Trip home for holiday refreshing for KU’s Hunter Dickinson: ‘I needed that break bad’
A 3 1/2-day Christmas vacation in his hometown of Alexandria, Virginia, came at the perfect time for Kansas senior men’s basketball center Hunter Dickinson.
“It was amazing,” said Dickinson, who spent time with family members Saturday afternoon until Tuesday morning. He was speaking on Thursday at a news conference held in advance of Saturday’s KU-Wichita State game (3 p.m., T-Mobile Center in Kansas City).
“I think I really needed that break bad. I feel my head space and where I was at (mentally) … I feel like that break going home, not thinking about basketball, not thinking about anything for two or three days was great for me,” he added.
Dickinson, who has averaged 18.3 points and 12.5 rebounds per game for the Jayhawks (11-1), said there’s been a “reset” since returning from his trip back home.
“Maybe frustrated with my play and just needing a reset was big for me,” Dickinson said Thursday. “How teams were playing me, I wasn’t really used to that. The way I’m trying to find my spots, having that reset coming with a new mind, I feel very refreshed.”
Dickinson said at practice this week he’s been “doing things a little different, being more aggressive with my positioning, going back to my old ways, trying to get deeper paint touches, being more aggressive with my posting up.”
The 7-foot-2, 260-pounder said opponents have been “trying to not let me catch it, making it really tough for me to catch it. Once I do get it it’s double teams or heavy loading up on me. It’s been a little bit challenging, but when you’ve got a really good team like this you are able to make them pay a lot more. We’ve been doing that. When you are 11-1, you are doing things right for sure.”
Dickinson, of course, is used to being double teamed. He was one of the best players in the Big Ten the past two seasons at Michigan.
“It gets a little annoying,” he said. “You come to expect it. I don’t know when I last got a 1-on-1 matchup, probably last year at some time.”
Of Dickinson’s play, Kansas coach Bill Self said: “The thing about it is, I’m not going to be negative in any way shape or form; the best players are defended to try to slow down or stop. You could make a case the receiver that plays against the Pats — that is the No. 1 option — they will try to take him away. (Travis) Kelce … they try to take him away every game. (Dickinson) has to learn to deal with that. He’ll do that. I still think there’s a way for him to get 20 (points) a game the way people are guarding him.”
Self sees room for improvement.
“More aggressive ball-screen defense, activity. He is not blocking near as many shots as what I think he could and being a lane protector and rim protector. I think there are a lot of things he can do that would give us a better chance to win to get his motor going a bit,” Self said.
Self learned on social media on Thursday that Dickinson had donated some of his NIL money to a charitable cause.
The Fort Leavenworth Facebook account thanked Dickinson on Thursday for sponsoring eight Fort Leavenworth fourth- to sixth-graders, paying their enrollment fee, for Wednesday’s KU Holiday Clinic.
“He is a great kid,” Self said. “I think it’s awesome he did that. He does that and doesn’t call any attention to himself, (which) makes it even cooler I think.”
Dickinson said that “it was great to see the kids from Fort Leavenworth. To see them so happy to be there made me feel really good about myself. To be able to provide them that experience is something I feel good about.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2023 at 6:15 PM.
