Dajuan Harris reflects on KU basketball journey before senior day: ‘Doesn’t even feel real’
For Dajuan Harris, there’s more to play for Saturday against No. 24 Arizona than seeding in the upcoming Big 12 tournament, as well as NCAA March Madness.
“It’s my last game at Allen Fieldhouse, so I’ve got to go out with a bang. (I’ll be) trying to play my hardest out there because I won’t step on that court ever again,” Harris, KU’s sixth-year senior point guard out of Columbia, Missouri, said of his final home contest as a Jayhawk.
“It’s a tradition we don’t lose on Senior Night and we’re bringing out the red jerseys. We don’t lose in those jerseys. So we’ve got to get it done And it’s a really good team, Arizona,” the 6-foot-2 Harris added of the Wildcats, who enter the 3:30 p.m. game 20-10 overall and 14-5 in the league.
KU is 19-11, 10-9.
“If we come out how we’re supposed to come out, we could get the ‘W’ for sure and keep that tradition alive,” Harris said.
KU has won 40 consecutive games on its Senior Night, a streak that started in 1983-84.
KU’s Senior Night assignment (it’s actually Senior Day this year considering the 3:30 tip) will be a difficult one. Arizona, with just five league losses, is coming off a 113-100 home victory over Arizona State on Tuesday in Tucson, Arizona.
“The way they run ... they score the ball at a very high clip. It’s going to be a fast-paced game,” Harris said. “We’re going to need some type of energy playing against a team like this, because they’re very athletic and they push the ball and score at a high level. It’s just going to be a really good game. We’ve got to come ready to play, because we already lost games (three home losses this season).”
Arizona’s leading scorer is former North Carolina guard Caleb Love, who averages 16.4 points on 37.5% shooting. He’s made 76 of 241 3s for 31.5%. Love, a 6-4 senior from St. Louis, scored 13 points on 5-of-24 shooting (1-of-8 from 3) in a 72-69 loss to KU in the 2022 NCAA title game.
Needless to say, Love is a high-volume shooter. Former KU wing Christian Braun (now with the Denver Nuggets) closely guarded Love, who missed the rim completely on a possible game-tying 3 with 2.2 seconds left in the national title game. Forward KJ Adams, who like Harris will give a Senior Night speech after the game Saturday, also jumped high with his hands high in the air while standing right behind Braun on the crucial miss that assured KU’s title.
“That’s what (Love) does. He shoots it,” said Harris, KU’s all-time leader in games played (169). “And everybody wants to play well when they come into Allen. You know the world’s going to be watching too. This is the last true away game for him (in college). So of course he’s going to try to go out with a bang, too.”
Harris met with media members Thursday as his final home game at KU approaches.
Asked his favorite memory as a Jayhawk, Harris said naturally: “It’s got to be the national championship. I’m trying to make another favorite memory, too. We’ll be trying to go on a good run after Senior Night.”
He said it’s hard to believe his last home game is Saturday.
“I’ve been here for so long. It doesn’t even feel real,” he said.
He’s especially close with fellow senior Adams and KU coach Bill Self.
Of Adams, Harris said Thursday: “Me and KJ, the things we’ve been through, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs. We’ve had a lot of talks. In the back of the bus we sit next to each other. We spend so much time together. We know each other well. It’s been a fun time playing with him.”
Of Self, Harris said: “I just know he changed my life forever (taking Harris as a partial qualifier out of high school). He’s got my back. He knows I’ve got his back.
Harris said Self has helped him become more of a vocal leader. Harris plans to step up his leadership skills this postseason.
“When stuff goes bad, I need to be more vocal,” he said. “I talk, but I need to be on players more. It’s getting down to crunch time. Whenever we start doing stuff we’re not supposed to be doing I need to speak up more, get that aggressive side out of me.”
Self said Harris has indeed come a long way in six years at Kansas.
“Dealing with adversity, becoming more responsible, more accountable,” Self said. “ I think there’s a lot of things that he’s done personally through intangible type things that that that will be great preparation for him to have a very successful life. He has defied the odds (becoming an A-student, overcoming the death of his brother) about as much as anybody that’s rolled through here. I’m really proud of how he’s grown up and basically hasn’t used negativity to be his energy. Hasn’t used bitterness to be his energy. He’s been much bigger than that and and he sees the good in things far different I believe than he did when he first got here.”
