Dajuan Harris has finally overcome his early season struggles with Kansas basketball

Much of the criticism that the Kansas basketball team received for the first half of the season was placed on Dajuan Harris. He was struggling offensively and turning the ball over at an extremely high rate, in addition to disappearing when the Jayhawks needed him most.

Thankfully, it seems that he has dispelled his early-season woes. The senior point guard has played very well over the past six games, averaging 10.8 points, 6.2 assists, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.5 steals on 49.0% field goal shooting, 53.3% 3-point shooting, and a perfect percentage from the free throw line.

Those numbers are significantly better than the ones he was posting earlier in the year. There was a seven-game stretch between Nov. 20 and Dec. 9 where Harris averaged 5.1 points and 2.9 turnovers on 34.1/33.3/50.0 shooting splits. To be blunt, there were times when he was bringing the whole team down — but that hasn't been the case as of late.

The team as a whole plays much better when Harris is aggressive on the offensive end. He has been a sniper from beyond the arc lately and now sits at 45.3% from three on the year. While he is not the best finisher around the rim, he is more than capable of hitting a few floaters or scoop layups from time to time.

Kansas basketball fans are probably aware of the statistic that the Jayhawks are 31-2 all-time in games that Harris scores 10+ points. That is not a coincidence, but rather a testament to how good Kansas can be with a force down low in Hunter Dickinson, a two-way wing in Kevin McCullar, and a multi-dimensional point guard in Dajuan Harris, who happens to be a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year winner.

With McCullar nursing a bone bruise in his knee, KU needed someone to step up in place of the conference's leading scorer. Even with the late-game scoring drought, Harris was the only player to find the net in the final six and a half minutes in the game. If Dajuan Harris can continue to play at this level for the remainder of the regular season — especially on the road where Kansas has struggled immensely — Bill Self and the Jayhawks will have a greatly improved chance of winning the Big 12 Conference.