Bill Self offers one key reason for KU basketball’s gritty victory against Duke
KJ Adams’ smothering defense on preseason All-American Cooper Flagg, Rylan Griffen’s seven points during crunch time, Hunter Dickinson’s flagrant 2 foul and ensuing ejection and Dajuan Harris’ 14 points and nine assists proved to be major storylines in Kansas’ thrilling 75-72 victory over Duke on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
Going unnoticed for the most part in the postgame analysis between the Nos. 1 (KU) and 11 (Duke) teams in the country? That’d be KU’s work on the glass against one of the tallest starting lineups in the country.
“Maybe the most impressive thing we did that we haven’t talked about … gosh we rebounded the ball,” KU coach Bill Self said after his team improved to 6-0. Duke fell to 4-2.
“They got five offensive rebounds for the game,” Self marveled, adding, “I’m really happy with our guys. As our coaching staff knows we’ve not been ecstatic the past week to 10 days on maybe our concentration, toughness and effort level. Tonight we were different.”
KU outrebounded Duke, a team that starts 7-2 Khaman Maluach, 6-9 Cooper Flagg, 6-7 Kon Knueppel, 6-6 Tyrese Proctor and 6-5 Caleb Foster, 31 rebounds to 25. It was the first time in six games Duke had been outrebounded. The Jayhawks have outrebounded their opponent in five of six games and are 73-3 in their last 76 games when winning the battle on the boards.
KU, which had 10 offensive rebounds, was led by freshman Flory Bidunga, who had eight rebounds to go with six points in 16 minutes. Dickinson, who headed to the locker room with 10 1/2 minutes remaining, had six rebounds and 11 points with three assists and two steals in 24 minutes.
Guards Harris and Griffen chipped in three rebounds apiece, while Adams had two rebounds in 33 minutes. Duke’s Proctor and Flagg had six and five rebounds respectively.
“That was as good a win as we’ve had (in the) regular season in a long time,” Self said in his postgame speech to the team in the T-Mobile Arena locker room, as filmed by the Kansas men’s basketball X account. “In all honesty — everybody, listen to me — toughness wins, poise wins, defense wins. You guys did all of them tonight for the most part. I’m really proud of you. Now you know why I’m on you (at practice), because those are the kind of games that big boys play.”
Third-year Duke coach Jon Scheyer, who fell to 0-2 in games he’s coached against KU, was impressed with the top-ranked Jayhawks.
“I thought we battled like crazy. Give Kansas credit. They’ve had a week off and you could tell,” he said. “The preparation and how ready they were to play right away (in grabbing 16-3 lead), I thought that was the best version of who they are.
“Their experience is legit (and) their talent. Obviously, coach Self is one of the best. He’s done a terrific job (as) always. Ton of respect for them. For us (starting three freshmen), it would’ve been easy to fold in that kind of game. The way they came out, I thought they made some tough shots. I thought we missed some open ones. And we just stuck with it. Kept fighting, kept fighting. We’re asking a lot of 17-, 18- and 19-year-olds. We are. That’s what they (Duke players) want.
“I thought the character and the heart of our team really showed tonight. As much as I badly want to win — I think maybe at some point, I’ve thought about if I’m crazy for the schedule that we’ve had our first six games. But I did it with this group because I thought they could take it.”
Scheyer, whose team also has lost to Kentucky this season, credited KU seniors Harris and Adams.
“To be in this environment — Harris and Adams in particular — how many games have they been in like this? I think it showed,” Scheyer said. “Their poise down the stretch (and) their toughness. It’s a big-time college basketball game, both ways. For our freshmen to learn and grow from this is going to be off the charts. You can’t simulate this in practice.”
Like Duke, 1-2 versus KU, Kentucky and Arizona, the Jayhawks have had a monster early-season schedule. KU has defeated Michigan State and North Carolina in addition to Duke.
Here are some tidbits from the game which, like the rebounding margin, might have been overlooked a bit:
• Duke lost to the No. 1 team for the first time since March 8, 2008 (to North Carolina). KU snapped the Blue Devils’ two-game winning streak versus top-ranked teams. The Blue Devils defeated Gonzaga 84-81 on Nov. 26, 2021, and Syracuse 66- 60 on Feb. 22, 2014.
• Duke freshman forward Flagg, who had 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting with five rebounds and three assists, according to Athlon Sports and StatMamba, has become the fastest player in Duke history (six games) to record 100 or more points, 50 or more rebounds and 20 or more assists. Flagg, who is considered the likely No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, has scored 102 points with 50 rebounds and 22 assists. Flagg averages 17.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 blocks a game. He leads the team in all those categories.
• Duke lost despite cashing 11 3s to KU’s eight, shooting 50% to KU’s 49.1% and dishing 17 assists on the team’s 24 baskets. KU had 22 assists on 28 baskets.
• Duke went 13-of-18 from the free throw line; KU was 11-of-12. Duke, following the ejection of Dickinson, committed seven fouls to KU’s two in the final 10 1/2 minutes.
• According to duke.rivals.com, Knueppel, who was 0-for-8 from 3 vs. KU, is 1-for-16 from 3 in Duke’s two losses and 12-of- 24 in the team’s four wins. Guarded by Bidunga and Zeke Mayo, he missed a possible game-tying 3 at the final buzzer.
• Kansas held a 21-15 advantage in scoring off turnovers.
• KU has won five of its last six games vs. Duke and now trails the all-time series 8 games to 7. However, KU’s win in 2018 has been erased from the record books because of an NCAA penalty.
This story was originally published November 29, 2024 at 6:30 AM with the headline "Bill Self offers one key reason for KU basketball’s gritty victory against Duke."
