BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 13, 2021

Dante Harris

Georgetown Hoyas

Madison Square Garden

Postgame Media Conference

Georgetown - 73, Creighton - 48

Q. Early on in this tournament, the thing happened with your coach where he wasn't recognized in that building. And I think that obviously he was kind of taken aback by that. And maybe it gave him a little edge. I'm just wondering if that kind of translated to the players -- you know what, he's overlooked; we're overlooked and we'd like to change that and fix that?

DANTE HARRIS: Everything good. We good. Just won the Big East championship.

Q. Was there any kind of like motivation from that or drive or anything that carried through?

DANTE HARRIS: No. We good. We just won the Big East championship. We just played with a lot of heart today.

Q. Can you share with us what the locker room scene was like, particularly with Coach Ewing given his importance to the Georgetown program and since the passing of coach John Thompson?

DANTE HARRIS: The locker room was energetic. We stayed together. At halftime, we were happy. I tried to get my guys to stay calm. We had another 20 minutes to go.

And once the final buzzer went off that's when we celebrate. And once Coach got in there and we cut down the nets and all the awards and things everybody got wet. So it was a good run.

Q. Earlier in the season I asked if you were nervous after taking the starting role as a freshman. Talk about your growth because it seems like you've grown leaps and bounds since you kind of took that next step.

DANTE HARRIS: I wouldn't say I was nervous. I know God is always on my side, and that's all I need. If I've got God, then I'm a warrior and I'm ready to go. Basketball is basketball, like I said before, and I've got my team on my side to lift me up when I'm down. So it's good.

Q. Right after the game Fox showed Jahvon pulling you to the side having some words for you. Curious what that conversation was like. And overall how has Jahvon helped you grow this season and kind of grow into now the Big East MVP for the tournament?

DANTE HARRIS: It was great. Excellent. He pushed me to be a better version of myself, not just in basketball but off the court as well. We stuck together. He told me that I'm great and I'm headed for greatness. I look up to that.

And it's not just about me right now. It's about the whole team. The most valuable player is the whole team, I think. And I know that. And I give the awards to my teammates.

Q. Going to the NCAA Tournament in your freshman year, what's that mean to you?

DANTE HARRIS: It's great. I'm blessed first and foremost. I'm just ready to continue to make noise, continue to put our mark on the map. And let's go win another championship.

Q. What's the first year, this freshman year been like for you? You come in, you have COVID, it's not usual circumstances, you start off playing okay but then even Coach McDermott felt you were the best freshman in the league the second half of the season. How has the season been for you?

DANTE HARRIS: It's been tough for everybody because of COVID and things like that. But if you just stick with it, continue to get in the gym, some days you're going to have bad days. Some days you're going to have good days. It's about who continues to work and who continues to fight. That's what I did and that's what we did. As a collective group we continued to fight and we continued to push and we beat the odds.

Q. What's the feeling like to have the most outstanding player, the same award that your coach, Patrick Ewing, had in the 1980s?

DANTE HARRIS: I'm blessed and grateful for it. I give all praise to God. I could never have done it without him. I give it to my teammates, my coaches, the whole Georgetown community. They were behind us.

And, like I said before, I give the most valuable player to the team, man, because I couldn't have done it without them.

Q. What has Bile, how has Bile positively impacted the team sense the COVID break?

DANTE HARRIS: Tremendous. He brings great energy to the team each and every day. Positive energy. He's a dog. He's going to go after each ball. And we feed off that energy.

The bench, everybody feeds off that energy. When a player is energetic, hype, everybody starts to get hyped. And that's all we need.