Why doesn’t Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson shoot more free throws? Bill Self’s thoughts
Kansas senior men’s basketball center Hunter Dickinson, who averages 18.2 points a game, hasn’t been doing much of his damage from the free-throw line.
The 7-foot-2, 260-pound native of Alexandria, Virginia, has converted 52 of 74 free throws for 70.3%. He’s hoisted an average of 2.8 free throws per game.
In Big 12 play, Dickinson has hit 26 of 38 free throws for 68.4%. He’s averaged 2.9 free-throw attempts in Big 12 games.
This compares to a year ago at Michigan in which he averaged 4.7 free throws a game. As a Wolverine in 2022-23 he hit 117 of 161 free throws for 72.7%.
Why is he not getting to the line as much as he did at Michigan?
“Do you want an honest opinion or do you want me to coach speak it?” KU coach Bill Self said with a smile at a Thursday news conference in advance of Saturday’s 5 p.m. home game against Texas.
An honest opinion, of course.
“He just needs to play more physical and post up deeper and play through contact better. That’s what I would say,” Self stated. “If you look at it statistically, he hasn’t been a high volume free-throw shooter anywhere he’s been compared to a lot (of players).
“Like Kevin McCullar (111 of 140 for 79.3%) will shoot twice as many free throws or three times as many free throws on average in a game than Hunter. There’s reasons for that, but Hunter hasn’t been a guy that has played near as close to the basket in many opportunities because there’s been bodies, strong bodies, that he’s got to get through to get close to the basket.
“A lot of is is on us,” Self continued, “a lot of it is maybe on Hunter a little bit. The physicality in post play has been something that probably hasn’t benefited Hunter with free-throw attempts.”
Dickinson isn’t a conventional center as shown by his 3-point attempts. He’s put up 18 of 54 3s for 33.3%. A year ago at Michigan he was 24 of 57 from 3 for 42.1%.
Looking at a more conventional big man, Purdue ‘s Zach Edey has taken just two 3s all year, hitting one. Edey has cashed 197 of 277 free throws for 71.1%. He’s averaged 10.7 free throw attempts per game.
The Jayhawks (20-6, 8-5) will meet UT (17-9, 6-7) Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse, then remain home to take on BYU at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Self indicated the playing status of senior guard McCullar would likely not be revealed until the day of the game. He’s missed two of the last three games because of what’s been called a knee bruise.
“I don’t know (if he’ll play). He hasn’t done anything yet this week,” Self said. “We’ll probably wait and see if he’s able to do anything today. Today will probably determine if he plays on Saturday as much as anything. I probably won’t tell you guys that.”
