Why KU’s biggest play vs. UTEP was so unexpected — and what it could mean for future
The Kansas Jayhawks have spent most of the 2020-21 men’s basketball season making easy offense look difficult.
KU, to be frank, is lousy at getting easy baskets. The Jayhawks don’t pass it well, they don’t have gifted penetrators and their big men don’t seal like so many successful Bill Self-coached teams have in the past.
It means the droughts are frequent, and the runs are rare. This, statistically, is the worst offensive team Self has had by a long shot, and that anchor around the neck doesn’t appear to be going anywhere as KU looks to make an NCAA Tournament run.
And yet, knowing all that backdrop made the biggest play of KU’s 67-62 home win over UTEP even more fascinating.
After 36 minutes filled with bobbling and blunders — when KU trailed by four with 3:50 left — the Jayhawks scored a big-boy basket.
And did so by making two tough individual plays look really, really simple.
This was keyed by Dajuan Harris, who was being double-teamed with the shot clock winding down. He’s played youth basketball with Christian Braun since seventh grade, so perhaps it’s no surprise that was his first read when Braun cut to the basket.
The motion took two defenders, though, which left Harris with a better option. He saw teammate Ochai Agbaji cutting to the opposite corner, so Harris quickly flung a right-handed bounce pass to set him up for a three.
From there, Agbaji squared and fired, pushing it up while positioned slightly behind the backboard in the corner.
The shot remained pure — straight through the center of the cylinder as KU pulled back within one.
“We just made eye contact, and I just hit him,” Harris said afterward. “Tried to make the perfect pass.”
This execution has been so rare for KU that the moment stood out by a mile.
The Jayhawks haven’t had many of their shooters attempt many “baseline drifts” like Agbaji did this season, mostly because ... well, their passers haven’t had the vision or ability to get the ball to that opposite side.
This, for a few seconds, looked like an NBA team in sync, with Harris feeling out the defense before using basketball instincts and teammate awareness to pull off a play that left him one step ahead of the defense no matter what move it attempted.
“We had no chance to win the game today without Dajuan,” Self said later.
KU’s blessing and curse this season is that no one — Self included — knows who his best players are going to be on a given night. David McCormack came in after one of his best games of the year against Baylor, then promptly had an awful first half against UTEP before settling in late.
Agbaji didn’t do much Saturday, but was KU’s only offensive threat in the first half Thursday. Braun’s shooting confidence seems to shift game to game, while Jalen Wilson appears to be KU’s top player when the team is at its best ... and always struggling when the Jayhawks are either losing or sweating out a close one.
So perhaps it’s not shocking that the potential was there Thursday for Harris — as a reserve — to step in as KU’s top player for a night. He had six points and made two crucial free throws late, but more than that, he brought activity in the form of deflections defensively and an additional spark with his passing and aggressiveness in 25 minutes.
“He totally controlled the game,” Self said.
And yet Harris still is a tough player to figure out.
He’s pesky defensively but sometimes can be out-muscled by bigger players. And on offense, he’s unselfish but barely looks to score, which can sometimes result in teams sagging off to the point where he’s negatively affecting his teammates.
And still ... others seem to play better with him on the court. The data at EvanMiya.com speaks to some of this, as it tracks the top teammate lineups based on the adjusted efficiency when two players are out there together.
KU’s top three two-man teammate combos this season, according to EvanMiya.com’s numbers: 1. Braun and Harris; 2. Agbaji and Harris; 3. Wilson and Harris.
The freshman seems to have a way of lifting teammates, especially during those times when he’s subbed for Marcus Garrett while allowing Self to avoid his “two-guards-out-there-that-aren’t-going-to-shoot-threes” lineup.
Sure, some of Harris’ numbers are buoyed by a KU blowout victory at TCU when Garrett didn’t play. And of course, there’s always a concern about how teams might defensively target Harris when he’s not aggressively offensively.
For this night, though, he showed the type of value he can bring for a team still searching for any pathways to improved scoring.
Harris said after the game that one of his main goals is always to look for shooters. Agbaji even laughed with him about his baseline assist after the game, wondering if Harris had seen him the whole time.
It was a play worthy of extra discussion. In a season filled with offensive struggles, the Jayhawks looked both fearless and fluid during the game’s biggest possession, with Harris coming through with a pass that only he could make for KU.
The Jayhawks, when they needed it most, made the difficult seem oh-so easy.
And that started with a spark-plug point guard, whose confidence should only grow with the most important games ahead.
This story was originally published March 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
