Gameday Breakdown: Dajuan Harris Jr. and No. 6 Kansas prepare for a hostile environment at Mizzou

By Matt Tait     Dec 9, 2022

Nick Krug
Kansas guard Dajuan Harris Jr. (3) gets in for a bucket against Pittsburg State guard Magic Reliford (11) during the second half of an exhibition on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas point guard Dajuan Harris Jr., grew up with black and gold staring him in the face around just about every corner.

A native of Columbia, Missouri, Harris was educated early on how most of the people in his hometown felt about the school for which he one day would wind up playing.

“Me growing up in Missouri, (I always heard) that we don’t like Kansas,” Harris said. “That’s always been the way it was, but I got older and realized coming here was the best (thing) for me.”

Now, as he prepares to go back to play in his hometown, Harris’ focus is on treating Saturday’s game with the Tigers — 4:15 p.m. tipoff from Mizzou Arena on ESPN — like any other game.

“Really, just the same mindset,” he said. “Not to worry about the crowd too much. They’re probably going to say some words to me, but I’ve just got to play my game and not worry about that and try to get the win for my team.”

Kansas coach Bill Self is hoping that Harris’ plan will be as easy to execute as it is to say.

“My question for Juan is not if he’ll be revved up,” Self said Thursday. “My question is will he be too revved up? That’s the last thing you want. Sometimes, emotionally, if we get too charged up it leads to not performing as well. I just want him to be him rather than him worrying about trying to play well because he’s from Columbia.”

While Saturday’s game will be a homecoming for Harris — he already has 13 friends and family members on his pass list and has been asked for tickets from several more people — the reality of the situation is the Tigers were never in play for KU’s point guard.

Recruited only lightly out of Columbia’s Rock Bridge High School, Harris initially signed with Missouri State but did not qualify academically, opening the door for Kansas to get involved.

“My main focus was KU because they were the only people that tried to help me,” Harris said Thursday.

The way Harris tells it, Missouri did eventually call him but only after they heard that Self had gotten involved. By that time, it was too late. And those close to Harris had no issue whatsoever with sending him across the state line.

“KU’s always been the best, so the people I’ve been with they really didn’t care about me coming to KU,” he said. “It was just the outside people saying stuff.”

That’s not to say that this one won’t have some extra meaning for Harris. After all, his best friend, Missouri guard Isiaih Mosley, will be on the other bench, and countless people from his past will be watching to see whether Harris wins or loses in his first ever game at Mizzou Arena.

Self likes that. And he thinks the circumstances are as likely to play in KU and Harris’ favor as they are to hurt them because the best moments in this rivalry have long been born from emotion.

“(Other rivalries don’t) feel quite the same as the historical rivalry that’s existed between Missouri and Kansas, going way back before the universities even had basketball programs,” Self said.

Self pointed to former Kansas football coach Don Fambrough’s bitter hatred of all things Missouri and former Mizzou basketball coach Norm Stewart’s pledge that he wouldn’t spend a dime in the state of Kansas.

“That type of mindset created such interest and emotion (and) made it what it is,” Self said. “I think that’s what makes it special and good, and I’m sure it’ll be full of all those things on Saturday.”

Saturday’s game will be just the second between the two border rivals since Missouri left for the SEC following the 2011-12 season. After being dormant for nearly a decade, the rivalry was renewed last season with a 102-65 Kansas victory at Allen Fieldhouse.

Christian Braun, another known Missouri hater, was the star of that game, but Harris played well, too, scoring 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting with two assists and a steal. So what does he remember about that game?

“How bad we beat them,” Harris said Thursday. “We had some great players on last year’s team and I fed off them.”

There will be an added element to feed off of in this year’s game — the hatred from the road crowd. And although Harris and Self and a couple of others on KU’s roster understand that, there will be measures taken to make sure the rest of the Jayhawks get it, as well.

“I don’t know (that) we’ll do anything special,” Self said. “But we will certainly let it be known this is an important game to their fan base and our fan base. And it is. It is a big game for both fan bases. It’ll go a long way with both programs (in) determining on how good a non-conference season we have.”

According to KU’s records, the Jayhawks lead the all-time series with the Tigers 175-95. KU has won three in a row over Mizzou and eight of the last nine matchups between the two rivals.

Self is 17-4 at Kansas against the Tigers, with a 10-0 record at Allen Fieldhouse and a 5-4 mark in Columbia. KU also defeated the Tigers twice in the Big 12 tournament and Self’s Illinois teams were 3-0 against the Tigers in that rivalry game, which was played annually in St. Louis.

No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks (8-1) at Missouri Tigers (9-0)

Time: 4:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022

Location: Mizzou Arena, Columbia, Missouri

TV: ESPN | Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network via Learfield

Keys for Kansas

1. Brace for the madness

Last year, it was KU fans at Allen Fieldhouse who got the first crack at impacting this historic rivalry after a 10-year layoff. This time, it’s the Tigers and their fans who will get the game on their home floor, and there’s no doubt that Mizzou Arena will be as explosive as it has been in years when this one tips off.

