Dajuan Harris injury update: Bill Self reveals where Kansas guard stands after missing UCF game

No. 11 Kansas played without star point guard Dajuan Harris on Tuesday night in a narrow win over UCF, missing the always steady presence in the backcourt.

According to the Associated Press, Harris had started in 98 straight games, tied for the seventh-longest streak at Kansas.

After the game, coach Bill Self addressed whether Dajuan Harris might be able to return on Saturday for a game against Baylor on the road.

“I don’t know. I certainly hope so,” Self said. “We thought he was playing this morning. We thought he was fine this morning, and obviously he goes out to shootaround and couldn’t do anything on it.”

How big a difference maker is Dajuan Harris?

Well, he went into Tuesday night’s game averaging 9.6 points, 5.8 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. He can fill up the stat sheet.

More importantly, perhaps, he has the poise to settle Kansas down when it’s getting a little out of character. And the team certainly needed that against the Knights, who sped up the tempo and got the Jayhawks out of rhythm.

The good news is that Self hasn’t further ruled out Dajuan Harris, who suffered the ankle injury in practice recently.

“Fortunately it’s Tuesday,” Self said. “Tomorrow will be an off day, treatment all day. Then we’ll see if he’s able to go on Thursday.”

On Tuesday, Kansas managed to pull out a 91-87 win over UCF. That helped erase the sting of a weekend loss to No. 7 Houston. It also helped Kansas avoid its first back-to-back losses at Allen Fieldhouse since Roy Williams was in his first season at Kansas nearly 36 years ago.

If Dajuan Harris can make it back, Saturday’s contest will be a road trip to Baylor. The game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. ET tipoff on ESPN.