Somewhere in her home, Jaliya Davis’ mother, Yvonne, is in possession of a photograph that serves as a reminder of how the range of emotions Jaliya displays during a basketball game is something that’s always been a part of her.
Flashback to preschool and Jaliya's first classroom, where a sign on the wall conveyed in words and pictures the different emotions and feelings that toddlers have.
Happy. Sad. Angry. Excited. Silly. Scared. And more.
Similar posters hang in preschool rooms across the country. But this one was different. Instead of being a drawing of a nondescript child or emoji-like faces expressing each emotion, Jaliya’s teachers used actual photographs of her.
She didn’t have to pose for them. This wasn’t an exercise or a funny-face picture day. It was simply her teachers capturing real-life emotions of one of their own so Jaliya and her friends could better understand what they were feeling.
Today, like most people, Jaliya still carries many of those emotions with her.
But here’s the thing about the Kansas freshman who has been one of the best rookies in the country, let alone the Big 12 Conference, to start her KU career: You don’t have to spend too much time wondering what’s going through her mind when you watch her play.
Ever.
In good times and bad, you’re pretty certain to know how Jaliya is feeling – smiling and bouncing with joy when things are rocking and flashing a face of frustration when they’re not.
KU coach Brandon Schneider recently said that keeping her a little more down the middle is something they’re working on each week. But he also said he likes to see all of it because it’s such obvious evidence of how much she cares.
“She’s getting better at it,” Schneider told R1S1 Sports after a recent KU home game. “But I want to coach competitive people. I want to coach people that do get frustrated and pissed off. You just have to channel it the right way. You don’t want to extinguish the fire, you just want her to be able to channel her energy and emotions.”
During the Jayhawks’ recent home loss to Oklahoma State, during which Jaliya scored 30 points in a 9-point Kansas loss, we chronicled all of the ways in which Jaliya shows off those emotions so you could get a feel for them in case you haven’t seen them.
On a roll to the basket against Oklahoma State midway through the second quarter, she received the benefit of the doubt from the officials when contact was made. It didn’t take long to see that even Jaliya knew it wasn’t a foul. In fact, she could barely contain the whew-got-away-with-that-one look on her face as she handed the ball to the ref and headed to the free throw line.
They don’t all look like that.
When Jaliya believes she gets fouled but doesn’t get the whistle, the look on her face is often one of disbelief.
Freshman forward Jaliya Davis reacts to contact on her way to the rim during recent KU conference games. [Kansas Athletics photos]
On a rare off night, when her shots aren’t falling or she has a few too many turnovers, you can see the rage building inside of her. On the court. On the bench. And on her way from the court to the bench.
She talks to herself as much as any player out there. She shakes her head when she doesn’t agree with what’s happening — of her own doing or someone else’s. And she’s as open to pep talks and scoldings — often self-initiated — as any player on the floor.
All of it comes in between the plays and moments that have made Jaliya the four-time defending Big 12 Freshman of the Week, a feat that just four other players have achieved in conference history.
“I’m not so sure it’s not the hardest thing in sports, to move on to the next play, whether it’s a positive play or a mistake,” Schnedier said, noting that the extra energy that creates those reactions can lead to unnecessary fatigue, as well.
"A lot of times, those are the kinds of things that can suck a little bit of energy out of you," Schneider explained.
Remember, Davis was hurt for a good part of non-conference play, so she has logged just 11 college games to date, averaging 20.8 points per game on 65.4% shooting in just under 29 minutes per outing.
The production is astounding. But it’s important to remember, in a relative sense, that she’s still in the infant stages of adjusting to the college level and all that comes with it.
Sights and scenes of Kansas freshman Jaliya Davis at a couple of KU home games earlier this season. [Kansas Athletics photos]
Jaliya often stomps her feet and throws out a scowl and a chest bump to whoever’s closest to her after finishing a tough and-1 bucket. Not because she hates getting fouled or wants to attract attention. But because she’s jacked that she finished the play and can’t contain the raw energy and emotion of the big moment.
It’s all pretty natural stuff. Especially for a player as driven and competitive as Jaliya, the 2025 Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year and a former McDonald’s All-American.
Much of this she gets honestly, coming from a family that’s as competitive as hers.
Her dad, William Davis, played for Billy Tubbs for a couple of seasons at Oklahoma. And he can’t help but laugh a little when he sees his daughter acting about moments and calls and big buckets the way he used to during his playing days.
“You bet. All the time,” dad told R1S1 Sports when asked if he ever laughs at Jaliya’s antics. “Every time she be making those faces.”
