LAS VEGAS — Longtime Kansas assistant Norm Roberts delivered a motivational speech to the Jayhawks before their game against No. 11 Duke and its star freshmen. “No cares about the names on the back of the jerseys,” Roberts said was his message. “All they care about is the name on the front. This is Kansas versus Duke.”
In this transactional era of college basketball, Roberts would usually have a stronger point. But Kansas has two key contributors who have spent a combined 10 years on campus in Dajuan Harris Jr. and KJ Adams. It feels a little more special to the fan base to see players they’ve come to know almost as well as family put on that jersey on big stages.
A game that nearly turned on a kick that led to Kansas star Hunter Dickinson’s ejection instead ended in a 75-72 win for the Jayhawks. And the difference?
“Harris and Adams, in particular, how many games have they been in like this?” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer, who has a group still getting to know each other and feel what it’s like to play in these big games. “I think it showed. Their poise down the stretch, their toughness.”
One reason for Roberts’ message was the worry that Adams would make this game personal. Adams had not played to his standard lately since injuring his ankle in a win against North Carolina on Nov. 8 and said he’s been operating around 70-80 percent. The one-year anniversary of his mother Yvonne’s death after a long battle with cancer was on Nov. 17.
“It was a tough week,” Adams said. “It’s been a hard mental block these last two games.”
Then came this game and the assignment to guard Duke’s Cooper Flagg, the most hyped prospect to come through college basketball in years. Roberts knew that matchup could decide the game, but he needed Adams to approach it in the right way and avoid foul trouble.
“You kind of want to make it you versus him,” Adams said. “But when you do that and you mess up the team’s plan, that’s the last thing you want to do.”
Adams picked up his second foul with 5:50 left in the first half and Kansas ahead 30-20. When he checked back in two minutes later, the lead was down to two and remained there at halftime. Duke was fortunate to be that close because Flagg took just two shots in the first half and scored one bucket, a pull-up jumper when Adams was on the bench.
Flagg finished with 13 points but scored only once all night on Adams, a tough lefty scoop with 2:29 to play.
“I think KJ showed a lot of people tonight that you can be an elite player at this level and not be a prolific scorer,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Because he did it all.”
Adams, who used to only shoot dunks and layups, also showed off the work he’s done on his midrange jump shot. Kansas had to have scoring from a wider cast of characters, because this was not Dickinson’s night. Dickinson missed five straight shots in 80 seconds during a stretch midway through the first half when Kansas could have stretched its lead back to double-digits after a hot start.
Then came the kick.
With Kansas ahead 57-55, Dickinson missed a jump hook over Duke’s Maliq Brown, and the two tumbled to the floor as Brown tried to box out Dickinson. While on the ground, Dickinson’s right foot made contact with Brown’s face. A long review ensued, with the officials determining Dickinson’s kick was intentional and assessing a flagrant-2 foul, which ejected Dickinson from the game with 10:26 remaining.
Hunter Dickinson was ejected after being assessed a flagrant 2 foul for kicking Maliq Brown. pic.twitter.com/lXR91RTiWX
— ESPN (@espn) November 27, 2024
“I thought it was a good call,” Self said. “I thought the flagrant-2 may have been a little severe. I thought it was a definitely a flagrant-1. It’s a good lesson to learn. But the best thing about Hunter not being in the game was that Flory (Bidunga) was.”
A year ago, losing one of Dickinson, Adams or Harris would have squashed Kansas’ chances. But Self brought in reinforcements for this season, signing five perimeter players out of the transfer portal and a backup for Dickinson in the five-star freshman Bidunga.
On the possession after Brown made one of his free throws, he tried to attack the basket and Adams met him in the paint and took the ball from him like a bully on the playground. Then Brown fouled Bidunga, the second of four straight whistles against the Blue Devils, sending the freshman to the line. Bidunga made both and followed up a game-tying 3 by Duke’s Tyrese Proctor with an alley-oop dunk on a feed from Adams to give Kansas back the lead.
From there the final nine minutes featured two more lead changes, three ties and action almost good enough to make fans forget the kick. And every time Kansas needed a bucket late, it was Harris who set it up. Harris, who is often at his best in big games, led the Jayhawks with 14 points, nine assists and three steals. Twice Flagg got switched onto Kansas’ sixth-year point guard on defense, and both times Harris got by him and jumped in the air for assists, finding first Rylan Griffen for a go-ahead 3 and then Zeke Mayo for a runner that proved to be the game-winning basket.
RYLO WHEN WE NEEDED IT‼️#PayHeed x @GriffenRylan pic.twitter.com/yaDVl1M3Rf
— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) November 27, 2024
Harris had a name for the move where he jumps over the baseline — “the Juando drill” — explaining that the Jayhawks practice it and he knows exactly where he’s going with the ball when he leaves his feet.
“These guys come up with a lot of crap that we don’t even know about it,” Self said when he heard of his point guard’s explanation. “I’ve never heard of a Juando drill. If he said it, it must be true.”
The truth is Self trusts his point guard in any situation, whether he leaves his feet with a plan or not. There’s nothing Self loves more than his veterans finding a way when their back is against the wall. And although it felt like Kansas was in control for most of the game, Duke did have the ball down one in the final minute with a chance for a walk-off win.
In a similar situation two weeks ago against Kentucky, Scheyer drew up an isolation play for Flagg, which backfired when the freshman spun and lost the ball. The design this time was similar — a ghost screen to try to distract the defense and an isolation for one of his best players — only this time the ball went to freshman Kon Knueppel, with Flagg running by on the ghost, which led to Adams switching onto the ball handler. That was the worst thing that could happen for Duke. Adams cut off Knueppel, who spun and left his feet, seeing both Adams and the long arm of Bidunga in front of him, and lost the ball. Griffen pulled it down, was fouled and made both free throws with three seconds left to put KU ahead by three.
It was redemption for Griffen, who also had a key and-one bucket in the second half after going into halftime on Self’s bad side when he shot a 3 with 16 seconds left in the first half and the shot clock off, giving Duke back the ball and setting up a Proctor 3 that cut the lead to two at the break.
Those are hiccups that happen with transfers who haven’t yet been programmed to play how Self wants. Adams and Harris are not perfect, but they’re close to it in their coach’s eyes. And there was Adams again when Knueppel heaved one last prayer at the buzzer, switching onto Knueppel and challenging the shot without fouling.
Self said afterward that it’s too early to call this a pivotal moment, but he’s felt like he’s had a team without an identity so far and now his guys might have one. The Jayhawks can win ugly and win without Dickinson carrying the offense, which he’d done in the Champions Classic against Michigan State.
Adams echoed Self, saying it’s early and the Jayhawks cannot get too high because a lot of things could change. But later in the night, away from the microphone, after visiting with his family, Adams admitted this moment mattered.
“To have a game like this kind of flipped the script,” he said. “I know she’s watching over me. And just to get my emotion back felt amazing today.”
(Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
