Kansas Jayhawks to face highly acclaimed mid-major guard in NCAA’s first round
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Dominique Daniels averages 23.2 PPG, fifth nationally entering the NCAA tourney.
- Daniels scored 47 points in January and hit late 3s to win the WAC final.
- Lancers are a 13 seed; moved to DI in 2018, postseason-eligible in 2022-23.
Just one player in the 68-team NCAA Tournament field has averaged more points per game this season than 5-foot-10 Cal Baptist point guard Dominique Daniels Jr., who will take a 23.2 scoring standard into Friday night’s first-round NCAA Tournament East Regional contest against Kansas.
Tipoff will be 8:45 p.m. Central at Viejas Arena in San Diego, California. It will be shown live on CBS.
Daniels — he’s been referred to as a “hidden gem” by basketball analyst Andy Katz and “a star built for March” by Bustingbrackets.com — enters the postseason trailing only AJ Dybantsa of BYU in overall points per contest.
Dybantsa leads the country at 25.3 ppg, followed by three players whose teams did not qualify for the tournament in Jordan Riley (East Carolina, 23.6), P.J. Haggerty (Kansas State, 23.4) and Daeshun Ruffin (Jackson State, 23.3). Daniels, who scored 47 points in a win over Utah Valley this season, checks in at No. 5 on the county’s scoring chart.
“This guy is the most courageous player that I have ever coached,” Cal Baptist coach Rick Croy, now in his 13th season at CBU, said after the Lancers’ 63-61 victory over Utah Valley in Saturday’s finals of the WAC Tournament.
Daniels shrugged off a poor shooting night — he was 4-of-22 from the field with two minutes left — to take over late and lead the No. 13 seed Lancers (25-8) to their first NCAA Tournament in school history.
Daniels, who finished with 23 points on 7-of-25 shooting, hit back-to-back 3s that tied the game at 60 with 1:16 to play.
Utah Valley’s Jackson Holcombe secured an offensive rebound, was fouled and hit 1 of 2 free throws with 39 seconds left, but Daniels responded with a 3-pointer with the shot clock near zero to give Cal Baptist a two-point lead with 14.6 seconds remaining. Utah Valley had a chance to tie but failed to convert a last second alley-oop attempt.
“Anything can happen in March. That’s what I kept telling myself those last three possessions,” said Compton, California native Daniels. His three consecutive 3s in crunch time helped erase a seven-point deficit with 2:57 to go in the WAC final.
Of his personal-best 47-point scoring outing, Daniels, a 32.8% 3-point shooter (61-of-186), told Katz: “I feel like I was just taking what the game was giving me, just getting to my spots, not really thinking too much about what I have to do, just going in with a mindset on getting the job done and doing whatever it took to help my team get a win. And that’s what was going well for me in that game.”
Daniels acknowledged, “if any basketball player is in a zone like that, the basket seems pretty big. It’s a surreal feeling. You kind of get lost in the fact that you’re in the zone and no one is there with you. No one can stop you. I feel with every basketball player, once they get in the zone like that is, it’s hard to stop,” he added.
Daniels, who has a team high 103 assists against 80 turnovers and has also grabbed 3.2 rebounds per contest, said he’s taking everything in stride.
“I feel like I’m handling it like any professional would, staying focused on the right things, not really listening to external pressures or anything like that, just making sure I’m focused and I’m doing whatever it is that my team needs me to do in order for us to win and being a good teammate in the process,” he told Katz.
“Sure, 47 points is cool. But at the end of the day it’s a team sport. I always say, ‘I got my brothers. They got me. They support me. I support them.’ And you know, that’s just how it goes,” Daniels said.
Daniels resisted any possible temptation to enter the transfer portal after averaging 19.6 points a game his junior season. He averaged 19.2 as a sophomore and also spent two seasons at San Bernardino Valley College.
“Just the love they’ve shown me over the past three years. Like I always say, they gave me an opportunity coming out of junior college. I didn’t have any offers coming out of high school, so I had to go to junior college. And then they’re right down the freeway not too far from here, San Bernardino Valley College, they came down watched me play, and it was a wrap from there,” Daniels said of his recruitment. “They gave me an opportunity. They showed me love from the start. So I feel it’s just the loyalty piece for me.”
He’s now a Cal Baptist legend after helping the Lancers claim a spot in their first-ever NCAA tourney. The program, founded in 1956, began transitioning from Division II in 2018 and only became eligible for postseason play during the 2022-23 season. The Lancers previously reached the Elite Eight in the Division II tournament in 2018.
CBU’s men’s team, which enters the tourney as a 13 seed (KU at 23-10 is a 4 seed), isn’t the only team that has the Riverside campus buzzing. The Lancers women’s team has earned an NCAA tourney berth and as a 16 seed will play top seeded UCLA in the first round.
“This team, the players’ belief in each other, it means everything to them to represent CBU and do it in a positive way,” Croy said, noting that this is not a one-man team.
Myron Medcalf of ESPN offered his take on the Lancers and star guard Daniels: “The NCAA tournament’s greatest moments have often involved mid-major stars who became household names: Jimmer Fredette, Steph Curry, Gordon Hayward, Ron Baker, Doug Edert. Cal Baptist’s Dominique Daniels Jr. has a chance to join that list in the days ahead.
“... The 5-10 guard averaged 32.0 ppg in the Lancers’ two wins in the WAC tournament. He scored 47 in a win over Utah Valley in January. He also performed well against high-major teams, scoring 31 against Utah and 25 against Colorado — both nonconference losses. By the end of this week, Daniels could be a star the whole world is talking about,” Medcalf wrote.