“You don’t want to extinguish the fire, you just want her to be able to channel her energy and emotions.”
— KU coach Brandon Schneider on freshman Jaliya Davis
Her younger brother, Will, a 17-year-old junior at Blue Valley North High, also has had his moments of laughter, most of them coming during one-on-one, brother-sister battles.
Will, who has grown to be 6-foot-7, has yet to beat Jaliya but he insists that he would’ve by now if not for big sis letting her emotions wreck the games he was closest to winning.
“If I would ever be up and about to win, she would, like, get mad and make some excuse before I could beat her,” Will told R1S1 Sports while laughing. “She’ll, like, start making calls for herself and changing the rules.”
It’s part competitiveness and part raw emotion that drive Jaliya to always find a way to win.
“She’s a perfectionist at everything, even school,” her mom told R1S1 Sports. “And she’s doing a lot better at handling that than she was in high school.”
A big part of the reason for that is the jump in levels. Jaliya still gets a lot of attention from opponents. But she’s used to that. After all, she was double- and triple-teamed throughout her prep career.
She knows that the more she advances in basketball, the more she’s going to face better and better opponents, and that, in and of itself, means that not everything is going to go her way.
Still, she wants it to. And her parents and coaches admire that desire.
Yyvonne said she has talked to Jaliya from time to time about taking deep breaths, letting the past stay in the past and moving on to the next play.
Does she listen?
“No,” Yvonne joked. “But I tell her. I just tell her to calm down. I hold my breath when she’s shooting free throws. She might not hear or see me, but she knows what I’m thinking.”
Mom holds her breath on those free throws because she knows that it’s the little stuff that really gets to her daughter.
When Jaliya misses a free throw, she almost hops out of her shoes with disgust. And she often needs a few steps away from the free throw line to regain her focus. More times than not, the next one falls and she’s shooting 72% from the free throw line on the season.
In that recent loss to Oklahoma State, Jaliya had a near and-1 bucket that just rolled off the rim, and she nearly bent all the way over backwards trying to will it into the hoop with her reaction to the close-call miss.
She yells audibly. Shakes her head to try to reset her body or brain or both, hair moving with it for added effect. And she carries herself like a player who expects everything she does to be exactly right. No exceptions.
She’s such a perfectionist that she absolutely cannot stand it when she messes up. It’s not often. And that’s part of the pain. But she hates it. Hates it.
Some of that comes from dad, too.
“In juco ball, that’s where I learned the fundamentals and how to play the game,” William Davis said. “We used to grade each other and say we needed at least a 7 or 8 in every category, in all the team categories, and that really made me focus on trying to be perfect.”
It’s not all pain and anguish at the mistakes for Jaliya, though. She smiles, too. A lot. And likes to interact with her teammates and opponents about everything that happens on the court and in the locker room.
She walks tall, with chin up and chest out, and always looks like she’s eager and excited for whatever’s next.
She’s as competitive as they come and shows it, but it’s also incredibly clear that she loves the game and loves playing. If she could play all 40 minutes each game, she would. If she could play a game every night, she would.
KU freshman Jaliya Davis has done a bunch of her scoring right around the rim so far this season. [Kansas Athletics photos]
“I’ve coached some fiery competitors,” Schneider said. “But, obviously, Jaliya’s one of the more gifted and talented players that I’ve been blessed enough to work with who has that kind of fire, too. She’s incredibly bright, she cares a ton and she’s gonna do nothing but continue to get better.”
Better as a player? Sure. That’s possible for any college freshman.
But better in the area of wearing her emotions on her sleeve and living and dying with every play, mom likes that her daughter is improving in that department but she also won’t mind if the elements that landed Jaliya on that poster back in preschool stick with her forever.
“Don’t get technicals,” is another reminder her mom laughs at when talking about the little tips she provides her daughter, before adding, “At this point, I think it would be weird if she didn’t do it,” Yvonne laughed.
Fresh off of an 83-61 pounding of Kansas State on Sunday, in which Davis led the Jayhawks with 22 points and 8 rebounds in 28 minutes, the Jayhawks are in the middle of a crucial stretch in their season.
After going 10-2 in the non-conference slate, KU has started just 3-6 in Big 12 play. That includes back-to-back wins last week, though, and four single-digit losses to Big 12 foes.
Next up, Kansas will play at No. 12 TCU on Thursday night (5 p.m. central on ESPN) and, after that, will return home for a three-game homestand at Allen Fieldhouse against Colorado, BYU and Cincinnati from Feb. 1-7.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
