Quotes: Everything IU basketball junior wing Darren Harris said after Thursday’s practice

• Alex Bozich

• 56m ago

 

IU junior wing Darren Harris arrives in Bloomington after spending the first two seasons of his college career at Duke.

A former top-40 recruit out of Paul VI Catholic High School, Harris was one of the top shooters in the country in the 2024 recruiting class.

Harris was one of three players who spoke to the media on Thursday – watch the full interview here – and we also took a closer look at him in our transfer portal spotlight series in May.

Here’s a full transcript of his quotes from Thursday’s media session in the locker room at Assembly Hall:

On the biggest takeaways from the workouts so far in June:

“I think the biggest thing is just getting to learn each other’s games. I think we pretty much got a brand new team. I’m new here, we got a lot of new guys coming from a lot of different places. So just trying to learn each other’s games and trying to go through tough times together, that’s one way to get tougher as a group.”

On the primary factors that led him to choose to transfer to Indiana:

“Really, just the way the coaches believe in me. That was something I was looking for, playing for coaches that have my back. And the play style really attracted me.

“I think that the fit is great, the way coach (DeVries) coaches is great for me. Obviously, I’m close to Coach Kenny (Johnson), he’s from my area. So just having a staff that knows what I’m capable of and believes in me.”

On whether he feels like he’ll be able to showcase more of his game and get more of an opportunity to play next season:

“Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think for me, like I said, coaches really believe in me. First couple of weeks of practice have been going great, I love it. The way we play, the way they allow us to play, I really like it. And I’m hoping to keep it going, because it’s looking good.”

On whether there are parts of his game that are overlooked that he hasn’t been able to show yet in college:

“Yeah, I think I’m really trying to get back to what I was playing towards the end of my high school career, just playing freely. Doing more than just shooting. I think I’m a good decision maker with the ball in my hands.

“And without the ball in my hands, getting the screen set for me, my gravity can open other guys up. And defensively, I’ve been getting better every year. I got stronger, got quicker, faster.”

“And just coming from a place like Duke, a great program. Obviously, I played on two historic teams. I’m just taking everything I learned there over here and just trying to carry it over on both sides of the ball. And yeah, I think a lot of people don’t really know what I can do yet, so I’m looking forward to it.”

On the biggest thing he learned during his time at Duke:

“Just what it takes to win at a high level. I wouldn’t trade my time there for the world. I talked to my teammates every day, kept close contact with my coaches throughout the whole process.

“I still talk to some of them. So, I mean, it’s no love lost over there. I’m gonna still be rooting for them.

“And just from what I learned, just like I said, just what it takes to win. How close, how much camaraderie impacts winning. And just the way you need to play to win.”

On Jaeden Mustaf, Markus Burton and Samet Yigitoglu as he played against them in the ACC:

“Yeah, I’m real familiar with all the games. Obviously, being in the conference, scouting against them, playing against them. But Jaden’s from my area, I played against him in high school growing up.

“And then Markus, my high school teammate, went to Notre Dame with him. So I watched a lot of their games. And Samet, we played against both years we were there (at Duke).

“So I think just with them, when I found out we were getting them, I was really excited to play with them. They’re great guys, they know how to play with talent. And Samet’s a great screener, great roller, great passer.

“Jaden can take a little Swiss Army knife, he can do that a lot for us. And Markus is an automatic paint touch, he can make good decisions out of it. So I’m really excited to play with all of them.”

On how impressed he’s been so far with Aiden Sherrell:

“Yeah, I think Aiden is, I think he’s showing everybody what he wasn’t really, I’m not gonna say allowed to do, but what wasn’t needed of him to do at Alabama. He’s a gifted scorer, he’s a great screener, great playmaker, elite rebounder. So he can really do everything on the court.

“And I played against him in high school, too, in the EYBL a lot, so I was familiar with that. But I think him coming here is really gonna allow him to show everybody what he can do, and yeah, he’s been looking great.”

On whether the 3-point attempts that IU and Lamar Wilkerson took last season helped him see the program as a good fit:

“Yeah, I think for me, it was that and it was how fast they played. I wanted to go somewhere where we play fast and get up and down the court. And that mixed with, like you said, watching Lamar a lot, watching Tucker (DeVries) and all those guys, the way they played.

“The freedom they let him play with, the screens that were set for him, just everything kind of just matched my game perfectly.”

(Photo credit: Darren Harris on Instagram)

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