Kansas Jayhawks’ Dajuan Harris following coaches’ orders this summer: ‘Be aggressive’
Dajuan Harris knows what’s expected of him during summer workouts and pick-up basketball games held in advance of his sophomore season at Kansas.
“They’ve been telling me the same thing every day: ‘Be aggressive,’’’ Harris, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound point guard from Columbia, Missouri said of the Jayhawks coaching staff, led by 19th-year KU head coach Bill Self.
Players can work with their college coaches up to eight hours a week during the months of June and July as well as scrimmage as much as they want as long as coaches aren’t present.
“Coach (Self) wants me to get a little bigger (off work in weight room), be a leader on the court and be aggressive. He’s been telling me every workout to be aggressive. That’s what I’ve been doing,” added Harris, speaking to the media after serving as a counselor at Brett Ballard’s Washburn hoops camp this summer at Lee Arena in Topeka, Kansas.
Harris, the only true point guard returning from last year’s 21-9 KU team, is coming off a redshirt freshman season in which he averaged 2.4 points, 2.2 assists and 1.0 steals per game. In all he had 65 assists against 24 turnovers and totaled 16.0 minutes per game while playing in all 30 games.
He took just 56 shots all season, hitting 27 for 48.2%. Harris was 9-of-14 from three for 64.3%. He also made 8 of 10 free throws for 80%.
“Yes we think he needs to be more aggressive, looking to score to put pressure on the defense,” said KU assistant coach Kurtis Townsend. “He’ll be able to do it. He’s a great kid and I think he’ll be a really good player,” Townsend added.
In assessing his own play last season, Harris said: “I feel I could have played way better than I did. I feel I should have been aggressive before, instead of waiting until late in the season.”
Harris wound up starting two games and ended up quarterbacking the offense a lot. Starting point guard Marcus Garrett at times moved to 2-guard where he was quite comfortable. Garrett declined the NCAA’s offer made to all seniors to return for another season (in response to the pandemic). He now is working out for NBA teams in preparation for the 2021 NBA Draft, set for July 29 in Brooklyn, New York.
Harris, meanwhile, is one of several players in the mix for the starting point guard slot at KU in 2021-22.
Former Arizona State standout Remy Martin, who announced plans to transfer to KU on May 17 while also keeping his name in the NBA Draft pool, has not been invited to the NBA Combine or the G League Elite Camp for prospects, thus could be playing his fifth year of college hoops for KU in 2021-22. KU has also added Joseph Yesufu, who played the last two years at Drake, as well as freshmen Bobby Pettiford and Kyle Cuffe.
“I feel we have a lot of good players. I feel we have a great team this year,” Harris said. “If we just listen to coach and stick to the routine, play hard, we’ll have a great team. I feel we can win that regular season again (after placing second to Baylor by five games last season). We’ve got to get that back, win the Big 12 then hopefully the Final Four.”
As far as his own role … “I feel I can start. I just have to lead,” he said. “We’ve got a whole bunch of new people coming in. If I lead and am aggressive all the time, I feel if I continue to do my job I’ll have a big chance to start. It’s on me.”
Remy Martin hasn’t been with his new teammates in Lawrence yet this summer as he decides whether to stay in the draft or remove his name by the July 7 deadline. Pettiford has been out of action as he recovers from three torn ligaments in his left foot and a severe bone bruise sustained playing basketball back home in North Carolina in late May.
Of New York native Cuffe, Harris said: “Kyle is like a Devon Dotson, (good on the) fast break, explosive.”
Yesufu, Harris said, “is a combo guard, kind of catch and shoot. He’ll shoot floaters, is aggressive, bouncy.”
Of the newcomers in town for summer school, Harris said: “I’ve been helping them, leading them. We’ve got this whole summer to build chemistry and get better. That’s what we’re doing off the court, hanging out on the balcony (of McCarthy Hall), after practice hanging out in the locker room. We’re talking more, getting our chemistry better.
“They are all young,” he added of a group that includes freshmen scholarship players KJ Adams, Zach Clemence, Cuffe and Pettiford, as well as first-year walk-ons Charlie McCarthy and Dillon Wilhite.
“It feels like I am a freshman. I’ve just now been realizing I’m older than them. They are fun to be around,” Harris noted.
On Tuesday at Washburn’s camp, Harris instructed young campers with KU teammates Christian Braun and David McCormack.
Braun envisions a great sophomore season from Harris.
“Dajuan is Dajuan. I never worry about him and his game,” Braun said. “He’s got great instincts, knows how to play the game. He’ll always be steady, always be Dajuan. I’m excited for him to take another step, too.”
McCormack is sold on the play of Harris.
“He’s a little spark of energy, comes in and does all the right things right away,” McCormack said late last season. “He comes in and gets deflections, makes the right passes, drives the lane to create open shots. He’s a spark of energy that gets us going.”
Noted Garrett near the end of last season: “He controls the pace. He knows where the basketball should go; He’ll find the open man and make the play every time. He’s really going to be a good player at KU.”
Now it’s just a matter of taking the next step.
“I just want to bring it, play for my teammates. I play for them,” Harris said.
This story was originally published June 17, 2021 at 10:29 AM with the headline "Kansas Jayhawks’ Dajuan Harris following coaches’ orders this summer: ‘Be aggressive’."
