Kansas center Hunter Dickinson has starred this season, leading D-1 with 12.7 rebounds per game while also topping the Jayhawks in points and steals. But a tweet from actor Samuel L. Jackson accusing Dickinson of flopping has drawn unexpected attention. Dickinson took the criticism in stride, focusing on Kansas’ 5-1 start instead. The Jayhawks are coming off a 69-60 win over No. 7 Tennessee in the Maui Invitational third-place game, led by Dickinson’s 17 points and 20 boards. Up next is a home contest against Eastern Illinois before a showdown with UConn. Dickinson will look to continue his standout season in the silence of his latest high-profile critic.
Hunter Dickinson will look to continue his wild start to the season — and maybe silence one very well-known critic — when Kansas takes on Eastern Illinois in Lawrence on Tuesday.
The Jayhawks defeated No. 7 Tennessee 69-60 on Wednesday in the third-place match of the Maui Invitational in Honolulu. Dickinson finished with 17 points and 20 rebounds. With 12.7 rebounds per game, the 7-foot-2, 260-pound transfer from Michigan is the national leader. In terms of points (21.2) and steals (1.7) per game, he leads the Jayhawks.
Dickinson has garnered unexpected attention despite her stellar results, thanks to a recent tweet from actor Samuel L. Jackson. “Damn, this (Dickinson) flops like he’s on a Soccer Pitch!!!” Jackson composed a letter.
As one might anticipate, there were many responses to Jackson’s post.
Dickinson stated on Marty Mush’s Barstool Roundball Podcast on Wednesday, “If you see all the replies, it’s all like Kentucky, Michigan State, Illinois, Marquette… it’s a lot of fan bases coming together to rejoice.”
“I was going to tweet, ‘All publicity is good publicity,’ to Jackson.” I suppose you have to take the good with the bad.”
Kansas (5-1) has had great success thus far, and Kevin McCullar Jr. and KJ Adams Jr. have both played well. This season, McCullar has averaged 18.2 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game; Adams has averaged 11.0, 3.5, and 2.5 points, respectively.
Against the Volunteers, McCullar and Adams scored 14 and 13 points, respectively. Remarkably, just a few days after the death of his mother, Yvonne, Adams had flown to Honolulu for the tournament with family members.
“Guys, KJ is playing on fumes,” remarked Bill Self, the coach of Kansas. “KJ’s mother recently died. Even though he hasn’t slept and is completely worn out from playing, he has exhibited courage. He provided for us beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.”
Against Tennessee, the Jayhawks made 51.9 percent of their field goals, which is the fourth time in six games that the team has shot more than 50 percent in a game.
“We had a great victory today,” Self remarked. “We struggled last night obviously (73-59 setback to Marquette on Tuesday) and to bounce back in 13 hours to play a team as good as Tennessee and to hang in there under some fairly adverse conditions for some of our players, it was just a terrific thing and one that we’ll look back on in February and be very thankful for.”
Though Kansas’s big game on Friday against the reigning national champion UConn is imminent, it needs to maintain its concentration on Eastern Illinois (3-4).
On Saturday at Charleston, Illinois, the Panthers defeated Eureka 85-39 to record their second victory in three games. The triumph marked Eastern Illinois bench boss Marty Simmons’ 300th victory as a head coach.
Kooper Jacobi led the Panthers with 16 points and 9 rebounds. The team hit an incredible 50.7 percent (34 of 67) from the field. With seven of his eleven shots made, Jacobi is shooting 43.2 percent for the season and averaging team-high totals in rebounds (7.4) and points (11.1).
This season, Nakyel Shelton has averaged 10.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game for Eastern Illinois, a team that is 0-4 away from home.
