The Top Quotes From Giorgi’s BTN Interview

Giorgi Bezhanishvili had his first ‘talk-back’ interview on Big Ten Network on Friday, following the Illini’s first Big Ten win of the season over Minnesota.

As Giorgi always does, he had a lot to say. Here are some of his top quotes with Mike Hall.

• “I’m not a star,” after Hall called Giorgi one of Illinois’ stars.
• “To get over the hump — how they say here — to get over the hump after we’ve been losing. To get over that hump feels really good.”
• “I first heard [get over the hump] when we won the game. I liked that term and I use it now.”
• “Coach will hate me for this, but our practices are crazy. We run a lot. It’s big time.”
• Finish this sentence. My role on this team is “bring energy to the team at first, and now I want to become more of a leader.”
• “95% of the time I have a snack before bed. I live at the dorm, and we have a snack shop — it’s not a supermarket — and they have a lot of snacks there. I like sweet stuff, I get a snack before I go to sleep, it puts me in a good mood, I have a good dream after that, and then I wake up in a good mood so I have another good day. I live day by day. Every day is a good day.”
• Then they talked about Giorgi’s Walmart bike Lambo. “It’s still working. It surprised me because I’m over 240 pounds now, and to be on that bike. I’m riding that bike when it rains and snows, and a week ago, there was a big snow, and we have practice in the morning at 7. The roads weren’t cleaned yet, and I was driving my bike. Andres Feliz was driving with a car, and he saw me fall twice. I was laughing and having fun with it. Then Feliz was laughing, stopped the car, I got up, and it was a funny moment.
• “I don’t even lock my bike on campus because people know about my bike.”
• “Always before practice [I dance for fun]. Let’s put some music on and get energy for a good practice. Some professors are really cool, just all over having fun.”

Here’s the full interview with our favorite Eastern European son!