What a career opening night it was for Gradey Dick, the 6-foot-8, 205-pound guard from Wichita, Kan. In helping No. 5 Kansas cruise past Omaha, 89-64, Dick scored a game-high 23 points, pulled down two rebounds, was credited with two steals, and one assist.

Minutes after the game, Norm Roberts talked about the performance of Gradey Dick.

“It does seem like it’s kind of easy to him,” said Roberts. “He has such a quick release. Our guys do a great job of finding him. He did a great job of being prepared to shoot, but he also made some shots in transition, attacking the hoop and those things. We need him to do that. He’s getting better defensively.

“He has to make sure that he keeps his head on a swivel because people are trying to back-door him and they do try to slide by him, but he’s getting better every day,” he added.

Just how good was Gradey Dick on Monday night? On a night when Kansas won its 50th consecutive home opener, Dick, in scoring 23 points, was 9-of-13 from the field, 4-of-6 from behind the arc, and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.

Dick, without question, was the best player on the court for much of the night.

Dick, following KU’s impressive victory over Omaha, talked about his season-opening performance.

“I just had a ton of adrenaline,” said Dick. “My voice is gone from yelling during the game. I grew up dreaming of this night and watching these guys before me wanting to be in their shoes. So, the fact I got the opportunity to do that is a dream come true.

“The start set us back but we trusted our coach, we trusted our playing style, and we were going to get it back,” he added. “There was obviously an emphasis on coming into this game with a faster start and even after half time getting back into it.”

As good as Dick was against Omaha on Monday night, and he was probably the star of the game, he wasn’t the only player to shine inside Allen Fieldhouse.

Jalen Wilson scored 19 points, pulled down 11 rebounds, and dished out seven assists in 31 minutes of action.

Bobby Pettiford, in 16 minutes, scored 13 points and dished out two assists, and was credited with two steals.

Dajuan Harris added 11 points, three rebounds, eight assists, and one steal, while Kevin McCullar, Jr., chipped in 10 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals in 23 minutes of action.

Earnest Udeh, Jr. (5), KJ Adams, Jr. (4), Joseph Yesufu (2), and Michal Jankovich (2) rounded out the scoring for Kansas.

As a team, Kansas shot 52.2 percent from the field, 40.9 percent from behind the arc, and 53.3 percent from the free-throw line. Defensively, the Jayhawks limited Omaha to 38.6 percent from the field and 23.8 percent from behind the arc.

Roberts, after the game, talked about some improvements that he wants to see moving forward.

“Obviously our defensive awareness needs to get better,” he said. “We got beat on bad cuts. We got beat on a play with a back-screen lob, which we have run over ten times in practice. We have to do a better job scouting and with the scouting report. I thought we did a decent job of contesting threes and not giving that up, but we gave up way too many layups.

“I think they had 16 points on layups in the first half,” he added. “We have to protect the rim better than what we’re doing.”

For Jalen Wilson and his teammates, Monday night’s opening win was the perfect way to get the season started, especially with some big games coming up on the schedule.

“It was great,” said Wilson. “It felt really good to get the season going now, now these games count. We always take care of business at home, just trying to set the tone for the year. That was so exciting getting everyone involved and just seeing the crowd’s energy. I am so happy to get the season going.”