Dawes could help space KU’s frontcourt

photo by: Kansas Athletics

Keanu Dawes attempts a 3-pointer during Kansas basketball practice on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Lawrence.

One of the big questions surrounding this year’s Kansas team, especially since the return of Tre White, is how much time the 6-foot-9, 225-pound Keanu Dawes will spend playing power forward and how much he’ll be at center.

“I like it everywhere, honestly,” Dawes said, “as long as I’m playing.”

He’ll be doing quite a bit of that either way. The Utah transfer, a senior from Houston, has the versatility to play as a small-ball center in a lineup whose potential seems to intrigue head coach Bill Self — one that would create a dynamic frontcourt of the 6-foot-7 White, 6-foot-8 top prospect Tyran Stokes and Dawes.

“If our best team plays small, you better think about it,” Self said recently.

After an open practice on Thursday evening, Dawes — who averaged 12.5 points and 8.8 rebounds as a junior at Utah last season — explained what he could bring to the center spot.

“I feel like it brings a lot more spacing,” he said. “I feel like a lot of 5s don’t have the athleticism or the speed or just the quick burst that I have, so kind of when I’m at the 5, I keep doing my rebounding, but I might be popping one, creating a longer closeout, (driving) off the closeout and just opening more space for the team.”

The extent to which Dawes can do that will depend on his growth as a 3-point shooter. Through one season playing in his hometown at Rice and two with the Utes, one each under two coaching staffs, he has shot 31.1% from beyond the arc. Associate head coach Jeremy Case said this summer that he believes Dawes can get up to about 38%.

There is reason to believe in such an estimate. Last season in conference play for the Runnin’ Utes, he shot 23-for-62, which is 37.1%.

“Just normal shots every day,” Dawes said of the process of upping the percentage. “And then a lot of it’s confidence … So kind of just wanting to carry that mindset that I have, just not really caring if it goes in or not, just shooting the ball.”

Certainly Stokes and White can stretch the floor alongside him. In a way, White’s experience provides some promising precedent for Dawes given that he had never shot more than 32.9% from deep in a single season before reaching 40.3% on the highest volume of his career last year. And while Stokes isn’t known as a shooter, Self has said, “If that’s a weakness, we’re going to be in pretty good business.” That was borne out in Thursday night’s open practice, when the freshman connected repeatedly with an impressive level of consistency from the wing, including on a contested left-wing 3 over Davion Adkins to wrap up the practice.

As for Dawes, he garnered his fair share of attempts from beyond the arc too as the Jayhawks worked through some plays in the halfcourt and acquitted himself well. He did airball, or at best barely graze the rim, on one errant attempt that prompted Self to send him jogging up and back down the court: “Today I had a little mishap in the corner,” Dawes said with a smile, “but normally I’m pretty good from the corner.”

In general, Dawes said, “I think we’re a really good 3-point-shooting team. Especially at different positions, we’re very versatile when it comes to 3-point shooting.”

As for his own best attributes, he cited versatility and energy. And his own experience going through the Big 12 slate should serve the Jayhawks well down the stretch.

“We have a very talented team, but they haven’t played Big 12 (games),” Dawes said. “They’ve played a lot of other things, but just being able to kind of know what it’s like playing at Houston, playing at Iowa State against Iowa State, will help a little bit.”

Self challenged Dawes somewhat in a recent meeting with reporters, stating that he was “unbelievable” when he arrived but of late hasn’t stood out as much as he has been “thinking instead of playing.”

It might be fortunate, then, that Dawes described his recollection of Allen Fieldhouse from last season as follows: “Just how loud it was, like before the game. It was just shaking, like (I) couldn’t really think. Sometimes it’s better for me whenever I’m not thinking.”