Dante Harris Stakes His Claim As Georgetown's Point Guard of the Future
The freshman point guard stuffed the stat sheet on Saturday night, proving that he is the team's long-term answer at the point guard position.
With Jahvon Blair having a rare off-night during Georgetown’s 81-75 win over Seton Hall on Saturday night, finishing with just 3 points on 1-of-6 shooting, Georgetown needed someone else to step up in his place to help push the hosts past the visiting Pirates.
Enter, Dante Harris.
It has been an up-and-down freshman season for Harris, who was thrust into the starting point guard spot just six games into the season after Jalen Harris took a leave of absence, but on Saturday night, Harris showed that he belongs on this stage, and he is deserving of being this team’s starting point guard— both now and for the future.
Harris picked up Blair’s slack, scoring 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds and eight assists— an impressive stat line for any freshman guard, impacting the game in multiple areas.
It wasn’t just Georgetown fans who were impressed by Harris’ sparkling performance on Saturday night, some Georgetown basketball alums took notice too. Jagan Mosely, in particular, was vocal in his support of Harris.
Patrick Ewing was so pleased with both Harris and his whole team’s performance, that the Georgetown head coach was in a joking mood after the game, when asked about Harris’ night.
“He’s terrible,” cracked Ewing, who later revealed he said that only because Harris walked into the room at the same time.
“I thought he played very well,” continued Ewing after getting in a good laugh. “The only blip on his radar is the turnovers. He had 14 points, 8 assists, he played tough-nosed defense, he ran the team, he played great.”
The advanced numbers have painted a pretty ugly picture for Harris so far this season, but the 6-foot guard continues to show plenty of flashes that show he’s the answer for the Hoyas at the point guard position moving forward.
In his last five games before the Hoyas’ season was put on pause due to COVID-19, Harris averaged 5.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and an ugly 3.4 turnovers per game, while shooting 25.6% from the field and 35.7% from three.
Since Georgetown returned from its COVID pause, Harris has turned his season around, upping his numbers across all categories, while cutting down on his turnovers.
In the last six games, Harris is averaging 8.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game, and is now averaging 2.5 turnovers per contest. He’s also shooting the ball better during this stretch, shooting 41.3% from the field and 31.3% from three.
Perhaps what is most refreshing about Harris’ game is his attention to the finer details of the game of basketball.
Harris is tied with Blair and Don Carey for top rebounding rate among Georgetown guards this season, at 6.1%, and against Seton Hall, Harris was fourth on the team in rebounding rate, at 10.5%.
His defensive work has stood out too. In Georgetown’s upset win at Creighton, Harris limited Bluejays star Marcus Zegarowski to just 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting with three turnovers. Against Villanova star point guard Collin Gillespie, Harris kept him in check too, with Gillespie finishing with 12 points on just seven shot attempts.
On Saturday against the Pirates, Harris had the second lowest defensive rating on the team, behind Qudus Wahab. He also had the second-highest stop percentage, behind only Wahab, again. Stop percentage is defined as the rate of defensive possessions where the opposing team did not score.
To have a starting point guard who takes pride in doing the dirty work and taking care of the little things that help a team win is certainly a refreshing change for Georgetown fans. And it’s something that Harris is proud of too.
“I love to fight. Whatever I can do to help my teammates win I’m going to do that,” said Harris after the Seton Hall win. “If that’s getting a defensive rebound, diving on the floor, playing defense, I’m going to do whatever it takes to get the win.”
For a Hoyas team that is still in rebuilding mode, Harris’ recent performance, highlighted by his outing against Seton Hall, has done a lot to quiet any concerns the team might have had about his potential as a long-term starting point guard for this team.
With Harris steadying the point guard position and showing he can impact winning at a high level, that solves one piece of the puzzle for Georgetown, as they look to get on the fast track towards Big East contention.