— On Saturday night, No. 10 Kansas (8-2) defeated N.C. State, 75-60 inside Allen Fieldhouse. After losing two straight games on the road, the Jayhawks, in snapping the two-game skid, were led by Zeko Mayo (26), Hunter Dickinson (21), and Dajuan Harris (15). Offensively, Mayo connected on 9-of-14 field goals, 5-of-9 shots from behind the arc, and was 3-of-5 from the free-throw line.
Dickinson, aside from scoring 21 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and was credited with seven assists and two steals. Against the Wolfpack, Dickinson hit 9-of-13 field goals, 1-of-3 shots from behind the arc, and was 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. Most importantly, Dickinson didn’t commit a single turnover.
Harris, KU’s third and final double-digit scorer, tallied 15 points, six assists, three turnovers, and two steals. Harris, in 36 minutes of action, hit 6-of-11 field goals and was 3-of-6 from behind the arc.
Harris (36), Mayo (34), and Dickinson (28) still logged a majority of the minutes against N.C. State. Had it not been for Dickinson being hit with a flagrant foul, he would have played more than 30 minutes on Saturday.
— It felt like it had been a long time since Kansas led for an extended period of time in a game. Today, Bill Self’s squad jumped out to a 15-0 and never looked back. Kansas was clearly the more aggressive team today and played with a much different swagger than the team that lost at Creighton and Missouri.
Yes, N.C. State made a run and pulled to within single digits, but Kansas responded each and every time.
“I thought, yeah, we were ready to play to start the game,” said Self. “I mean, we played really well early and until about the 13-minute mark and we dropped off a little bit after that, but guys were locked in, and did I see anything in practice to lead me to believe we'd play like that? No. Did I feel that we would play much better?
“Yes, just because of guys probably not being very happy, but we did a good job,” he added. “That team's very quick, and they got their hands on a lot of balls, and for the most part, we did a good job.”
— If Kansas is going to have the type of season it's capable of having, Hunter Dickinson must play at an All-American-type level. He was on top of his game today and a factor on both ends of the court. He scored around the basket, drilled a shot from behind the arc, dominated the glass, and got his teammates involved with seven assists.
“I didn't think we threw it to him on the block and he scored a lot on the block,” said Self. “I thought we threw it to him a lot out of short roles and things like that and made some really good plays to him. But if we become a better screening team, we will get more baskets like that. And I thought we did a better job screening tonight, but we got to play through Hunt, guys.
‘He got 21 and seven and 14 and a really dumb foul,” he added. “So we got to do a better job of playing through him and he's got to do a better job of cleaning some things up. But I thought he and Juan and Zeke were really good tonight. I mean really good.”
— From about the 12:00 to 13:00 minute mark in the second half, I thought Zeke Mayo did an absolutely amazing job getting to the basket. He was aggressive, confident, and looked smooth driving to the basket. I thought he took a giant step forward in showing off that part of his game against N.C. State.
“Yeah, I think it was a little bit of both,” said Mayo when asked if his driving to the basket in the second half was planned or something that just happened due to the way N.C. State was defending him. “We knew that they were going to pressure us on the perimeter, so he kind of emphasized attacking that and getting downhill and making plays for yourself or others. So I mean, once I got comfortable and saw that a little bit and felt it a little bit more, I think getting downhill was the ultimate option.
“And how did it feel? I mean, it felt good obviously just to not only make shots but to get a big win like this, we needed to bounce back,” he added. “The fellows played great and we're going to take this and then move on.”
Moving forward the rest of the season, Kansas has got to find a way to get guys like Mayo, Rylan Griffen, AJ Storr, Shakeel Moore, and David Coit clicking on all cylinders. I mean, these guys were brought to Kansas for a reason, and at some point, each will have to play to their potential.
It sounds like this team will have a huge opportunity to take the next step forward with the Holiday Break coming.
Self, on Saturday night, said KU absolutely needs to practice.
