KU was ‘crushed’ by Dajuan Harris foul trouble. Bill Self was troubled by what came next
Dajuan Harris’ sudden, unexpected foul trouble caused major problems for Kansas men’s basketball Saturday at Kansas State’s Bramlage Coliseum.
“I think it crushed us,” KU coach Bill Self said of Harris being limited to just four minutes in the first half of the Jayhawks’ 81-73 loss Kansas State. Taking advantage of KU’s unsettled point guard situation, K-State scored at will the first 20 minutes en route to a 44-36 halftime advantage.
“And they were bad plays,” Self added of three quick fouls committed by the 6-foot-2 Columbia, Missouri native. Harris first hacked Max Jones on a shot attempt just 1:19 into the game. Then he fouled Brendan Hausen on a non-shooting violation and took a seat on the bench with foul No. 2 at 16:14.
Harris returned to the game at 10:14, yet 18 seconds later left with his third foul, hacking Coleman Hawkins (12 points, eight assists, five rebounds, five blocks) as he attempted to race past Harris on a drive try.
“I didn’t see the last one. They said he tripped him. Is that right?” Self asked the media after the game. “They said it wasn’t with his hand but was with his foot, which may have been a good call. I’m not saying it wasn’t.
“But the thing about it is, how do you put yourself in that position being a sixth-year senior?” Self continued. “You know, that was tough, but yes, playing with out Juan is not good for us. We need him out there for some stability without question.”
On Saturday, they needed him for defense, as the Wildcats hit 54.3% of their first-half shots, including going 3-of-5 from 3.
“It was tough,” senior center Hunter Dickinson said of Harris playing so few minutes the first half. Harris did finish with six assists, two steals, four points and no turnovers in 24 minutes, all 20 the final half.
“That kind of goes to show you how important he is to the team. Unbeknownst to some people on social media, I think that first half really proved how important No. 3 (Harris) is to us. When he has three fouls like that, early on, it can be tough,” Dickinson added.
Self was asked by a media member if Harris’ early absence “shocked the team and set the tone for the game.”
“I think it probably did,” Self said. “But to me that’s also a sign of not being very mentally tough (as a team). If one thing can set the tone for the whole thing, there’s stuff you’ve got to play through. And granted, we had it to six at halftime, but then (David N’Guessan) makes an unbelievable shot that we actually defended very well.”
That shot was a deep step-back jumper outside of the paint at the halftime buzzer.
“I actually felt decent coming out of halftime (down eight with Harris able to start the second half with three fouls),” Self continued. “We got wide open looks to start the second half and didn’t make them.
“I did think Juan played pretty well the second half, but it wasn’t a situation where he could probably be as aggressive as he wanted to.”
KU did hit 30 of 60 shots for the game for 50%. The Jayhawks, however, were just 3-of-14 from 3, 7-footer Dickinson putting up four late 3s and hitting one.
Dickinson led the way with 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting with nine rebounds. KJ Adams had 13 points, all of them the first half, and Zeke Mayo scored 15 points with five assists to five turnovers.
K-State torched KU’s defense for 11 3s in 27 attempts and overall hit 33 of 66 shots for 50%.
Self offered a reason for the defeat to the media after addressing the team:
“What I just told them is it’s been very difficult for us, for whatever reason, to (string) games of superb energy back to back, or even consistently at all,” he said. “I mean, you guys have seen this, there are times against elite teams, we can lock anybody down, and there’s times that we can’t guard our shadow.
“I thought K State played unreal. They shot it great. They were faster. They played with more energy. But we didn’t do anything to make them play out of rhythm at all. It was a very dull defensive game. I mean, maybe Jerome (Tang, KSU coach) would say the same thing too, because we got the shots we wanted, but I didn’t think we played with energy defensively, and we’re not quick enough to keep up with speed when you aren’t turned up, and we weren’t defensively turned up. Our offense actually came over here. To score 73 .... I’d take that before the game starts, and say, ‘All right, let’s see what happens.’ But obviously our defensive play (was not adequate).”
KU will next meet Colorado at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
