COLUMBIA, MO. • Missouri’s shaky point guard situation took a new turn Friday: Freshman Blake Harris left the team. The school announced his decision and Harris later confirmed to the Post-Dispatch he plans to transfer.

“It was the best decision for me and my family to leave this program,” Harris said in a phone interview Friday. “I’m not going to say anything’s wrong with the program. I just think I can thrive and do better things at a different place.”

“We will support and assist him in any way possible,” Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin said in a prepared statement.

Harris said he had been thinking about leaving Mizzou “since probably Thanksgiving” but hadn’t said anything about it or acted on those feelings until now.

Harris had started nine games for Mizzou (11-3, 1-0 SEC) before coming off the bench Wednesday at South Carolina. Martin explained after the game that Harris had missed four practices leading up to the game while recovering from the flu. While the rest of the team returned to Columbia after a short holiday break, Harris stayed in North Carolina for several more days, a source confirmed.

With family members and friends visiting from North Carolina, Harris went scoreless in Columbia, S.C., with three assists in 11 minutes against the Gamecocks. It was the fewest minutes he’d played since MU’s game at Central Florida on Nov. 30.

“Of course I’d like to be playing more, but that’s not all of it,” Harris said. “I just think it would be better if we went our separate ways.”

Harris hasn’t narrowed down any options for his next school, he said. Missouri did not restrict him from signing with any other schools, he said.

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Harris had been playing 14 minutes a game while averaging 3.8 points and a team-high 3.1 assists a game. The Chapel Hill, N.C., native has been sharing the point guard duties with junior Jordan Geist and, at times, junior Terrence Phillips for most of the season, never playing more than 22 minutes in a game. He had one of his better games in Mizzou’s loss to Illinois on Dec. 23 when he matched his season-high with 22 minutes and scored 10 points.

The four-star prospect initially signed with the University of Washington out of high school but asked out of his letter of intent when Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar was fired in March, then followed fellow UW signee Michael Porter Jr. to Missouri. After UW released Harris from his letter of intent, Harris picked Mizzou over Michigan State, Connecticut, North Carolina State and Rutgers.

Harris is the second member of Mizzou’s 2017 recruiting class to leave the program. C.J. Roberts, a guard from Texas, left the team last month and announced this week he’ll transfer to Texas Tech.

Through MU’s first 14 games, Harris’ minutes seemed to fluctuate with his first-half production each game, and while he rarely shot the ball from the perimeter — he missed all seven of his 3-point attempts — he could attack off the dribble and create scoring chances in the lane for himself or teammates. Turnovers were a consistent problem as Harris sometimes drove recklessly and lost control of the ball along the baseline.

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Harris drew praise from Martin after last month’s loss to Illinois, when he had one of the Tigers’ few promising performances. Harris picked up a technical foul early in the second half for taunting an Illinois player after a basket but sparked the Tigers during their rally.

“He’s one of those guys who gets his adrenaline going,” Martin said after the game. “If he’s playing like that, with that level of energy, you have to go with him. Because he’s only going to grow from it.”

Without Harris for the rest of the season, Geist becomes the natural candidate to take over the primary point guard duties, starting with Saturday’s home game against Florida (10-4, 2-0 SEC). The 6-2 junior is averaging 7.1 points and 2.6 assists while shooting 47.1 percent from 3-point range.

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