“We need to practice,” he said. “We need to practice. It's finals week, so that'll take precedence over everything, but we need to practice and get better before December 31st, so this'll be good.
“We're not going to crush our guys by any stretch or whatever, but the things that we need to get in for conference play, probably some of those will be this week."
Dickinson, aside from scoring 21 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and was credited with seven assists and two steals. Against the Wolfpack, Dickinson hit 9-of-13 field goals, 1-of-3 shots from behind the arc, and was 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. Most importantly, Dickinson didn’t commit a single turnover.
Harris, KU’s third and final double-digit scorer, tallied 15 points, six assists, three turnovers, and two steals. Harris, in 36 minutes of action, hit 6-of-11 field goals and was 3-of-6 from behind the arc.
Harris (36), Mayo (34), and Dickinson (28) still logged a majority of the minutes against N.C. State. Had it not been for Dickinson being hit with a flagrant foul, he would have played more than 30 minutes on Saturday.
— It felt like it had been a long time since Kansas led for an extended period of time in a game. Today, Bill Self’s squad jumped out to a 15-0 and never looked back. Kansas was clearly the more aggressive team today and played with a much different swagger than the team that lost at Creighton and Missouri.
Yes, N.C. State made a run and pulled to within single digits, but Kansas responded each and every time.
“I thought, yeah, we were ready to play to start the game,” said Self. “I mean, we played really well early and until about the 13-minute mark and we dropped off a little bit after that, but guys were locked in, and did I see anything in practice to lead me to believe we'd play like that? No. Did I feel that we would play much better?
“Yes, just because of guys probably not being very happy, but we did a good job,” he added. “That team's very quick, and they got their hands on a lot of balls, and for the most part, we did a good job.”
— If Kansas is going to have the type of season it's capable of having, Hunter Dickinson must play at an All-American-type level. He was on top of his game today and a factor on both ends of the court. He scored around the basket, drilled a shot from behind the arc, dominated the glass, and got his teammates involved with seven assists.
“I didn't think we threw it to him on the block and he scored a lot on the block,” said Self. “I thought we threw it to him a lot out of short roles and things like that and made some really good plays to him. But if we become a better screening team, we will get more baskets like that. And I thought we did a better job screening tonight, but we got to play through Hunt, guys.
‘He got 21 and seven and 14 and a really dumb foul,” he added. “So we got to do a better job of playing through him and he's got to do a better job of cleaning some things up. But I thought he and Juan and Zeke were really good tonight. I mean really good.”
— From about the 12:00 to 13:00 minute mark in the second half, I thought Zeke Mayo did an absolutely amazing job getting to the basket. He was aggressive, confident, and looked smooth driving to the basket. I thought he took a giant step forward in showing off that part of his game against N.C. State.
“Yeah, I think it was a little bit of both,” said Mayo when asked if his driving to the basket in the second half was planned or something that just happened due to the way N.C. State was defending him. “We knew that they were going to pressure us on the perimeter, so he kind of emphasized attacking that and getting downhill and making plays for yourself or others. So I mean, once I got comfortable and saw that a little bit and felt it a little bit more, I think getting downhill was the ultimate option.
“And how did it feel? I mean, it felt good obviously just to not only make shots but to get a big win like this, we needed to bounce back,” he added. “The fellows played great and we're going to take this and then move on.”
Moving forward the rest of the season, Kansas has got to find a way to get guys like Mayo, Rylan Griffen, AJ Storr, Shakeel Moore, and David Coit clicking on all cylinders. I mean, these guys were brought to Kansas for a reason, and at some point, each will have to play to their potential.
It sounds like this team will have a huge opportunity to take the next step forward with the Holiday Break coming.
Self, on Saturday night, said KU absolutely needs to practice.
“We need to practice,” he said. “We need to practice. It's finals week, so that'll take precedence over everything, but we need to practice and get better before December 31st, so this'll be good.
“We're not going to crush our guys by any stretch or whatever, but the things that we need to get in for conference play, probably some of those will be this week."
