Kansas basketball snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in an ugly win over the Eastern Illinois Panthers.
One week after winning two of three in the Maui Invitational, the Kansas basketball team escaped what could have been the worst home loss in the Bill Self era by narrowly overcoming Eastern Illinois 71-63.
No one thought the Panthers could compete with the Jayhawks. They were 38.5-point underdogs and came into the game as the 19th-worst team in the country, according to KenPom rankings.
However, they outscored KU 15-4 to begin the second half, bringing the game within four points. They never took the lead but once trailed by one point with 5:04 remaining in the contest.
A pair of Hunter Dickinson and-one baskets allowed Kansas basketball to pull away late. The superstar center finished the game with 25 points, 13 rebounds, and three blocks on 11-of-15 shooting, marking his fourth double-double of the young season.
Kevin McCullar continued his offensive breakout year by dropping 18 points of his own. He and Dickinson accounted for over 60% of KU’s points on the night. KJ Adams scored 10 and flushed a few alley-oops as well.
Kansas continued to turn the ball over at a high rate with 10, including three from point guard Dajuan Harris, who scored just one point and missed all four of his field goal attempts. The team connected on 28-of-56 (50%) of its shots and 12-of-18 free throw tries (66.7%).
Although the result of the bout was a Jayhawk victory, it isn’t encouraging to see such a poor performance from the preseason No. 1 team. Eastern Illinois is widely regarded as one of the worst Division I basketball programs, yet they were a few buckets away from pulling off a monumental upset.
Sitting at 6-1, head coach Bill Self must search in his deep bag of tricks to get this team to click. Newcomers such as Elmarko Jackson and Nick Timberlake have looked highly unimpressive, and it often feels that Dickinson and McCullar are the only players giving them anything on the court.
Kansas has two days to prepare for No. 4 UConn, who they will host this Friday in the Big East-Big 12 Battle. If the Jayhawks show up like they did tonight, fans could be in for a long game.