Kansas guard Dajuan Harris, North Carolina’s Caleb Love have met on the court before
Kansas point guard Dajuan Harris and North Carolina combo guard Caleb Love, who will start for their respective teams in Monday night’s NCAA championship game, have been matched on a big stage before.
Harris’ Columbia, Missouri Rock Bridge High School team defeated Love’s St. Louis Christian Brothers College squad 63-59 in the Missouri Class 5 championship on March 16, 2019 in Springfield.
“They were ahead of us in the first half by seven. We came back to win,” Harris, a 6-foot-1 redshirt sophomore, said of the game against CBC.
In fact Harris’ Bruins outscored CBC 26-14 in the final eight minutes to assure Rock Bridge of its first-ever state hoops title.
“He was killing us,” Harris added of Love, a 6-foot-4 third-year player from St. Louis. “We ended up getting some stops late. We were able to get the ball out of his hands.
“I had two other great players on my team, Isiaih Mosley and Ja’Monta Black (now at Missouri State). It is shocking and a blessing to meet up with (Love) again. He is tough. He goes after everybody and he is a scorer. He is a great player. I am looking forward to the challenge.”
Love scored 28 points on 11-of-20 shooting (3-of-10 from three-point range) in North Carolina’s 81-77 victory over Duke in Saturday’s Final Four semifinals.
For the year, Love averages 16.0 points a game on 37.8% shooting. He’s made 92 of his 250 three-point attempts for 36.8%. He has 137 assists to 102 turnovers with 37 steals.
Harris, who hit three threes and scored nine points with four assists, one turnover and two steals in KU’s 81-65 win over Villanova Saturday, averages 5.5 points a game on 43.3% shooting. He has made 20 of 61 three-point attempts for 32.8%. Harris has 163 assists to 55 turnovers with 55 steals.
But back to that high school showdown between Harris and Love. Harris converted an and-one as Rock Bridge went on a 10-2 run to begin the fourth quarter. He later hit one of two free throws after being fouled on a fast-break layup attempt. Harris had eight of his 17 points in the fourth quarter.
And Love was a scoring machine, pouring in 28 points on 11-of-16 shooting
After the game, Rock Bridge coach Jim Scanlon told bearingnews.org: “I mean he (Harris) is the best point guard there is. He just makes things happen that we cannot coach. Nobody can stop him. We had to have him in the game to win. And the other guys feed off of him. He finds more open players than anybody I have seen. He finds them in the corner. He finds them down low. He’s one in a million.”
Rock Bridge went 25-3 during Harris’ senior season. He averaged 11.4 points and 5.0 rebounds for the Bruins in 2018-19. During his time at Rock Bridge, the Bruins went 97-15.
Harris scored more than 1,100 career points and ended his career as the school’s all-time leader in assists (560) and steals (284). When he was a junior, Rock Bridge finished runner-up at state. Also, Harris played AAU hoops for Mokan Basketball, which won the EYBL Peach Jam title in July 2019, its second Peach Jam title in three years.
But Harris was unranked as a college prospect coming out of high school. Love, meanwhile, was rated as the No. 17-ranked player in the Class of 2019 by Rivals.com.
“I did not expect to be here at Kansas,” Harris said Sunday at the Caesars Superdome, site of Monday’s 8:20 p.m. NCAA championship finale. “I got talking to Coach (Bill) Self and Coach (Jerrance, current Texas assistant) Howard. It has been a blessing to be here. I got to learn from Devon Dotson and Marcus Garrett my first year playing on the scout team.
“Last year, I was behind Marcus and I learned a lot from him on the defensive end. I was down there with him every day after practice. Coach Self gave me an opportunity to play. My teammates believe in me. I just try to make the right play for them.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2022 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Kansas guard Dajuan Harris, North Carolina’s Caleb Love have met on the court before."
