SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Kansas basketball captured a victory in its NCAA match matchup Thursday in opposition to Samford, advancing from the spherical of 64 within the Midwest area to the spherical of 32 after a 93-89 victory.
Listed here are a number of takeaways from the No. 4-seed Jayhawks (23-10) win in opposition to the No. 13-seed Bulldogs (29-6):
Kansas prevails with out Kevin McCullar Jr.
Kansas was dealt a troublesome hand when it was revealed that graduate senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. wouldn’t be capable to play throughout the NCAA match. McCullar, out attributable to harm, is an All-America caliber expertise similar to senior middle Hunter Dickinson. However whereas the Jayhawks didn’t have McCullar, they prevailed in opposition to Samford.
Graduate senior guard Nicolas Timberlake began in McCullar’s place. Though Timberlake handled foul bother, he nonetheless had one in every of his higher video games of the season. He completed with 19 factors.
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Hunter Dickinson thrives
Dickinson entered the sport with a bonus, given his 7-foot-2 and 260-pound body. Early and sometimes, he used that to his benefit. Earlier than the primary half was even over, he’d already compiled a double-double.
Dickinson completed with 19 factors and 20 rebounds. Graduate senior ahead Parker Braun didn’t play a lot off the bench, however Kansas didn’t want him as a lot as some might need thought Thursday. Dickinson’s presence was clearly efficient.
Kansas overcomes turnover points
On paper, it could possibly be onerous to select a workforce to steer at halftime if it turned the ball over 10 extra occasions than its opponent and didn’t have any factors off turnovers. However that’s precisely what Kansas was capable of do. The Jayhawks’ constant capability to make photographs after they didn’t give the ball away saved them out in entrance.
Kansas’ capability to take higher care of the ball within the second half helped permit the Jayhawks to outlive the 3-point barrage Samford ended up displaying. On the recreation’s finish, the Jayhawks had seven factors off of seven Samford miscues and the Bulldogs had 15 factors off of 18 KU miscues. It simply would have been a better night time for Kansas if it had taken care of the ball early on.
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Jordan Guskey covers College of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He’s the Nationwide Sports activities Media Affiliation’s sportswriter of the 12 months for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.