Dajuan Harris scoring surge could be sign of things to come for Kansas basketball

Most Kansas basketball fans can agree that Friday’s scrimmage loss to Arkansas was flukey. It would’ve been nice to see the No. 1 team in the country put up a fight, but the Jayhawks were short-handed and put out some bizarre lineups that we’ll hopefully never have to see come the regular season.

If you were to look for positive signs from the exhibition, you probably wouldn’t find many. However, longtime Jayhawk Dajuan Harris was one of the lone bright spots. He looked completely in control offensively and was putting up points in a hurry. Has he elevated his scoring to a different level?

Kansas basketball's offense was ignited by Dajuan Harris

Harris was one of two KU players to finish in double figures. He had a game-high 26 points on 11-for-17 shooting (4-for-5 3-point), adding two assists and three steals. Considering other scoring threats like Zeke Mayo, AJ Storr, and KJ Adams struggled throughout the contest, the margin of defeat might have been much larger if Harris had not contributed.

One of the biggest criticisms about Harris’ game is that he is too passive with the ball in his hands. He had nine games where he ended with five or fewer field goal attempts last season and seven with fewer than five points.

While it is rare, fans have seen flashes of this version of ‘Juan. Look no further than last year’s Champions Classic against Kentucky. He scored a career-high 23 points and knocked down five 3-pointers en route to a huge victory. The question is whether he can channel that scoring prowess consistently.

Harris is still a pass-first point guard who prefers to set up his teammates rather than take matters into his own hands. However, it would be exciting to see similar performances when his shot is falling. Kansas is generally a better team when he is aggressive with the ball, so an improved Harris would go a long way toward KU reaching its goals in 2024-25.