The Kansas Jayhawks are 2-0 since their “new season” began. After starting the season as the
AP No. 1 team, things bottomed out after a dreadful road trip to Utah last week. The Jayhawks
needed to do something, anything, to get their season back on track.
“I think we were searching for anything to grab onto,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said after the
Kansas win over Colorado late Monday night. “We needed something good to happen, and that
was the one thing that actually made sense to them (the team).”
Seniors KJ Adams and Hunter Dickinson said they could feel the team building confidence over
the last couple of games. Between a blowout win at home and a grind-it-out game on the road,
those types of wins really help. Adams likes the idea of being “2-0” in this “new season”.
“We’re all thinking the exact same thing,” Adams said after the game. “Now we’re trying to go for
3-0.”
It’s nice to hear the players and coaches seem to be on the same page now. Whatever it takes
at this point for the Jayhawks and this “new season” slogan seems to be working so far. To be
fair, and for all of the critics who have already made this point, these two wins in the “new
season” have come against two of the worst teams in the Big 12.
The 96-64 home win over Oklahoma State got the team back on track, but the Cowboys are 5-11 in conference play and 13-14 overall. The road win at Colorado was nice, but the Buffaloes are 2-13 in conference play and 11-17 overall.
Kansas needs the wins, so at this point, it doesn’t matter who they come against. The final three
games of the season will be true battles against ranked teams.
First, they’ll get No. 10 Texas Tech at home this Saturday, March 1st. Then, the Jayhawks will go to Houston for ESPN’s Big Monday on March 3rd. That will be a revenge game for Kansas who lost to the Cougars at home in a double overtime game that the Jayhawks had a 99% chance to win with 18 seconds
left in the first overtime. They’ll wrap up the regular season for a Senior Day home game against No. 22 Arizona.
Taking it one game at a time is a great philosophy, but that will be tested with these tougher
games ahead. One of the most noticeable differences has been the hustle and defensive
intensity. Seeing players going after loose balls, grabbing rebounds, getting up and down the
court after forcing turnovers, etc, is a good sign. Hunter Dickinson has led the way in the past two
games.
Dickinson has dominated the box score, adding a Kansas career-high 32 points and adding 13
rebounds against Colorado, but also added 16 points and 11 rebounds in a game where he
didn’t play in the final 10 minutes of the game in a blowout against Oklahoma State.
It’s not just the numbers that stand out. It’s the way he has transformed his game in such a short period of time. The energy has been up, and he’s been hitting his shots, which helps. The defense has been the most impressive part. Two plays in particular stood out. In both wins, Dickinson was able to get a steal at the top of the key and take the ball coast-to-coast. One was for a dunk against Oklahoma State, and the other for a layup “and one” against Colorado. Dickinson has been a spark that the Jayhawks have been missing for a majority of the season.
Kansas will need secondary players to continue to step up their game if they want to continue
winning against high-level opponents.
David Coit stepped up, scoring 15 points off the bench in the win over Oklahoma State. Freshman Flory Bidunga had a career-high 16 rebounds off the bench against the Cowboys. KJ Adams, who has been averaging eight points this season, went off for 15 against Colorado. Having a dominant Dickinson absolutely helps the cause, but other guys will need to rise up as well.
Despite the rollercoaster of a season, the Jayhawks still have time to make fans forget about the
lows and remember a fun run in March. It starts by trying to get to 3-0 in the “new season” with a
win over Texas Tech on Saturday.
