Help wanted: Player rankings from A to Z as Kansas basketball survives Eastern Illinois

Tier 3: No Jays

6. Elmarko Jackson

Elmarko continued to be the fifth starter and played 22 minutes. He didn’t jump on in anything all game but continued to move the ball, make a couple of plays on defense, and knocked down two shots for Kansas basketball. Jackson finished with five points, three steals, two assists, one block, and one turnover.

7. Jamari McDowell

Jamari came in and provided a bit of a spark but forced one shot and gave up a couple of shots on defense that led him to only play seven minutes. He finished with one point, three rebounds, one assist, and one steal. He looks like a guy who fits as he hustles and makes plays on both ends of the floor.

8. Dajuan Harris

Dajuan continues to show that he hasn’t improved from the previous year and can’t shoot at all. He went 0-of-4 on the night, highlighted by a first-half layup that was blocked, looking like a toddler taking a shot on his dad the ball was discarded with ease. Minus the Kentucky game, Juan has struggled all season. He is easily the worst shooting point guard in the Bill Self era as a starter and a bottom 3 point guard in general during Self’s Kansas basketball reign. As if his poor shooting wasn’t enough, he has been more careless with the basketball this year than in previous years with another three turnovers. With Juan and KJ on the floor, more and more teams will go to drop coverage to try to prevent Hunter’s touches and live with someone else on KU’s roster beating them. He finished the night with one point, nine assists, three rebounds, two steals, one block, and those three turnovers. While the assists numbers are solid, he played 36 minutes and has stat-stuffing big man Hunter Dickinson to make those numbers soar. I’d love to see Elmarko get more minutes at the point guard spot and spread those minutes out to some scorers off the bench with Juan sitting.

9. Parker Braun

Parker had two blocks in his five minutes of action.  He walled up and swatted a couple of shots away. Outside of that, he recorded no other stats or had any other impact on the game other than giving Hunter a brief rest.

As Always Rock Chalk and Let’s Go!