The 15,061-seat venue will be bursting with noise, electricity and venom, and the Jayhawks will have to find a way to block all of that out in order to stay focused on the game plan and execute the way they want to.

The fact that this will be KU’s first true road game of the season — and the first actual road game in the KU careers of several players — only adds to the importance of staying composed.

“You go to Indy (for the Champions Classic) and those aren’t live bullets,” Self said. “You to go the Bahamas and 50% of the people are still cheering for you. This is different. This is like going right into the hornet’s nest. It will be different. It would be nice to ease into these situations but that’s not the way the schedule sets up.”

Harris said it will be up to him, Jalen Wilson and Kevin McCullar, veterans who have played in big games and big environments, to set the tone for the rest of the team.

“We know that the crowd’s going to give them energy,” Harris said. “We just have to come in and not worry too much about the crowd and focus on the game.”

2. Play fast but efficient

So far this season, Missouri has been one of the fastest teams in the team in the country, using its defensive intensity to swipe a national-best 126 steals and forcing opponents into 21 turnovers per game.

Some teams like to play slower when facing an opponent like that. Not Kansas.

“I don’t think we’ve ever shied away from playing fast. At all,” Self said this week.

The efficiency angle of that approach will be key in this one. Self said teams like Missouri often speed up their opponents so much that they take them out of playing basic fundamental basketball.

“Sometimes teams can forget about how you score the easiest and you try to score on the first semi-open look and things like that,” Self said. “We certainly want to play fast but I think it’s real important that we play (to) get an easy basket now and then.”

Taking care of the basketball will be a key part of the equation, and if the Jayhawks limit their turnovers, they should be able to run effective offense both in transition and half-court sets.

3. Attack, attack, attack

This game will be all about which team does a better job of putting pressure on the other.

For the Tigers, that will mean trying to turn Kansas over and force the Jayhawks into mistakes on offense.

For the Jayhawks, that should mean playing with an attacking mindset from the opening tip. No settling for jumpers early and bailing out Mizzou with quick shots. No tentative possessions or lazy passes. Get the ball and go — after makes and misses — and get downhill by attacking the paint as often as possible.

That’s the way the Jayhawks like to play anyway, but it will be particularly key in this matchup of styles. Harris, Wilson and McCullar will all be a key part of that, but so, too, will freshman Gradey Dick and reserve guards Bobby Pettiford and MJ Rice.

The Tigers are not likely to give Dick much space in this one. So the shot fake and drive could be a nice weapon for the KU freshman. Playing this way also could lead to a bunch of fouls and a bunch of whistles would break the up-and-down chaos that the Tigers tend to prefer.

Marquee Matchup

KU’s front court vs. Missouri forward Kobe Brown

Self said figuring out how to guard Missouri’s 6-foot-8, 250-pound senior, who is one of just three players on the roster from last season’s team, was arguably the most important part of the game for the Jayhawks.

It helps that Brown is not a true post player with a significant height and size advantage over KU’s undersized front line. But Self said the way MU coach Dennis Gates is using him this year — compared to last year when he did play primarily in the post ¬– has unlocked his game.

“Even though he’s not their leading scorer, how you’re going to guard Brown is really important because he can put a lot of guys in foul trouble,” Self said.

Kansas has guys. But with 6-7 sophomore KJ Adams playing the majority of the minutes at the 5 and back-up bigs Ernest Udeh Jr., Zuby Ejiofor and Zach Clemence combining to play just over 9% of the minutes for Kansas this season, Adams staying out of foul trouble will be critical.

He’s strong enough, tall enough and athletic enough to match up with Brown. But how he defends him on the perimeter — both as a 3-point shooter and when he drives — will be the biggest part of the challenge for Adams and Kansas.

Brown enters the game as the Tigers’ second-leading scorer (14.3 points per game) and top rebounder at 5.8 boards per game in 23.7 minutes. He’s shooting 64% from the floor (53-of-83), 37% from 3-point range (7-of-19) and 76% at the free throw line (16-of-21).

Probable Starters

No. 6 Kansas

G – Dajuan Harris Jr., 6-1, 175, Jr.

G – Kevin McCullar Jr., 6-6, 210, Sr.

G – Gradey Dick, 6-8, 205, Fr.

F – Jalen Wilson, 6-8, 225, Soph.

F – KJ Adams, 6-7, 225, Soph.

Missouri

G – Nick Honor, 5-10, 200, Gr-Sr.

G – Da’Moi Hodge, 6-4, 188, Gr-Sr.

G – DeAndre Gholston, 6-5, 215, Gr-Sr.

F – Noah Carter, 6-6, 235, Sr.

F – Kobe Brown, 6-8, 250, Sr.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.