KU Jayhawks react to Hunter Dickinson’s huge game: ‘He’s my All-American for the season’
Hunter Dickinson picked a perfect time — the right night — to achieve his highest scoring game as a Kansas Jayhawk.
The 7-foot-2 former Michigan standout’s explosive 32 point, 13-rebound outing came in a 71-64 ESPN Big Monday victory over Colorado at CU Events Center. The Dickinson-led victory snapped a four-game road losing streak and perhaps more importantly assured KU (19-9, 10-7) a 2-0 record in the “new season” coach Bill Self proclaimed started with Saturday’s 32-point home victory over Oklahoma State.
“He was a beast,” KU forward KJ Adams said of Dickinson, who hit 13 of 18 shots and was 6-of-10 from the line.
“He’s my All-American for the season,” Adams added, noting, “he played like it tonight. If he keeps building on that, I think he’ll have a real good end of the season.”
Adams had a fine night, himself.
He hit four of his first five shots to help KU open a 19-9 lead — critical considering KU entered the game 3-7 in true road games this season and 3-5 in Big 12 road games. Included were a pair of crushing losses in Utah last week against Utah and BYU.
Adams finished with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting.
KU’s third big man provided exceptional defense. Flory Bidunga had zero points, but three steals and three blocks against a CU team (11-17, 2-15) that had won two of its last three, including a home win Saturday over Baylor.
“It was a very good win against a tough opponent on the road. My teammates found me in good position, especially Juan (Harris, five assists, four points). My teammates did a good job finding me close to the basket and I think I did a good job staying close to the basket,” Dickinson said.
Dickinson, who for the second straight game had a steal that led to his own breakaway basket, previously had a KU career-high 31 points against Chaminade and 30 points against TCU, both a year ago, his first of two seasons at KU.
His previous high this season was 28 versus Michigan State. In Big 12 action he had 27 at UCF and 25 at Kansas State.
His personal best scoring mark was 33 points as a Michigan Wolverine against Michigan State in 2022.
“I thought he was the best player in the game obviously,” KU coach Bill Self said. “He was terrific. He got us off to a great start, both he and KJ. They killed us on the glass (CU had 46 rebounds to KU’s 31). If not for Hunt, we’d have been annihilated on the glass. He was great. He played like an All-American tonight.”
Self was asked by a media member if he envisioned high scoring games from Dickinson when he was acquired via the portal.
“I actually thought he’d do it multiple times,” Self said. “He’s been inconsistent in doing it. We’ve also been inconsistent in helping him. Tonight he scored in a variety of ways, as a power player and finesse player.”
Dickinson said he and the Jayhawks received a boost from a crowd of 11,042 that appeared to include 3,000 or so KU fans.
“Maybe it’s why we played well to start the game,” Dickinson said. “It felt like a neutral site game. Maybe KU fans will buy some extra tickets when we go to Houston (for next Monday’s game against the Cougars).”
Dickinson said the team exuded confidence Monday even after squandering a 10 point lead.
“I think the player with the most confidence is Diggy,” he said of guard David “Diggy” Coit, who was 2-of-5 from 3, his teammates just 1-of-8. “He’s embraced that ‘when you are open, shoot it’ mentality. He, Rylan (Griffen, 10 points, 1-of-4 from 3, 7-of-10 from the line) and Zeke (Mayo, four points, 1-of-5 shooting, four assists) are our best shooters. They open it up for me and KJ.”
The Jayhawks will put their newfound 2-0 record on the line Saturday against Texas Tech. Tipoff is 1 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.
“We have have a new team. Right now we are 2-0 and we’ll try to go 3-0,” Adams said. “Right now we are building momentum. We like each other off the court. Once we click together on the floor, I think we’ll be OK.”
Self said he’s pleased the team is buying into the “new season” and embracing its 2-0 mark.
“I think this will do wonders for us,” he said of the road win. “We are 2-0. Our season started against Oklahoma State.”
Asked why the players have embraced the “new season” motto, Self concluded: “We were searching for anything to grab onto. That’s one thing that made sense to them.”
