KU Jayhawks turned in complete effort vs Wichita State. Here are Bill Self’s thoughts
Kansas basketball players were made aware of a prior KU-Wichita State meeting — an NCAA Tournament shocker of sorts — before Saturday’s nonconference clash between the Sunflower State schools at T-Mobile Center.
“Coach told us the history of us playing against Wichita State — and how the last time we played them it was real unfortunate and we went home really sad in the NCAA Tournament,” KU senior center Hunter Dickinson said after No. 2-ranked KU’s 86-67 victory over WSU.
It was the first game between the schools since WSU’s 78-65 victory over KU in a second-round 2015 NCAA Tournament game played in Omaha, Nebraska.
“We knew they were going to come in and give us their best shot because it was going to be more a Kansas crowd in there,” Dickinson noted.
Indeed, a vast majority of the 18,702 fans — a crowd that included Denver Nuggets guard/former KU player Christian Braun — were rooting for KU, which improved to 13-3 all-time versus the Shockers.
“They came in the underdogs. They gave us a great shot, especially the first half; they made us work on offense. I think we guarded really well. It led to our run late in the first half,” added Dickinson, who scored a game-high 22 points with 13 rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block in 30 minutes.
The teams played to a 14-14 tie after 11 1/2 minutes. That’s when freshman Elmarko Jackson scored seven straight points to open a half-ending 29-13 run that gave the Jayhawks (12-1) a 43-27 lead over WSU (8-5) at the break.
KU coach Bill Self said, “sure, sure,” when asked if he discussed the KU-WSU series with his players prior to the contest.
“But not like … I don’t think what happened 32 years ago had a lot of bearing on guys being fired up today,” Self said.
The two teams last played a regular-season contest in 1993, with KU winning 103-54 in Lawrence.
“It’s the last game of 2023. I tried to spin it that it’s a circle game for Wichita State,” Self added. “We have to respect that and play with the intensity we know they’ll come out and play with. I thought we did. I thought we played with pretty good energy from the jump.”
KU, which led by as many as 28 points the final half (WSU did get within 16) had a well-balanced attack.
Kevin McCullar was 10-of-10 from the line (5-of-14 shooting) and scored 20 points with seven rebounds in 32 minutes. Jackson had a career-high 12 points in 27 minutes. He hit two 3s and was 5-of-10 shooting overall.
KJ Adams had nine points, 11 rebounds and five assists, while Dajuan Harris had nine assists to two turnovers (he hit two 3s). Johnny Furphy scored seven points, while Jamari McDowell and Parker Braun combined for 10 points.
Only Nick Timberlake had a tough go of it, missing five shots (four 3s) and failing to score.
“We just wanted to play our game, focus on us and get better before conference play starts (next Saturday vs. TCU in Lawrence),” Harris said. “That’s what we did. Now we have another week to get ready for conference.”
Self was generally pleased with his team’s performance.
“I thought they all did fine,” Self said, “except the bench was 1-for-14 from 3 (including 0-for-3 by walk-ons).”
Overall KU was 7-of-27 (25.9%) from 3. WSU shot 4-of-20 (20%) from 3.
“We will have a much better season if Johnny (1-for-5 on 3s), Nick (0-for-4), Elmarko (2-for-3) and Jamari (0-for-1) can make 35% of their shots from 3,” Self said. “In order for us to be able to space the floor, they have to make shots.”
Seven-footer Dickinson was 2-of-3 from 3.
“It felt great to get back out there,” Dickinson said. “I felt it was a good break (3 1/2 days home for Christmas) for me to get away from basketball and have a reset. The team did a good job finding me in good spots.”
Of his frontcourt partner, Adams, Dickinson said: “Coach has been trying to motivate him to get more rebounds. He is so athletic. His size and strength … he got a lot of rebounds today. Eight defensive were big for us. We need to rebound a lot. We did today.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2023 at 7:10 PM with the headline "KU Jayhawks turned in complete effort vs Wichita State. Here are Bill Self’s thoughts."
