Kansas battled through a sloppy game but managed to knock off Michigan State 77-69 at the Champions Classic in Atlanta on Tuesday. The Jayhawks struggled, but the Spartans struggled more as Kansas grinded out a win.
The one bright spot for Kansas was Hunter Dickinson. Playing in his seventh career game against Michigan State after spending three years at Michigan, Dickinson decimated with 28 points and 12 rebounds.
Both teams struggled to shoot from outside. Kansas shot 5/17 from deep, while Michigan State made just three of its 23 threes. The Jayhawks were 6/19 on layups but found a way to win.
First half
Hunter Dickinson got straight to work, scoring the first eight points for Kansas as the Jayhawks took an early lead. Michigan State struggled to get anything going, turning it over four times in the first five minutes on a 1/5 start from the field.
Kansas couldn't get anything going outside of Dickinson, missing nine straight shots on a scoring drought of over four minutes. The Spartans went on a prolonged 8-0 run as they struggled to score as well but found a way to take a 10-8 lead at the under-12 timeout.
Neither team could hit anything, as Kansas went over seven minutes without a field goal. Michigan State went on a similar slump of around six minutes. Rylan Griffen got downhill to break the drought for the Jayhawks and the game was tied at 14-14 with 7:05 to play.
Dickinson put the Jayhawks on his back, hitting two shots in the paint before stepping outside to knock down the first three for either team at the 4:29 mark of the first half. Flory Bidunga provided a spark with two dunks as part of a 7-0 run to give the Jayhawks a 23-18 lead.
The Jayhawks got some semblance of offense in the late minutes of the first half, with Griffen hitting a jumper and David Coit knocking home a three. Bidunga threw down a dunk to put the Jayhawks up 10, but Jase Richardson answered with a four-point play to cut Kansas' lead to 30-24 at the half.
Kansas shot 36% from the floor, while Michigan State shot just 25.8%. Dickinson had half of the Jayhawks' 30 first-half points in an ugly first 20 minutes of basketball.
Second half
Michigan State scored the first four points of the second half from the free throw line to cut the deficit to just two. Kansas stayed ahead as halftime did not allow either team to heat up from the floor.
Jaxon Kohler started to get going for the Spartans, scoring five straight to tie the game at 39-39 with 14 minutes to play. Dickinson answered with three baskets of his own as the two teams traded baskets, with Kansas leading 45-43 at the under-12.
Kansas scored five straight before Michigan State answered with five of its own. Kohler hit a top-of-the-key three to knot the game at 52-52 with 8:52 remaining. The Jayhawks scored five straight after calling a timeout, with AJ Storr hitting a three to give them some breathing room.
Michigan State started to battle back, but Griffen hit a contested three to spark things for the Jayhawks. Dajuan Harris did a good job getting to the rim, scoring five straight to give Kansas a 68-59 lead.
The mini-sput from Harris was enough for Kansas to secure a hard-fought win. Kansas turned it over late to give Michigan State some life, but was able to ice the game at the free-throw line.