Kansas Jayhawks clicked on lob-dunk passes during win over Bahamian National Team
Kansas’ basketball players went a chilly 4-of-17 from three-point range during Saturday’s 92-87 victory over the Bahamian National Team at Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum.
But the poor shooting performance, which followed Thursday’s sizzling 13-of-31 outing in a 106-71 victory over Puerto Rico, didn’t doom the Jayhawks. That was largely because of their fast-paced attack, which produced 62 points in the paint — many off crowd-pleasing lobs that led to numerous slam-dunks.
“I thought Hunter (Dickinson) and KJ (Adams) played really well togethe,” KU coach Bill Self said after a 1-hour, 15-minute practice Sunday in the gymnasium on the Academia del Perpetuo Socorro campus. “KJ and Hunter pass the ball to each other great. When those core guys are in there, you can see some really good offensive potential,”
Seven-foot forward Dickinson, who scored a game-high 28 points on 11-of-13 shooting, flushed several lobs delivered by the 6-7 Adams and 6-2 point guard Dajuan Harris. Dickinson — he had four assists — also connected with Adams via the lob. Adams finished with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
“Guys like KJ, guys like Juan, guys like Kevin (McCullar) make it really easy for me, especially when they are throwing it up there,” said Dickinson, who is hoping for more of the same in a second game against Team Bahamas on Monday.
Tipoff is 11 a.m. Central Time at Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum with a livestream available at kuathletics.com.
“They are really unselfish in finding me in spots. I’m really happy to play with talented guys who are so unselfish,” Dickinson said.
Of course the lob has been part of KU’s arsenal for years. It’s an integral part of the Jayhawks’ offense, so much so that opponents may emphasize taking that type of play away during the 2023-24 season..
“They can scout it all they want,” Dickinson said of foes trying to stop the lob, “but they are going to have to either take that away or the guy with the ball going up for a layup. We are dynamic. We’ve got a good, talented team that can create advantages for ourselves. And guys have to help on that. I’d expect KJ to get a lot of lobs this season for sure.”
“KJ … he’s going to catch it down there. He can also play-make and throw it to Hunter, too,” lead guard Harris said. “We have a very athletic team. If we keep playing together we could be pretty special this year.”
Dickinson, who had six rebounds in 28 minutes against a Bahamian team that included NBA veteran Buddy Hield of the Indiana Pacers, said “No” when asked if he had a preference — setting up a teammate for a slam-dunk or catching and slamming the ball himself.
“It’s very fun either way,” he said. “That’s what happens when you have an unselfish team. Guys want to make basketball plays. It definitely can juice you up when you get a high level play like that. I think that’s part of the reason we do it so much, try to get that momentum.
“Momentum is everything in this game. It’s a game of runs but whoever has the most runs and longest runs usually wins the game. For us we just try to keep that momentum and carry it as much as we can.”
So can the Jayhawks on Monday claim a second win in three days against Team Bahamas? It might depend on who is playing. Nothing’s official until game time, but KU has been led to believe that Hield, who scored 18 points in one half vs. KU Saturday, will be joined in this game by fellow NBA guard Eric Gordon and possibly NBA big man Deandre Ayton, who did practice Sunday.
“We heard they might play on Monday, so we’ll be excited for that one if it happens,” said Dickinson, who replied “yeah” when asked if he thought the Jayhawks would win Saturday’s game against a team with NBA talent.
“Every time we go out there we’re trying to win.” he said.
Harris, who guarded Hield some on Saturday, said “this game will be much tougher. They’ve got another pro, Eric Gordon, coming in. We’ve got to come in ready to play defense, play together, play hard.”
Harris expects to guard Gordon.
“We switch 1 through 4. I will match up on everybody because we switch. Yeah I’ll guard him,” Harris said.
Self said he’s been told Hield will play again. The KU coach added: “Eric is going to play. I don’t know about Deandre.”
The Jayhawks will continue enjoying some time on the beach after the early game Monday before returning to Lawrence Tuesday.
