-- First off, Coach Bill Self tied Phog Allen for most wins as head coach at the University of Kansas. Currently, Self has 590 wins during his 22-year run as head coach at Kansas. He's got a chance to absolutely crush that record in the next couple of years. Not surprisingly, Self deflected when asked about it on Friday night.
"Oh well, I feel good," said Self. "I'll be honest with you. I didn't think about it today until Brian Hanni asked about it, and we tied him last year, and then we got 15 taken from us. But the whole thing is, I'm proud, but he's still the greatest coach and the best innovator that this school will ever know. So we don't need to get carried away. We played more games. If he'd played that many games and coached 39 years, he'd have won 2000 games. But it is great, it's great. But the reality of it is all is we just won a big game in November that you guys will make a bigger deal out of than whatever. Because I guarantee Hubert's going to leave out of here thinking, you know what, we got better. And I think that we'll leave out of here thinking even though we didn't play our best, I think that we found a way to win, which is a big positive thing. So, it was probably a good game for both programs. I would think."
-- There have been times when newcomers take the court during the first couple of games and struggle to make an impact, especially on the offensive end of the court. That clearly wasn't the case for Zeke Mayo on Friday night. Against North Carolina, Mayo, in 28 minutes of action, scored a game-high 21 points, pulled down five rebounds, and dished out four assists. Offensively, Mayo shot 7-of-14 from the field, 3-of-9 from behind the arc, and was perfect (4-of-4) from the free-throw line.
If you watched the game, you saw that Mayo wasn't nearly as impactful from behind the arc in the second half. Of his 21 points scored, 11 came in the second half, but he was just 1-of-6 from three after finishing the first half with 10 points on 2-of-3 shooting from behind the arc. When Mayo first committed to Kansas, I wasn't sure what to expect, but there's no doubt in my mind that he's going to be a big-time player for Kansas. He's a game for sure.
-- I could go on and on about Hunter Dickinson. I know that he's still getting his legs underneath him, but he came up big in KU's win over UNC on Friday night. In all, Dickinson, in 29 minutes, scored 20 points, pulled down 10 rebounds, dished out three assists, and was credited with one block. His basket in the paint with 1:17 left not only gave Kansas a two-point lead but gave Kansas the lead for good. He scored the final three points of the game. He also came up big on the final possession of the game, and he was tasked with defending Elliot Cadeau, who came on short on his attempt from behind the arc.
I know that it's early, but I really believe that Rylan Griffen, AJ Storr, Flory Bidunga, and David Coit are going to help Kansas win some big games this season. Griffen scored just six points but was 2-of-4 from behind the arc, dished out three assists, and was credited with two steals. Coit had an off night and was held scoreless, but I've seen enough from him to know that he's a gamer. He's going to hit some big shots.
Bidunga, in 10 minutes, tallied eight points and eight rebounds. He was 3-of-4 from the field and 2-of-4 from the free-throw line, while Storr added 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting (1-of-3) from behind the arc and three assists. I really think Storr is at his best when he's attacking the basket, but he's a guy who is plenty capable of hitting some shots.
kansas.rivals.com