KU basketball’s Jamari McDowell emerges as success story in redshirt sophomore year
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- McDowell shifted from scarce minutes to five starts, averaging 24.1 minutes.
- His shooting surged: 42.1% overall and 44.4% on his last 27 3-pointers.
- KU is 7-1 when McDowell plays significant minutes; team offense lifted without DP.
After playing just one minute versus Duke in the fifth game of the 2025-26 nonconference season, Kansas guard Jamari McDowell appeared headed toward a limited role during this, his redshirt sophomore campaign.
However, suddenly in game six — because of the slow start of freshman Kohl Rosario and injury situation of Darryn Peterson — McDowell, who averaged 8.2 minutes in the first five games, played 18 minutes against Notre Dame and has been in double figures in minutes ever since.
In fact, he’s started five of the last eight games and averaged 24.1 minutes per contest in that span. He played a whopping 34 minutes while making his first start against Syracuse and has played 32 against UConn and 28 against Tennessee.
No. 17 KU (10-3) has a 7-1 record in games in which he’s played significant minutes.
“Jamari is like … I haven’t been overly praiseful toward him sometimes because you can do more,” KU coach Bill Self said of the 6-foot-5, 200-pound Houston native. “And he played so well against Notre Dame (five points, aggressive defense on Markus Burton) when Kohl struggled. Then we decided to start Mari instead of Kohl, and then it was like the light just came on.
“He (McDowell) said, ‘I belong here.’ And I think he’s played really well. He’s seeing a big basket now, which is really nice. So he’s a threat,” Self added. “And when you have a threat out there that can stretch it, you obviously will look better offensively. So I think Jamari has done really well. I’m really happy with him.”
McDowell, who averages 4.3 points a game on 42.1% shooting (14-of-33 from 3 for 42.4%), has hit 12 of his last 27 3s (over 8 games) for 44.4%. In the first five contests he was 2-of-6 from 3 for 33.3%. He had six points in the first five games, 50 points since then.
McDowell, who practiced all season but did not play in games a year ago as a redshirt after playing sparingly as a freshman, carries himself as a confident player not surprised by his success.
He’s shown great emotion after some of his 3s, pointing at the bench or KU’s student section with a big smile.
“I’d say … I’d just give myself a B-minus, maybe a C-plus,” McDowell said, assessing himself a grade for the just-completed nonconference season. “There’s a little more in the tank, more in the tank.”
Rosario, who has continued as a rotation player after being moved from a starter to a reserve after six games, says McDowell is being too modest.
“I think he’s great. I give him a little bit higher grade than that, but he’s a humble guy. He knows he’s good,” said Rosario, who scored 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting (3-of-7 from 3) in 19 minutes in KU’s most recent game, Monday’s 90-61 home victory over Davidson.
McDowell had 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting (2-of-3 from 3) with four assists, one turnover and a steal against the Wildcats. He played 23 minutes.
“We all have got great faith in him, and we’re all really happy that he stepped up,” Rosario added.
The Jayhawks, who have been awarded a five-day Christmas vacation by Self prior to their return for practice Saturday night, have opened 10-3 despite McDonald’s All-American Peterson playing in just four games.
Asked to rate KU’s play, McDowell said: “Without a healthy DP? I think that’s pretty darn good, if you ask me.”
He continued.
“I think we probably go almost undefeated with him. So it’s always exciting to see when he plays. It’s going to be even more exciting when he’s back. So when he’s healthy we’ll be needing him, but until he’s back and fully healthy we’ll continue to play how we are,” McDowell stated.
McDowell said he was encouraged by the fact the Jayhawks won convincingly over Davidson in what might have been a trap game right before a five-day break.
“There’s definitely been times right before Christmas … obviously everybody’s ready to go home a little bit and it starts to kind of feel like a job. But it’s really not,” McDowell said. “We had a great time. We were super excited to get out there and play one last time before the second season. So that was good to see.”
Scoring 90 points without Peterson on the court proved gratifying Monday for a team that averages 75.8 points a game while allowing 63.3. KU has made 46.8% of its shots, including 35.6% from 3 and 74.8% from the line. KU’s foes have hit 36.6% of their shots, including 25.2% from 3 and 65.1% from the line.
“(Offense) has been a very big focus,” McDowell said. “I would say a couple of our games, if you watch, you can tell that we were a little misconstrued on offense. We played defense, but you’ve still got to score the basketball, so execution has been a big target for us in practice.”
McDowell arrived at KU before the 2023-24 season as Rivals’ No. 95 player in the recruiting class of 2023. He averaged 22.4 points and 5.4 assists his senior year at Manvel High in Houston.
“Man, I love it here,” McDowell said in a recent interview. “It is a magical environment. This is all you can want.
“It’s been a journey, a process, learning how to be a professional, I guess. Be ready always. I’m loving my process for sure.”
Self says he’s enjoyed coaching McDowell.
“As a coach, you want to coach character, not characters,” Self said. “In this situation you want to coach personality, not duds. He has personality. It’s why he’ll be successful. He’ll make everyone enjoy it more because of his presence.”
