There were plenty of things to like about the way Dajuan Harris Jr. led No. 9 Kansas to a critical 88-80 victory over 5th-ranked Texas on Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
But the two biggest positives were related to each other and offered a glimpse into why Harris had one of the best games of his career.
First, after being told all season to shoot more and be more aggressive on offense, Harris did exactly that, knocking in 8 of 16 shots to finish with 17 points on the night.
That, in and of itself, would qualify as big news and a major key for this particular Kansas team.
“When he plays the way he played tonight, it makes their team a lot better,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said after the game. “If he had scored two points in the game tonight, it’s probably an advantage for us.”
Beyond his point total, though, was the way Harris expressed his understanding of the importance of his aggressive play. That’s what led you to believe it might become a more regular thing for the Jayhawks from here on out.
“I set the tone with it on the defensive end,” Harris said after the victory. “Coach was preaching that all weekend.”
That intensity on defense, which showed up immediately after the opening tip — none of it more impressive than Harris just flat-out taking the ball out of Texas guard Tyrese Hunter’s hands 68 seconds into the game — carried over to his offense and kept Harris in attack mode on both ends all night.
“I had my floater,” he said. That’s what I guess they wanted me to shoot. Some of them were falling and some of them weren’t. I was just trying to create for myself and if I didn’t have it I tried to create for my teammates.”
Harris’ 16 shots were a season and career high. In fact, he had attempted double-digit shots just four times in his entire Kansas career heading into Monday night.
Get this, the 16 shots were more than half of the total number of shots Harris took during last year’s entire six-game NCAA Tournament run.
Self joked with Harris about his high-volume offense after the game.
“I asked him in the locker room have you ever shot 16 shots in a game before,” Self began. “He said, ‘Yeah, I did once in fifth grade.’ And I said, ‘Fifth grade doesn’t count, dude.’
“We’re better when he’s aggressive,” Self added. “He’s gone through several games this year where his energy level didn’t look like he was aggressive (getting) downhill. He was just kind of a possession player, and he needs to be in attack mode and be aggressive all the time.”
Harris knows this. He’s heard it for three or four years now, from coaches and teammates alike. And there was one more telling moment from Harris’ meeting with the media following Monday’s big win over the Longhorns.
When asked about the impact and contributions from reserve guard Joe Yesufu, who scored 14 points for the Jayhawks off the bench on Monday night, Harris uttered words about his running mate that so many others have said about Harris in the past.
“We tell him every day to be aggressive,” Harris said. “And we’re going to need that out of Joe because he’s a great scorer. He can do everything. We need that out of him every game, so he’s got to just keep it up.”
If Yesufu heeds that advice and Harris remembers to listen to it as much as he dishes it out, the ceiling for this Kansas team might be where people thought it was a few weeks ago, when Self’s squad looked like one of the best teams in the country.
Just as it did Monday night.
