Almost three weeks after taking down North Carolina at Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas basketball (6-0) outlasted the other prominent program in the Tar Heel State. The Jayhawks dug deep and defeated the dynamic Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils, 75-72, in Terry’s Chocolate Vegas Showdown on Tuesday. Beyond the actual outcome, what is most impressive is that Bill Self’s squad prevailed without having one of its top guys in crunch time.
Star center Hunter Dickinson was ejected after being called for a flagrant 2 foul midway through the second half. He was posting up Duke’s Maliq Brown and then got undercut by the junior forward when the two men were going for the rebound. While on the ground, Dickinson kicked the opposing player in the face. Brown was charged with a foul, but the Jayhawks big man was dismissed from the game.
Dickinson, who spent a few minutes on the bench before retreating to the locker room, finished his night with 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting, six rebounds and two steals. The 24-year-old is coming under fire for the action, but his forced absence did allow Kansas to see what it can do when its back is against the wall.
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Dajuan Harris Jr. scored a team-high 14 points, KJ Adams Jr. and Rylan Griffen each made their share of clutch plays and the Jayhawks as a whole took advantage of their trips to the free throw line (11-of-12). The Big 12 powerhouse will leave Sin City with its No. 1 national ranking intact.
Hunter Dickinson would have obviously liked to be a part of the tenacious feat, but he will now have plenty of energy to unleash when the team plays Furman this Saturday. Ideally, the 7-plus-footer will avoid any more entanglements going forward, but if Duke happens to cross paths with him and Kansas basketball again in March, there could be some extra emotion present.
Alex House is a sports journalist who covers the NFL, NBA, and MLB for ClutchPoints, providing a unique writing voice due to his in-depth knowledge of New York sports. Alex resides in Connecticut after receiving his journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island.