Little Ball of Hate was buried in Black Friday marketing work, so he couldn’t even watch the game live. Ater he watched the tapes with Bill Self, here are his takes, rants and takeaways.
First half thoughts, another slow start
Great play by Dickinson on the tip-off, you could see him give Adams a look for a play knowing no one was behind him.
Just bad early careless turnovers and not great defense allowed Tennessee to take an early lead.
Furphy looks really good as a freshman. He will get bigger through the years. I like Jackson in the starting five for now, but eventually I’d like to see Murphy instead.
Not finishing fast breaks. Getting good looks, need to finish.
I like when Self gets technicals early. He has a knack of lighting a 🔥 under his players when he gets hot.
Is it fair to say Kansas has two early All-American candidates in Dickinson and McCullar? Once again the big three lead the way: Dickinson (17), McCullar (14) and Adams (13) lead KU in scoring. McDowell was the next scorer with 7 points in 27 minutes. The Jayhawks need another scorer to step up.
Not a strong finish to the half as Tennessee was struggling. The Vols finish with a 7-1 run.
KU needs to finish at the rim better moving forward.
Second half thoughts, KU wins the half 34-25
Dickinson should touch the ball on every half court offensive set. He is such a great passer, and there is often a double team which leaves someone open.
Keep going back and fourth if I like Dickinson with the #1 jersey. I think I like it. Other KU players who wore No. 1? Jeff Hawkins (2002-06), Mario Kinsey (2001)
Need to be better at the free-throw line. Only 11-for-22. That will kill us in March.
Encouraging to see Jackson and McDowell on the court at the same time. Two good freshmen getting quality minutes.
Adam’s is so strong. At 13:00, gets a pass inside and takes on two players on his own, plays through contact, arguably gets fouled but finishes with a hook shot.
Starting to see why Big Ten fans, not with Michigan, were not Dickinson fans. He might flop a bit too much, but to be fair he probably gets fouled a lot more than the refs actually call.
McCullar might need to stop begging for foul calls. It might start to backfire with the refs.
For a four minute stretch, the Jayhawks finally started playing good defense at the end of the game. Would like to bottle that and do that more often.
Takeaways
A good rebound win after losing to Marquette. Tournaments like this are a good preparation weekends for the NCAA tournament. Losing to No. 4 and beating No. 7 is a good performance. Not sure if Kansas keeps their No. 1 ranking, but it obviously doesn’t really matter this early.
Another double-double for Dickinson, a preseason All-American.
Hunter Dickinson ends with another double-double with 17 points and 20 rebounds. That’s a double-double in all of KU’s games so far.
Encouraging numbers: Harris 8 assists, 3 turnovers. KU out rebounded Tennessee 45-35.
Shooting 51.9% from the field is good, but only 4-12 from three point land is another bad sign for this season, and 15 turnovers. Bill Self has his hands full early this season to solve these two issues.
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