Why Hunter Dickinson said KU Jayhawks ‘were due for one of these games’ after OSU win
Hunter Dickinson had a feeling Tuesday night’s Big 12 battle at Oklahoma State would be the polar opposite of the Jayhawks’ first road test in the Big 12 — last week’s disappointing setback at UCF.
“I said this before the game: I said we were due for one of these games where we build an early lead and maintain it the rest of game,” Dickinson, Kansas’ 7-foot-2 senior center from Alexandria, Virginia, said after scoring 21 points and grabbing seven rebounds in the Jayhawks’ 90-66 blowout victory over the Cowboys at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
KU grabbed early leads of 6-0 and 15-6 and took a double digit lead of 21-10 with 11:31 left before halftime. The lead reached 16 points (28-12) with 9:17 left before intermission.
KU never relinquished its sizable lead, unlike at UCF, where KU squandered an early 16-point advantage.
“We are very talented. I think it just was a matter of time before we put the offense together and everybody had a really good game at once,” Dickinson said. “We did a really good job of not getting complacent. They made a little run end of the half. ... We did a good job guarding and staying focused. I think that’s been an area of emphasis. Sometimes we build a lead — obviously in the UCF game we gave it up. We tried to keep the foot on the pedal and really tried to break a team’s will.”
All five KU starters scored in double figures for the first time this season in rolling to 90 points, tying the most points scored by KU in a game in Stillwater in the long history of the series.
To summarize … Dickinson led the way with his 21-point outing followed by Kevin McCullar (18 points, eight assists, six rebounds), KJ Adams (15 points, five assists, four rebounds), Johnny Furphy (15 points, all in the first half) and Dajuan Harris (11 points).
KU (15-2, 3-1 Big 12) hit 62.1% of its shots to OSU’s 39.6%.
“I think Juan being a little more aggressive … teams on ball screens are sticking to me with their big man, which leaves some gaps for Juan,” Dickinson said.
Harris hit 4 of 6 shots and was 3-of-4 from the line.
“Kevin will get his. That’s the player he is. He is so talented,” Dickinson continued. “KJ is beasting down there. They try to come with double teams on me, (which) opens up our best athlete (Adams) to make plays. Obviously Johnny starting out 5-for-5 (he was 3-of-4 from 3) … when we are playing like that and scoring 90 points, we are really hard to beat.”
The Jayhawks had 11 turnovers after turning it over two times in Saturday’s home win over Oklahoma.
“I thought we played right from the jump,” KU coach Bill Self said, “I thought it was as complete as we’ve been away from home in a while for sure. I thought we were efficient, made shots (5-of-13 from 3), especially Johnny early. He was great. The second half we kind of pieced it together (outscoring OSU 42-33).”
Of the acceptable amount of turnovers, especially on the road, Self said: “We took care of the ball better. We didn’t let what happened to us in Orlando (18 turnovers) happen here.”
The Jayhawks also had the highlight-reel play of the game. Nick Timberlake accepted a pass from Furphy (who had seven rebounds, two assists) and flushed a spectacular one-handed jam in the first half.
“It was good,” Self said, smiling, referring to the dunk.
KU coach Self’s KU teams improved to 10-8 all-time in Stillwater.
“Today is the most comfortable we’ve been here. We’ve labored here in the past,” Self said. “We had a good shootaround today, a crappy practice yesterday. The guys were ready to go.”
Former KU guard Bryce Thompson of OSU (8-9, 0-4), who hit a 3 to cut the gap to 15 at halftime, finished with 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting. He was 3-of-7 from 3 and 7-of-8 from the line.
KU will next meet West Virginia at 3 p.m. Central on Saturday in Morgantown, West Virginia.
This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 12:02 AM.
