Freshman guard Elmarko Jackson showed big signs of growth during Kansas’ 99-61 win over Manhattan, dishing out 10 assists to go along with his nine points.
“I thought Elmarko did some good things,” head coach Bill Self said. “He fed the ball to Parker a couple of times in transition very nicely and got 10 dimes.”
Self, while happy with the performance from the freshman, knows that he has much more that he can do offensively.
“I still thought he was hesitant offensively in a lot of ways,” Self said. “But he was a lot better. He’s just young.”
Kevin McCullar, who usually runs the point guard position when Dajuan Harris is in, was happy to see Jackson get closer to that role.
“That’s huge,” McCullar said of Jackson’s 10 assists. “Having a guy that can come in and play backup point guard when Dajuan’s getting a breather and get other people shots is big. Elmarko, he’s touching the game and affecting the game in many different ways than just scoring right now.”
Fellow freshman Johnny Furphy had a good second game as well, scoring 15 points. He was assisted by Jackson on one of his three-pointers.
“That’s going to be huge for us, having somebody having an impact behind Dajuan,” Furphy said. “Just being efficient with the ball will be big for us.”
When Self spoke with the media before the Manhattan game, he was hesitant to say that Jackson was ready to take the reins when Harris is subbed out. Saying that being a high school point guard is a lot harder than being a point guard at this level.
“I would think moving forward, Dajuan or Kevin would be in the game,” Self said. “Can you imagine a guy coming in and playing quarterback that’s never really played quarterback and you expect him to do so as soon as he walks in a college campus?”
“I think Elmarko will be a point guard, but right now he’s a combo type guard,” Self said. “To get him from thinking, I think we’re probably better off playing Kevin.”
After the game, Self stood by the fact that he thinks the team is going to be better off using Jackson as a combo guard.
“I think Kevin is more comfortable,” Self said. “But we’ll see. It’s one thing to do it against Manhattan, no disrespect, but we’ll see how it all plays out Tuesday.
Even though the performance was not enough to solidify his role as Harris’ back up, Self was still happy to see Jackson perform the way he did.
“I told him he had 10 dimes and I told the whole team and they all started clapping and all that stuff,” Self said. “10 assists is a great number for anybody… and only one turnover.”
