Gicarri Harris Wanted to Start For Purdue But Finds Great Value in Bench Role
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Gicarri Harris wanted to be a starter for Purdue this season. It's something he worked toward during the summer and fall, hoping to crack the starting rotation for the top-ranked Boilermakers when the season started.
That's how the journey began for Harris when he arrived in West Lafayette. As a true freshman in the 2024-25 season, the Atlanta product started in the first 13 games of the season for Purdue before coach Matt Painter made a switch, inserting fellow freshman CJ Cox into the starting rotation.
Harris had hoped to win that job back. Unfortunately for the sophomore guard, that hasn't been the case — at least not yet. He could choose to mope, pout, and complain about not starting. Instead, Harris is attacking his role as a bench player with a positive outlook.
"It wasn't anything bad. I'm still getting great minutes," Harris told reporters on Wednesday. "It's not something negative to look at. I'm still part of a team, I still have a great opportunity, and I can still help the team out, whether I'm starting or coming in off the bench."
Painter has acknowledged, multiple times, that Purdue is a team that has more than five starters on the roster. The sophomore guard would be in a starting rotation for a lot of teams around the Big Ten, but Harris is committed to helping Purdue win.
He flashed his potential during exhibition play, scoring 20 points against UIndy in late October. He's struggled in the first two games of the regular season offensively, scoring just three points on 1-of-12 shooting from the floor.
Where Harris has made a bigger impact, though, is on the defensive end. While he's on the bench for those first four or five minutes in the game, he's not just sitting and waiting to hear his name called. Like a true student of the game, the guard is studying his opponent, hoping to have an upper hand when he checks in.
"When I'm looking at the first four minutes, I'm looking to see who is being aggressive on the other team, what's going on throughout the game, stuff like that," Harris said. "So, when I go in, I know where to key in. I definitely think that helps me."
Harris is averaging 17.5 minutes per game through the first two contests of the season. Purdue needs him to be productive in that time on the court on Thursday, as the Boilermakers travel to play No. 8 Alabama.
The sophomore guard may not be one of Purdue's starters against the Crimson Tide, but he's hoping to be one of the five who close out the game in Tuscaloosa.
"I feel like it's even more important to finish out games," Harris said. "So I'm trying to finish out as many games as possible."
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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