Kansas basketball won its final exhibition game of the preseason, defeating Fort Hays State 73-55 in Allen Fieldhouse. These are our five takeaways from the victory.
The college basketball season officially tips off in just a few days (November 6, to be exact), and the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks are once again one of the favorites to cut down the nets in March.
Led by Hunter Dickinson, Kevin McCullar, and Dajuan Harris, this is a roster that certainly has the talent to win it all. Luckily for fans, they got a handful of chances to watch the team play before the games start to matter. In their final tuneup before the season, the Jayhawks knocked off in-state foe Fort Hays State.
Here are my five biggest takeaways from the Kansas basketball game.
Kansas Basketball Takeaway No. 1: Hunter Dickinson Needs to Average 15 Shots Per Game
The best player to ever enter the transfer portal chose to play his final season with the Jayhawks. They need to take full advantage of his presence. Dickinson is arguably the most offensively gifted big man in the country, and KU’s system should allow him to be as dominant as he has ever been in college.
For starters, Bill Self loves having a big man who can post up on the block and score virtually whenever he wants to (see Thomas Robinson, Udoka Azubuike, and even David McCormack at times). He will likely be preaching day in and day out to feed the big man whenever he has his defender posted up.
Secondly, Dajuan Harris is by far the best passing point guard he has played with in his college career. He should get a handful of shot attempts and easy baskets from pick-and-rolls with Harris. Those two things, plus a couple of three-point attempts a game, should put Kansas basketball in a good spot to have a very successful season on the back of their preseason All-American big man.