Jared Harper on EuroLeague: 'It's more like college basketball' / News - Basketnews.com

Jared Harper, who has experienced the highest level of NCAA basketball, compared the EuroLeague to college hoops due to the importance of each game and the atmosphere the fans create.

Credit: Valencia Basket/Miguel Angel Polo Credit Valencia Basket/Miguel Angel Polo

After spending three seasons in the NBA and the G-League, Jared Harper is now part of Valencia Basket in the Spanish Liga Endesa and the EuroLeague.

Valencia Basket / Schedule

Valencia Basket AS Monaco89-84 Virtus Segafredo Bologna Valencia BasketThu19:30 Valencia Basket Real Madrid11-2219:30

In his first year in Europe, the 1.78-meter tall guard is getting slowly adjusted to the game overseas. While he's averaging 9.2 points and 3.5 assists for 7.3 PIR in the EuroLeague, the player's numbers are better in the ACB - 12 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists for 11.8 PIR.

"I feel very good. It took me a bit but I'm learning how to play here and how my teammates play and what the coach wants," Harper told during the press conference before the game against Virtus Segafredo Bologna.

Harper was also a part of the Auburn Tigers team in the NCAA, earning second-team All-SEC honors during his junior season while also leading the team to a Final Four during the March Madness.

"I am a basketball player. My way of playing can be used anywhere," the guard told. "There are small differences between the game in the United States and in Europe but it is about concrete details."

"A match here means more than there. It's more like college basketball where there's more pressure with every game. The atmosphere reminds me a little of those meetings," the player compared. "It's not like the regular NBA league, every game here looks like one of the NBA playoffs."

According to BasketNews' Darius Garuolis, so far, the 2022-23 EuroLeague season has the highest average attendance in league history. If the attendance numbers keep up at the same pace, by the end of the season, around 2.7M fans will have watched at least one EuroLeague outing from the stands.

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