Hunter Dickinson’s first Big 12 game was a memorable one, as he scored 30 points, including the game-winner with 3.4 seconds to go. He caught the ball underneath the basket, but still managed to get it to go on the last possession for the Jayhawks.
“We work on it a lot,” Dickinson said. “It obviously wasn't scripted for me to catch it under the basket, but I'm used to that in practice and a lot of stuff like that. Just going to get the ball going through a good enough pass for me to catch it and just taking it from there. Just trying to trust everything that I've been taught.”
When the Jayhawks got the ball back after TCU tied the game with 29 seconds to go, they got the exact look from TCU that they wanted in order to get Dickinson in position to score the last basket.
“Fortunate they fronted the post, which was what we hoped to do to keep the ball away from Hunter and were able to make a good pass,” Self said. “Dajuan [Harris] made a great pass.”
Leading up to the final shot was a controversial play that landed Dickinson at the free throw line with a chance to tie the game late. After former Jayhawk Ernest Udeh stole the ball on a pass to Dickinson, he caught him in the face with an elbow, forcing a review. Dickinson made both free throws, tying the game up and getting the ball back.
“Hopefully I don't always have to get elbowed to try to win us a game, but, yeah, if that's what it takes to win, I'm all for the team and whatever it takes,” Dickinson said.
The call from the officials was not met well by many, but Self believes it was the right call.
“It was an easy call, but I thought Hunter sold it well, because if he hadn't sold it, they wouldn't have stopped the play,” Self said .” And then it was an obvious call, but it was unfortunate because it was unintentional.”
Whether it was making both of those free throws with no one around him because it was a flagrant foul to tie the game or the shot inside to win the game, Dickinson was happy with his performance late in the game.
“I like to say myself as a clutch player, so I feel like that's what I do, you know, I'm clutch,” Dickinson said.
While he shined late, it was the beginning of the game that set the tone for the kind of night it was going to be. On the first play of the game, he positioned himself nicely inside off of a set play to score his first points. Shortly after, he hit a three to put Kansas up 5-0 and establish his presence.
On numerous occasions throughout the game, Dickinson would score and then try to pump up the crowd once he was back on defense. He was pleased with the way the fans provided energy throughout the game, even when it was not the prettiest.
“They were in it the whole time, even when they would go on runs and stuff like that,” Dickinson said. “I mean, playing in front of this crowd, it's special. It's truly special. I'm blessed to be able to play in front of these people, these fans that care so much about us and really will us to some wins sometimes. And so I just feel super fortunate to be able to play in front of those fans.”
Dickinson was glad to get a good test from TCU as they came in and made life hard for the Jayhawks. Dickinson knows that games like this one will pay dividends in March.
“That's pretty much an NCAA tournament game right there, where both teams are battling, both teams are making shots,” Dickinson said. “It's a game of runs, but we were able to pull it out, get it out at the end. And so that was a great experience for the new guys, but also just a great team win and a great first win in the Big 12.”
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