“I came here as a scorer, but I could always play defense," Harris said. "It just hadn't happened for me. I knew my ability, this coaching staff helped bring it out of me in a system manner. Playing in a system not just playing off my instincts, I can’t gamble, I have to stay solid — that’s how you play system defense. I’m learning that, I’m willing to learn it. I’ve been watching film and I’m able to use my athletic ability to do that now."

Harris said he thinks his game is now at an all-time high with the level of defense he has been able to play, and he feels good that his teammates are beginning to think of him as a leader on the defensive end of the court.

MSU senior guard Denzel Valentine said after MSU's defensively dominant win against Wisconsin on Feb. 18 that Harris was "leading the charge" for MSU on the defensive end. Valentine said seeing Harris embrace his role as a top defender for MSU becomes infectious for the rest of the team.

"I think that starts with Eron,” Valentine said after MSU's win against Wisconsin. “If you look at all the games, first play he’s smacking the ground. He’s being aggressive defensively at first. He’s watching extra film, making defense more important. I think we follow that, and so we see Eron do that and it would look stupid for him to be aggressive and for us to just relax and be on our heels, so we try to be like Eron."

Izzo said seeing Harris take such pride on the defensive end of the court is special for him because he knows it can be hard for offensive-minded players to change their game and focus in on the defensive end. 

"I’ve been more impressed with Eron Harris in the last three weeks than I was all last year," Izzo said Monday. "And last year he did some things in practice that I couldn’t even believe. ... Usually offensive players don’t feel as good about defensive things as defensive players would feel as good about an offensive stat that they improved on. But he’s bought in, and I don’t know if it’s because we constantly talk about the players before him that had some success."

Izzo said he noticed Harris has seemingly "flipped a switch" on the defensive end. Izzo said Harris now gets excited about guarding another team's top offensive threat and isn't afraid to ask Izzo for the challenge. 

In the past two games, Harris has helped MSU hold both Indiana and Wisconsin to under 40 percent shooting as a team. Harris also was instrumental in helping MSU hold both Indiana senior Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell to just nine points and Wisconsin junior guard Bronson Koenig to just 12 points during those games, with most of Koenig's coming late in the game when MSU had a large lead.

"You know, I look at a Charlie Bell as an example," Izzo said. "Eron Harris could be like him, he’s a slasher and he can do things and who knows where it can take him. But he just improved his game by 50 percent, because he went from, to me, a very very average defender, to now he’s turned himself into a very good defender. His offense will start coming off of that, I already know that can be good. And he’s going to put himself in a position where, as time goes here, I think his game’s going to really take off."