming from Harrison as he spoke about who Bronny was as a person.

“He’s a Freshmen but he should be a piece for us this year for sure.”
“We just sold out this Sunday for Long Beach State because Bronny is playing.”

There it is, folks.

As expected, Bronny will make his debut against Long Beach State this Sunday at 1:00pm (California time - PST UTC -8).

“I think he’s (LeBron) coming this Sunday so that’s going to be wild.”

And as expected, LeBron should be in attendance which clearly sparked Harrison’s energy levels when talking about, as did the time when LeBron rocked up to a USC practice.

“LeBron came to a practice once and I was like woah. I walked upstairs and he was in the gym and I was like this is crazy. For all the times I’ve watched LeBron play basketball and he’s going to watch me play.”

Around the NBA circles, that extends to the fans as well, it is largely known that LeBron’s IQ is pretty crazy. You get the post-game interviews where he’s reciting play by play, the in game moments where he apparently knows all of his oppositions plays before they run them, those kind of things and LeBron showed just a small taste of that when Harrison met him.

“I said hi to him. You know, his IQ is crazy, I think he knows all of us. He knows all of our names.”

Neat. Just the fact that he knew them by name, it’s a small thing, but one that I enjoyed.

Isaiah Collier

A projected top 5 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, some have him as number 1, a personal favourite of mine - Isaiah Collier. Who just happens to be a teammate of Harrison’s so we had to talk about him.

“Humble kid, bit of a larrikin, a pretty funny guy.”

I could hear the most basic insight into who players are from a personality perspective, but I would still get a kick from it.

Aggression was the first term I thought of when I saw Collier’s first games as a USC Trojan. He’s a bulldog out there, a well built guard that isn’t afraid of any physicality.

“He gets aggressive, he doesn’t really say much but he just has such a presence with his body.”

Now, with high praise comes high criticism. It’s just the way it works.

Recently ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, who is one of the most well known NBA Draft Analysts, tweeted about Collier’s play and the fact that not everyone was sold on the USC point guard due to his “often-lackluster defensive intensity” and “questionable decision-making”.

“I think he could be a number 1 pick if he… hopefully gets his turnovers down (laughs) and starts not having defensive clips made about him on Twitter.”

I enjoyed the unprompted reference to Givony’s tweet, but was also quite curious about how those things are actually handled with the people affected.

“If anyone made a clip of that about me I’d be sick. It should be a motivating piece which I think it will.”

Harrison explained that cases like this are acknowledged by the players and even brought up by staff in some examples, but that it was all part of the process and he hopes it simply annoys and motivates Isaiah to the point where he won’t do it again.

A great reaction, I thought.

Regardless of what concerns analysts might have of Collier, Harrison doesn’t have any of his own.

“I’ll ride or die with him.”
“When he’s guarding and he’s being a floor general like he is, he’s the best player in the country. He’s insane.”

It’s all a learning experience for anyone in college let alone a 19 year old getting touted as the potential #1 pick.

“He’s young, he’s a Freshmen learning that in college it’s a different world. You have to be playing hard every single possession otherwise you get called out which he did last week unfortunately.”
“He’s one of the fastest players I’ve seen too, when he catches it and goes, it’s like how the hell did you get there so quick?”

I could feel more and more energy zapping through Harrison as he talked about the skill that Isaiah possesses.

“He’s a freak.”

JuJu Watkins

I couldn’t let Isaiah Collier be the only USC Freshmen phenom Harrison touched on, JuJu Watkins has taken the women’s college basketball scene by storm lately.

“She’s killing it. She’s a really nice person as well.”

I enjoyed the comments made by Harrison about these players’ personality because it would be easy to just rave about their on court ability but he was always quick to take it back to how nice they were.

“She’s just so far and beyond everyone else on the court.”
“No one can guard her.”

But of course she is nice on court as well.

Life after USC

Coming into this chat with Harrison I was excited to talk about life after USC just as much as his current days there.

A selfish part of me would love to see him in Australia playing in the NBL (my full-time work) but one thing is clear, that won’t be happening for at least another year.

“I’m definitely going to get my degree.”

He spoke with enthusiasm about staying all four years at USC, but the enthusiasm didn’t stop at that, the NBL is well and truly on his radar.

“I think you could probably see me playing in the NBL right after college.”

Things we love to hear.

As was his attitude and mature outlook on staying in the moment at this present day.

“Keep your head where your feet are.”
“Just being realistic with yourself and just keep working hard every day and then whatever happens really happens. Just focus on winning for USC now.”

A good head on your shoulders

One thing I confidently took from this conversation was that Harrison has a good head on his shoulders.

To me, he was right when he said he trusted 15 year old him to make some important life decisions because I saw a glimpse of those characteristics in this conversation alone.

“I thank Mum for that. She was always the first one to yell at me after rep games if I had a bad attitude.”

Shout out to Mrs Hornery.

“You really just got to be in the right head space every single time. You’re going to have bad days obviously but it’s how you come back from them.”

Again, a mature approach.

“The pinch me moments, there’s been a lot of those for sure. It makes it easier being here when you’re grateful about it, it gets through the homesickness and everything else.”

Everyone eats

“There’s a saying that we always say: if we win, everyone eats.”

They do say that winning solves everything in sport so it’s pretty likely that winning of some variety will be on most players bucket list.

“One of my goals is to win a Pac-12 championship and make a Final Four.”

No place like home

Speaking of bucket lists, most Aussie athlete’s speak incredibly highly of representing Australia at some point in their careers and Harrison was no exception.

“A goal of mine since I was little is to play for Australia one day.”
“That is definitely priority number one, I want that Australian jersey, it would be really nice.”

Go get that degree Harrison, go get that Pac-12 championship, continue to keep your head where your feet are and hope that it leads you right to the NBL in a couple of years, deal?

“100%, that’s definitely a goal of mine. I just want to be a pro, I’d love to come back to Australia and play.”

A big thanks to Harrison for giving up his time up here, it’s appreciated, as was his ability to be an open book. It was a very enjoyable chat, I got a lot out of it and I hope you did as well. It was a great insight into USC life and who he is too. Thanks to Dave Tuttle from USC for assisting with the interview as well.

Harrison Hornery - Keep Your Head Where Your Feet Are