Associated PressLubbock, Texas — It took Kansas point guard Dajuan Harris just a few minutes during Tuesday night’s pregame shoot-around to make a determination about how his night might go.
And then he went out and made good on it, during 3rd-ranked Kansas’ 75-72 win over Texas Tech at United Supermarkets Arena.
“After warm-ups, he said, ‘Y’all, the rim feels good today. Everything feels good today,'” said Harris teammate Bobby Pettiford after Harris exploded for 18 points on 5-of-5 shooting from 3-point range, setting a career-high for 3-point makes in a game.
Added Harris: “I told my teammates before the game even started, ‘I feel good for some reason. Tonight was my night.”
Perhaps the biggest indicator of that — after the pregame shoot-around, of course — was the fact that it was a Harris 3-pointer from the corner that was KU’s first basket of the night.
That shot, which softly fell through the net after being welcomed home by the rim, gave Kansas a 3-2 lead, but, more importantly, invited Harris to stay aggressive. Rather than turning down open shots, he drained all five he attempted from behind the arc and made six of seven overall.
It was exactly the kind of performance Kansas coach Bill Self and Harris’ teammates have wanted to see from the point guard that they all insist is a terrific shooter and makes shots in practice all the time.
There’s something to appreciate about the reason behind Harris turning down shots on game nights and it cuts to the core of what he’s about as a player and a person. Harris prefers to make plays for others and is just as happy getting his teammates going as himself. He’s always been that way, and, whether you’re talking about his time on the AAU circuit with MOKAN or during last year’s run to the national title with Kansas, the approach has always worked out.
This year, though, with the Jayhawks needing him to be a little more of a scorer, Self has set a goal Harris that both the coach and the player believe is easily attainable.
“I told Juan he should average at least three 3s a game — attempts,” Self said after Tuesday’s win at Texas Tech. “And he hasn’t shot it at all.”
Prior to Tuesday night, Harris’ season-high for 3-point attempts came in the Jayhawks’ season opener against Omaha, when he went 1-for-3 from behind the arc.
Since then, it’s been three games with zero attempts, five games with one attempt and four with two attempts. Until Tuesday.
“Texas Tech made me make shots today. They just happened to fall,” the always-humble Harris said after the victory. “My teammates set me up. They wanted me to shoot the ball and I just happened to make (them).”
The ho-hum Harris now has made his last seven 3-point attempts — he was 2-for-2 in last Saturday’s win over Oklahoma State — and is shooting 52.4% on the season from 3-point range.
Self is not foolish enough to expect Harris to continue to shoot above 50% from downtown against Big 12 competition. But, make or miss, he sure won’t mind if he sees his point guard let a few more fly the rest of the season.
“The way teams are going to play him, at least to this point, they’re going to dare him to beat them and tonight he did,” Self said. “I mean, there haven’t been too many guys in KU history go 5-for-5 from 3 in a game or better.”
It’s happened exactly 13 times in KU history.
Lagerald Vick was the last to do it, hitting 8-of-8 from 3-point range in a win over Vermont in 2018. Ben McLemore made all six 3-pointers he attempted against Iowa State in January of 2013 and Rex Walters also shot 6-for-6 from downtown in a win over Ball State in March of 1993.
In all, a Kansas player now has hit 5-of-5 from 3-point range in a game on 10 different occasions, with Svi Mykhailiuk being the last to do it prior to Harris on Tuesday night. Interestingly enough, Mykhailiuk’s 5-for-5 shooting effort also came against Texas Tech in February of 2016.
