KU guard Dajuan Harris ties career high with 13 points in 102-65 Border War rout of MU
Dajuan Harris, who is a native of Columbia, Missouri, doesn’t recall watching many, if any, games between the Kansas Jayhawks and Missouri Tigers as a youth.
“I was talking to my grandpa today,” Harris, KU’s 6-foot-1, 170-pound sophomore point guard out of Rock Bridge High School, said, preparing to tell a story after tying a career high with 13 points in the Jayhawks’ 102-65 rout of the Tigers on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. “He told me we went to the last Missouri-Kansas game. I don’t remember that,” Harris added with a smile.
Harris — who has no vivid recollection of Thomas Robinson’s block of a Phil Pressey shot that forced overtime in the Jayhawks’ 87-86 win over MU back in 2012 in Allen — was one of many players responsible for the Jayhawks emerging victorious on Saturday in the first edition of the Border War in 10 seasons.
Harris hit two early threes and scored 10 first-half points as the Jayhawks (8-1) rolled to a 49-27 halftime lead.
Harris, who took two charges on defense, played well from the start on his 21st birthday.
It was as if Mizzou dared Harris to take the back-to-back threes that gave KU a 19-9 lead six minutes into the contest. A regular starter, he entered 0-for-7 shooting from three on the season.
“They (Tigers) forced me to take shots,” said Harris, who hit 5 of 6 shots and was 3 of 4 from three. He also had two assists, one turnover and a steal in 25 minutes.
“My teammates, my coaches gave me the confidence. I just wanted to make the shot. I’d been 0 for 8. I needed to be ready to shoot the ball,” Harris added.
KU coach Bill Self said Harris’ early production on offense was pivotal to KU claiming its runaway win.
“I thought the key to the game ... they were going to play five against four,” Self said of the Tigers’ defensive strategy of leaving Harris open since he entered the game having attempted 25 shots all season, making 10.
“They weren’t going to guard Juan. I saw Cuonzo (Martin, MU coach) laughing when Juan made his first one. That’s what they wanted. He made ‘em pay. I thought Juan and C.B. (Christian Braun, 13 points, 10 the first half) equally got us off to a great start,” Self added.
Self understood the storybook nature of Harris excelling on his 21st birthday.
“It’s great. It’s his birthday. He scored his career high today,” Self said. Harris also had 13 points against Eastern Washington in last year’s NCAA Tournament. “He played great, too, not just shooting the ball. He was 5 of 6, scored 13, played great as far as how he handled the ball. He made a couple great passes. It was perfect. Juan needed to have a good offensive game for his season, for his confidence. This was big for a lot of reasons,” Self noted.
Senior guard Ochai Agbaji, who led the way with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting, said he had been expecting a big offensive show from Harris.
“It was good seeing Juan hit those two threes early,” Agbaji said after a game in which KU hit 14 of 27 threes to MU’s 5 of 16. Overall KU hit 55.9% of its shots to MU’s 43.6%.
“We see him make them in practice all the time. It’s not like we think he can’t make them. We want him to keep shooting and be the same aggressive player he was today,” Agbaji said.
Harris was asked in his postgame media session if the hometown Tigers recruited him.
“They got to talking to me after I got to talking with Coach Self and coach Jerrance (Howard, former KU assistant),” Harris said. “I didn’t get backlash (for choosing KU). My family supported me. My teammates supported me, my coaches. It was all good. I had some family here (Saturday). I wanted to play for them, my teammates, the crowd.”
Harris, Braun and Agbaji were joined in double figures by David McCormack (11 points, seven boards) and Remy Martin (10 points, five assists, four rebounds) Mitch Lightfoot had nine points, Jalen Coleman-Lands eight and Jalen Wilson seven as KU won by 37 points. It was the largest margin of victory by KU in the Border War series since KU defeated Missouri 96-49 on Dec. 28, 1977, in Kansas City.
Saturday’s win was the third largest margin of victory in the series, trailing only the game already listed in 1977 and a 98-54 win on Feb. 15, 1966 in Lawrence.
“It was great,” Self said. “The crowd was amped. We were amped. It was a great atmosphere. We played extremely well. It made it more fun, at least for us. We made shots. We hadn’t made shots from three for a while. That was good to see that happen. We were pretty efficient. We played well. Certainly the (loud) crowd had a lot to do with our energy and focus.”
KU will next meet Stephen F. Austin at 7 p.m., Dec. 18 at Allen Fieldhouse.
This story was originally published December 11, 2021 at 7:02 PM with the headline "KU guard Dajuan Harris ties career high with 13 points in 102-65 Border War rout of MU."
