Published Dec 4, 2024
Self: "They've (Creighton) got a good team"
Shay Wildeboor  •  JayhawkSlant
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No. 1 Kansas will head to Creighton on Wednesday with a perfect 7-0 record. This season, Bill Self’s squad owns victories over the likes of Howard, North Carolina, Michigan State, Oakland, UNCW, Duke, and Furman.


However, for the first time this season, Kansas will face its first true road test at Creighton later tonight.


“Well, they got a good team,” said Self. “Obviously, they can stretch it, and they haven't shot it well yet. I think as a group, they're shooting about, I could be off 31.4 percent or something like that, 30 threes (per game), but it's well below what they're capable of shooting, and they're shooting a ton of them. They're averaging, I think, right around 30, and I'd say shot 40 plus against Nebraska, I know. So if I was going to be critical of us, I would say the ability to take that away. And so you would think that they'll shoot an awful lot against us if we're not great at taking that away. Then (Ryan) Kalkbrenner is the best big guy we've gone against and even though he hasn't scored the ball like he did early, but getting 49 in one game on 22 shots is very impressive and I know they'll try to get him the ball down there.


“It'll be a good matchup between Hunt him as long as he's able to go, and I don't know what that status is right now,” he added. “I don't believe he played in the last game, if I'm not mistaken.”


Dickinson is certainly off to a big start for Bill Self and the University of Kansas men’s basketball team. Through seven games, No. 1 Kansas is a perfect 7-0 on the season, Dickinson is averaging 15.7 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.

Offensively, Dickinson is currently shooting 58.4 percent from the field. 33.3 percent from behind the arc, and 62.5 percent from the free-throw line.

Dickinson knows that Kansas will face its first true road test of the season at Creighton on Tuesday night, he will also have his hands full with Ryan Kalkbrenner, the 7-foot-1, 270-pound center from Florissant, Mo.

“Yeah, super excited to hopefully be able to go against him,” said Dickinson I know he was dealing with some lower back (issues), I think, in Vegas, and that's probably because playing so many games in a row, it can definitely be wear and tear, especially on a seven-foot body. I can speak for that for sure, but it would be a great matchup. Obviously, he is probably, me and him are probably some of the best big men in the country. I feel like consensus. And so that'd be a fun matchup.

"That's kind of why you play the game, and that's why you go to a conference like the Big 12 to play against the best bigs. And fortunately, we're playing against another conference that has one of the best bigs in the country. They run a lot of good stuff for him, get him in a lot of good positions, and he is the three-time Big East defensive player of the year. So that'd be a good matchup for me and the rest of the team.”