‘One strong dude’: KU Jayhawks big man Dillon Wilhite ready for Senior Day festivities
A native of San Diego who as a youngster made regular trips to Lawrence to visit his grandmother, Kansas basketball administrative assistant Joanie Stephens, Dillon Wilhite learned a lot about hoops from a pair of former Jayhawk standouts.
“Growing up, I came to Kansas basketball camp and was a Jayhawk fan from a young age. Being around players like Thomas Robinson and Jeff Withey at camp inspired me to work hard and reach my goals,” said Wilhite, one of the top high school forwards/centers in Southern California who in 2021 chose to walk on at KU.
The fourth-year player’s final home game as a Jayhawk will be Saturday’s Senior Day contest against Arizona. Tipoff is 3:30 p.m., with a live telecast on ESPN.
“It’s been a good run,” said Wilhite, who graduated in August 2024 with a finance degree and is finishing work on an MBA. He will enter the working world this summer with an internship at a wealth management firm back in San Diego.
“I’ll always be able to call this place home,” he added of Lawrence.
Wilhite after picking up those pointers from Robinson and fellow San Diego native Withey had quite a high school sports career.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pound post player, whose dad, Brad, was a standout golfer at both Lawrence High and TCU and two sisters (Brennan and Peyton) were volleyball players at Georgetown, has had many accomplishments in athletics as well.
Wilhite averaged 18.0 points and 12.0 rebounds per game his senior year at Cathedral Catholic High in San Diego, helping the (17-3) Dons place second in the San Diego City Conference tournament. The 2021 first team all-conference selection led Cathedral to CIF San Diego titles his junior and senior seasons of high school.
Earlier in his high school career, he was starting middle blocker on Cathedral’s volleyball team, leading the squad to the CIF San Diego Div. I crown.
Impressed by Wilhite’s frame and athletic ability, KU coach Bill Self spoke with his administrative assistant about perhaps adding her grandson as a Jayhawk non-scholarship player.
“He hasn’t gotten much playing time (six points, two rebounds in five games his senior campaign), which he knew that coming in, but he’s been great,” Self said. “There’s some guys in our program that will probably be glad that Dillon’s a senior because he is one strong dude and he does a good job of putting his body on folks and creating space. He’ll be missed.”
A member of KU’s 2022 NCAA title team, Wilhite said cutting down the nets in New Orleans remains his most cherished memory as a Jayhawk.
He said leaving Lawrence “will be tough. I’m definitely going to miss being around here, the team aspect, the basketball family, just being a basketball player in Lawrence. I look forward coming back for national championship reunions hopefully. Things like that to look forward to … to bring my family, kids back here someday, things like that.”
Wilhite is one of two senior walk-ons who will speak to the fans after the Arizona game (as well as Zeke Mayo, Dajuan Harris and KJ Adams). The other non-scholarshihp Jayhawk to be honored Saturday is senior guard Patrick Cassidy, a 6-1 native of Columbus, Kansas, who has not scored in five games this season after scoring five points in six games his junior campaign.
Cassidy — he started his KU career as a basketball manager for two seasons before joining the squad as a walk-on — scored more than 1,000 points in four years at Columbus High. He also was a standout high school football quarterback while also playing baseball and competing in track and field.
“My favorite basketball moment for me was being a part of the national championship team in 2022 as a manager. Seeing that team achieve the ultimate goal and win a championship was surreal. As a player, scoring on Senior Night (last year against K-State) was my favorite memory,” Cassidy said.
He added that “the ability to be a part of a team and working towards goals that are bigger than yourself is what makes basketball so special to me.”
