KU’s Hunter Dickinson ejected after kicking Duke’s Maliq Brown. Was it the right call?
Kansas star Hunter Dickinson was ejected from the Jayhawks’ game against the Duke Blue Devils on Tuesday night.
With Kansas leading by two and right around 10-and-a-half minutes left, Dickinson attempted a shot over Duke’s Maliq Brown. While attempting to grab the rebound off his miss, Dickinson fell over Brown, who backed into and under him.
While on the ground, the two were tangled up, and Dickinson appeared to raise his foot and kick Brown in the head. There was not major contact, but the action immediately sparked a small scuffle on the court.
After a lengthy review, officials determined that Brown did foul Dickinson leading up to the fall, but Dickinson’s contact with Brown — on the kick — warranted a flagrant-two technical. He was ejected.
KU coach Bill Self appeared to protest the call from the sideline. He had a slightly different stance postgame.
“I saw it on the screen,” Self told reporters in Las Vegas. “I thought it was a good call. I thought the flagrant two may have been a little severe. I thought it was a definite flagrant one. It’s a good lesson to learn. The best thing about Hunter not being in the game was (that) Flory (Bidunga) was (in there), so we are going to look at it as a positive.”
The Jayhawks would narrowly defeat Duke 75-72 without Dickinson playing the final 10 minutes.
“I didn’t think, at the moment nor now, that it warranted a level two, but I do think it needed to be called,” Self said, “and in my opinion maybe a coin flip whether it’s a level one or level two.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2024 at 10:07 PM.
