Gameday At BWA Q&A: Alandise Harris
Game Day Q&A at BWA – Alandise Harris (@AlandiseHarris)
In his second and final season with the Razorbacks, senior Alandise Harris has grown into his role as a key contributor that brings intensity both as a starter and when he comes off the bench. Back in the starting lineup for the last four games, Harris reached double figures in back-to-back performances at Missouri and against Tennessee, scoring a team-high 14 points at Missouri with five rebounds. Harris has just 10 regular season games left in his collegiate career and the Little Rock, Arkansas native knows that this is the time for Arkansas to step up and set itself apart from other SEC teams.
You are just under halfway through SEC play. What has stood out to you about conference play thus far?
“All of the games have been close because a lot of the teams have the same conference rankings. There’s five or six teams tied for second place in the SEC and we’ve just got to set ourselves apart from the others in the next 10 games.”
As an Arkansas native, what has it been like playing for the University of Arkansas?
“It’s been a great experience, something I always wanted to do. All I heard about were the Arkansas Razorbacks when I was growing up and I always wanted to play football and basketball here. So I got half of that accomplished.”
You had big scoring games against Tennessee and Missouri. What enabled those performances?
“Just being aggressive offensively. If I’m not aggressive, I can’t score. I’m going to always play defense, so that’s not a part I worry about. But If I’m aggressive on offense, I can get a lot done and that’s with passing or scoring.”
You’re heading into the last 10 regular season games of your collegiate career. What will you miss most about playing for the Razorbacks?
“I’ll miss the fans and the “fastest 40 minutes” the most. I probably won’t get to play up and down press like that again. And I’ll miss the environment. We have so many loyal fans. If we win, they win.”
How hard is it to shake off a close loss like the one against Florida on Saturday?
“It’s pretty easy to shake off a loss like that. Because that game came down to a 50/50 call. So that game wasn’t that tough to get over. But the part that we had to talk about is that they [Florida] even got the offensive rebound. The rest of it is what it is, we just move on to the next game.”
You next face South Carolina who beat Iowa State just a month ago. What has the team been doing mentally and physically to prepare for that game?
“We’re just straightening up on our offense and defense. We’ve been talking about what we need to do against a physical South Carolina team. They’re physical all around and all they try to do is win the rebound war all the way around. Other than that, we just have to get back to our tempo and we should be alright.”
In your last interview, you mentioned that team chemistry was the biggest improvement from last season to this season. Would you say that that continues to be true? In what other ways would you say the team has improved?
“Yes, that still continues to be true. We still hang strong on and off the court. We call one another, talk to one another. We can talk to each other without it being an altercation and people listen to each other. We’ve also gotten a lot better with our poise in games when teams make a run at us. During a whole 40 minute game, our poise has gotten a lot better. When we come down, we try to get a good shot and work it around and try to get the right guys the ball with a good open shot or a cut to the basket.”
