How Hunter Dickinson emerged as a late-game hero for KU basketball vs. TCU
Kansas senior center Hunter Dickinson didn’t mind being the recipient of a hard shot to the face in the final minute of Saturday’s Big 12 men’s basketball opener against TCU.
In fact, considering the way things turned out, he’s downright pleased former KU big man Ernest Udeh of TCU clipped him and picked up a flagrant-one foul with 58.6 seconds to play in No. 2-ranked KU’s 83-81 victory over the Horned Frogs at Allen Fieldhouse.
“Hopefully I don’t always have to get elbowed to try to win us a game. (But) if that’s what it takes to win, I’m all for the team, whatever it takes,” the 7-foot-2, 260-pound Dickinson said.
Dickinson hit two technical foul shots to tie the game at 79, then after the teams traded baskets, cashed an inside shot with 3.4 ticks to play off a pass from Dajuan Harris for the game-winner.
Dickinson finished with 30 points (three shy of a career high) on 13-of-20 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds in 34 minutes.
The 6-11, 260-pound Udeh scored two points off a pair of free throws that gave TCU a 75-72 lead with 3:43 remaining. He played 20 minutes.
Dickinson, who said Udeh apologized to him for hitting him in the face with an elbow, said he wasn’t nervous as he cashed the two free throws to tie such a close contest.
And he wanted the ball on the inside shot that won it. Following his bucket that some thought might be a travel, Jameer Nelson attempted a deep 3-point try at the buzzer that fell way short, assuring KU its 13th win in 14 tries. TCU fell to 11-3.
“I mean I like to see myself as a clutch player. That’s what I do,” Dickinson said with a smile.
He credited Harris (10 points, eight assists, five turnovers) for finding him for the game-winning layup.
“We work on it a lot. Juan threw a good enough pass for me to catch it,” Dickinson said.
KU coach Bill Self — who was dismayed at KU’s 18 turnovers (to TCU’s nine) saying, “their best offense was our offense; we threw the ball to them” — nonetheless loved his team’s play at the end, starting with Dickinson converting two free throws off the flagrant foul.
“I had no idea what was going on until I saw it (on the monitor),” Self said. “It was an easy call. I thought Hunter sold it well because if he didn’t sell it they wouldn’t have stopped the play. It was an obvious call.
“It was unfortunate because it was unintentional. The arm definitely swung and was definitely above the shoulder and the mouth and he made the free throws.”
Self added that KU “executed perfectly on the last one. They fronted the post, which is what we hoped they’d do to keep it away from Hunter. Juan made a great pass (from up top to Dickinson). Juan was terrible the first half. Then he makes the hardest shot of the game (floater to give KU an 81-79 lead) and the pass to win it.”
There were no hard feelings regarding Udeh’s elbow.
“I said something to him before the game. I told him he played well and hope he does well (in the handshake line). Those were two big free throws he made,” Self said of the Orlando, Florida, sophomore who entered the transfer portal at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season.
TCU coach Jamie Dixon had no comment on the flagrant foul, saying coaches were reminded this week (he didn’t provide specifics) to not comment on officiating.
“We can’t say anything. They told us in a meeting the other day,” Dixon said. “We got outrebounded (40-28) and they were the more physical team. They knocked us all over the place the entire game.”
KU survived the 24-point onslaught of guard Trevian Tennyson. He hit 9 of 12 shots and was 6-of-8 from 3.
“I thought their whole team played great,” Self said of TCU, which was trying to become the first team since Iowa State in 2000 and 2001 to win at Allen in consecutive seasons. TCU beat KU by 23 points in Allen a year ago.
“I thought it was a great basketball game. Our ball-handling and passing was so poor, but fortunately we rebounded well and shot a good percentage when we didn’t turn it over.”
KU, which won its 33rd consecutive league opening game, will next meet UCF at 6 p.m. Wednesday, in Orlando, Florida.
