‘Underrated’ Dajuan Harris has been stellar for KU: ‘He can think two passes ahead’
Kansas junior Dajuan Harris, a starter and major contributor on last year’s NCAA title team, has continued his stellar point guard play through the first 11 games of 2022-23 season.
“I’ve said it 1,000 times. I can’t imagine there’s a more underrated player in the country than Juan,” KU coach Bill Self said after the Jayhawks’ 84-62 victory over Indiana on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
The 6-foot-1 Columbia, Missouri native, who is tied with Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell for first place in the Big 12 Conference with a 3.4 assist/turnover ratio, scored 10 points and dished 10 assists against three turnovers versus the Hoosiers for the first double-double of his career. He also had three steals in 28 total minutes.
Harris played all but two minutes the final half against Saturday after a foul-plagued first half limited him to 10 minutes.
“He’s got eyes everywhere all around his head,” KU coach Bill Self said Saturday, expressing delight at Harris’ on-court vision. “He can see. He can count. They used to say this about (former KU point) Jacque Vaughn … he can count to 10 or nine, so he can always see what nine guys are doing on the floor at once. Juan has that same gift.
“He can think two passes ahead. He sees that. He feels that. The other thing about him, he’s not Steve Nash (Hall of Fame point guard). I’m not even comparing that. But you know how Steve used to dribble it around and keep his dribble alive and stuff like that? The more guys dribble it’s usually bad. The more Juan dribbles, it’s good for us, because he just kind of has a way. Teams are playing good defense and then all of a sudden he can keep dribbling and if a guy turns his head he can make them pay. He’s got great feel.”
Harris — he was not one of the 15 players included on the Big 12 coaches preseason all-conference team — has been exceptional during the Jayhawks’ current four-game winning streak.
After playing just 18 foul-plagued minutes (two points, four assists two turnovers) in a 64-50 loss to Tennessee in the championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis, Harris has combined for 35 assists against seven turnovers (with 31 points) in wins over Indiana, Missouri, Seton Hall and Texas Southern.
During this nonconference season, Harris has 75 assists, second only to K-State’s Nowell, who has 89. Harris — he averages 6.8 assists per game to Nowell’s 8.1 apg — has 22 turnovers to Nowell’s 26.
Harris is right behind KU teammate Kevin McCullar on the league’s steal list. McCullar has 27 thefts; Harris 26. K-State’s Nowell is tied for fourth in the league with 22 steals. Nowell averages 14.0 points a game to Harris’ 8.0 per outing.
“You’ve always got to be ready when Juan has the ball. That’s what I learned the first day when I got here last summer. He’s going to find guys open,” KU freshman Gradey Dick said after scoring 20 points against Indiana.
“He’s the best point guard I ever played with,” Dick added.
Though known mostly for his passing, Harris has picked his spots and been able to score points when needed.
For instance, he scored eight points while McCullar had two in a 10-4 run that stretched a 50-38 lead to 60-42 with 11:34 left.
“It’s not just that he scores more points,” Self said, “he just figures out a way to utilize everybody to give us the best chance.”
The Jayhawks, who moved from No. 8 to No. 4 in the AP Top 25 on Monday, will next meet Harvard of the Ivy League at 6 p.m. Thursday at Allen Fieldhouse. Harvard is 7-4 entering Tuesday’s game at UC Irvine.
“I feel good about it, yes,” Self said of KU’s 10-1 record. The nonconference slate will officially conclude following a game against Kentucky on Jan. 28 in Lexington, Kentucky. The Big 12 schedule begins New Year’s Eve against Oklahoma State in Lawrence.
“We’ve got to beat Harvard on Thursday. But yes, we did about as well as we could do nonconference. I mean, if you go back and look at the Tennessee game, sure, I would have loved to have won that game but we learned a lot during that game, and we kind of played makeshift ball that game because of the personnel. They handled us, they whipped us, it wasn’t anything close.
“But other than that, I think we’ve probably done about as well as we could do against different styles that are not the easiest to play against sometimes. The Big Ten, I was in the league for three years and easy baskets are (tough) to get against Wisconsin and against Indiana. So, I thought we ran good enough offense to at least get some of those.”
