Today marks the beginning of our short series where we grade every major player on the Kansas Basketball roster. This will be a collection of grades for 11 players and an extra grade for head coach Bill Self.
To kick off our series, we are launching with former Loyola Chicago transfer Jayden Dawson.
Dawson came into the team with a reputation as a three-point shooter. Something Kansas needed was a drive-heavy scoring attack.
Dawson clipped a 36.6% three-point average in his last two seasons for the Ramblers, where he notched 131 threes over those two years.
Dawson has appeared in 11 games this season but has yet to start a game. Dawson’s season high sits at seven points in a 77-46 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and he has totaled just a 23.1% three-point rate on a 6-26 mark, on about 13 minutes a game with two one-minute appearances in back-to-back games, both wins against Missouri (80-60), and NC State (77-76 OT).
This has not been an elite three-point shooting team, as Kansas is just outside the top-100, as the Jayhawks sit 102nd with a 35.6% rate. It doesn’t help when Kansas is one of the lowest volume shooting teams in the country, with 21.8 three-pointers attempted. That ranks 235th in the country.
While Dawson has yet to look comfortable in a Jayhawk uniform, as the season wears on, and there is an increased need for a breakout three-point performance, Dawson is one of the few candidates receiving a review.
Kansas next takes to the court to tipoff Big 12 play against the UCF Golden Knights, on January 3rd, with streaming available at 1 p.m. CT on Peacock.