When you’re already your school’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made in a game, with eight, there aren’t many easy ways to make people think you’re on fire.
But five made 3s in a single half can do it.
That’s exactly what KU junior Brittany Harshaw delivered during Wednesday night’s 107-39 win over Haskell at Allen Fieldhouse.
A known-sharpshooter who has shown in the past that she can get white-hot on any night — none more impressive than the 8-triple game against Iowa State last season — Harshaw had scored just six points, with zero made 3-pointers, all season entering Wednesday’s game.
And then the lid came off.
The KU reserve went crazy in the first half, knocking in five 3-pointers on six attempts on her way to a 26-point night to lead the Jayhawks.
Rather than rejoicing at the sight the way many of her teammates did, Harshaw had just one simple thought running through her mind.
Finally.
“It was definitely, like a huge relief, because it was a really slow start,” Harshaw said after the win. “But I'm so happy, and I'm glad that I was able to make the shots I did.”
The KU junior, who hails from Andover, Kansas and came to KU as a transfer from Creighton before last season, finished the night 9-of-18 overall and 5-of-8 from 3-point range. She had 24 of her points in the first two quarters, draining five of the six 3-point looks she got in the first half.
At one point, she scored four consecutive field goals for Kansas — all 3-pointers — during a stretch of 2:20 late in the second quarter.
After each one, the KU starters on the bench celebrated louder and wilder, even going as far as to bow in Harshaw’s direction after the fourth make in that sequence, which was her fifth of the game.
“We watch her get into a zone all the time in practice. If you watch her work out, I don’t think she misses a 3,” KU senior Lilly Meister said of Harshaw. “Everyone was just kind of like finally the work is showing. I don’t think we were surprised, we were all just very, very happy.”
No one quite like KU star S’Mya Nichols, who led the bowing and then mugged Harshaw with a playful, two-handed shove on her way to the locker room at halftime.
So, what was said during the exchange near mid-court?
“She was just happy,” Harshaw said. “She was like, ‘Nope! Are you insane?’”
Not insane. Just in what Harshaw and her teammates like to call “flow state.”
“I feel like if you see the first one go in, it’s a good start,” she said after the win.
So, at any point was she thinking about that record-setting performance against Iowa State from last season, thinking that she might challenge it on Wednesday night?
“I mean, I was thinking about it a little bit, like, ‘Oh, we’re close,’ but no,” Harshaw said. “I felt like in the second half we had a lot more ball movement and we were able to get other teammates involved and have other people score, so it was a good game overall.”
That it was, even if it came against an overmatched, non-Division I opponent in Haskell, in a game that meant a lot for the Lawrence community and drew the largest crowd of the season to date — 4,640 fans, many of them wearing the colors of the Lawrenced-based Indian Nations University.
More important than the win or the final score was the chance for the Jayhawks, like Harshaw, to find some confidence heading into Big 12 play, which opens Sunday at, of all places, Iowa State.
“Brittany shoots it really well in practice, all of our drills, and just, for whatever reason, hadn't shot it great here early in the year,” KU coach Brandon Schneider said after the win, noting that freshman guard Libby Fandel had a similar breakthrough in the Jayhawks’ win over Denver last Sunday. “Excited for her and excited for Libby, both, because, you know, we're going to need them.”
Harshaw has now made 35 3-pointers in her KU career and 43 as a college basketball player. Also of note in Wednesday's win was the fact that senior guard Elle Evans, who also transferred to KU before last season, knocked in her 100th 3-pointer as a Jayhawk, finishing the night 2-of-4 from downtown for 14 points and 6 rebounds in 23 minutes.
Evans, who started her career at North Dakota State, now has 211 made 3-pointers in her four-year college career on 42.4% shooting.
Next up KU will travel to 10th-ranked Iowa State to take on the Cyclones at Noon (central) on Sunday in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
The game will be televised on ESPN2.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
