COLUMBIA, Missouri — Twenty friends and family gathered at the building with the tickets he got, and dozens more got their own tickets. Kansas Point his guard Dahuan Harris Jr. had every reason to go his 95-67 on Saturday. Win Missouri about him.
Playing as Jayhawk in his hometown for the first time in his life, no one would have blamed him for the extra attention he wanted to light up the scoreboard and scorch the net while leading sixth place. Victory for Jayahwks.
Instead, he played one of the most Dahuan Harris Jr.-type games ever, which the Jayhawks won easily anyway.
“He has two shots and is a great player,” Self said of Harris. Harris scored 6 points, 9 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers in his 33 minutes. “He had his two turnovers, but other than that I think his composure was great.
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6th Kansas State in Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.
After spending a week highlighting his plan to treat the matchup with Missouri like any other game, Harris said he was as smooth as ever in Saturday’s wild environment. I explained what I was able to do.
Of the Jayhawks’ 2022 title game victory over North Carolina in April, Harris said, “I was at the national championship game in front of 70,000 people.” processed. That’s it.”
His teammates have seen him do that more than anyone. And they expected the same from Saturday’s floor leader.
KU winger Kevin McCuller Jr., who scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting in 28 minutes, said: “I know he was fighting for every possession.” “I’m going to[my old school]Texas Tech in a few weeks, and I know[these guys]have my back. Tonight we’re out. I went out and raced for Juan and made it through.”
KU sophomore KJ Adams scored a career-high 19 points on 9-for-11 shooting and helped set the tone for a runaway win. Because they have to go home in the summer. It’s easier to come back with a high chin than to exit with an L. I’m so glad I was able to come here and help Juan. Because I know this is very special to him. ”
Kansas (9-1) started hot and never cooled down, passing their border war rivals with equal accuracy, playmaking and intensity.
After missing the first two shots of the game, Kansas made 11 in a row and never dipped below double digits once the Jayhawks got there.
“The start of the game is as good as we’ve ever played,” said Self, who called Saturday’s win “the best game of the season.” , passed brilliantly and handled the pressure well.In the first 10 minutes it was pretty good.We were scoring goals and Jalen was not involved yet.”
Dick, who played a big role in the win, making 24 assists on 35 makes, including 15 of 20 in the first half, added: What more could you ask for from any team?”
Wilson was present by the end of the game, leading all scorers with 24 points and another double-double with 10 rebounds, but the Jayhawks built their lead just by getting the job done.
Freshman guard Grady Dick (16 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) had the first six shots as the Jayhawks attacked the Tigers’ defense.
Saturday’s match was the first game at the Mizo Arena since the 2011-12 season, and the home crowd was ready. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the home crowd couldn’t jump onto the court to help.
Adams scored 15 of 19 points in the first half and the Jayhawks led 50-33 at halftime. That was after Mizo’s mini-run cut Kansas’ lead from 19 (38-21) to 12 (40-28) late in the first half. The Jayhawks closed out the first half by scoring six of their final eight points to start the second half with a 7–0 run in the first 1:11 of play.
“(It was) big,” McCuller said of the start of the second half. “The coach told us at halftime that we were 0-0 and we were either up seven to 10 points or we were down. That was a big start for us.”
Despite calling timeouts to regroup, the Tigers (9-1) never recovered from the blow, and Kansas spent most of the second half free-running in transition and playing with a comfortable lead. did.
Missouri cut the KU advantage to 15 (75-60) and made another mini-run with just over seven minutes remaining. As they did all night, the Jayhawks responded with his 17-for-3 run and began ejecting Missouri fans early on that early.
Saturday’s game went from a home crowd in Missouri relentlessly heckling the Jayhawks from start to finish to a Missouri Arena announcer twice having fans throw things on the floor and everything It had everything fans of both teams expected from this match, even having to announce that they should hold back. Between.
There was even a chant of rock chalk from Kansas fans in the few minutes inside the building.
“I don’t know if they liked it,” Self joked about the challenge of playing in such a hostile environment. We have to learn to win away, so we have to wear blindfolds, don’t look left or right, and I think we did it well today.”
As for Harris getting the last laugh at home, there was the added incentive to play well enough to ensure the rest of Saturday was also fun. After all, Sunday is Harris’ 22nd birthday, and rather than staying in Columbia to celebrate with his family, his plans are all the way back to Lawrence to celebrate the win with his teammates. was.
“Last year, my birthday was the day I played Missouri,” Harris said. “So I’m just trying to have a good time tonight. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I just wanted to come here and get him a W and go back to Lawrence and enjoy the night.”
“I also wanted to win for the fans,” he added. “We just played hard for them.”
