Hawking Points: Dickinson, Kansas holds off Eastern Illinois to get 71-63 win

The Kansas Jayhawks expected to be able to come home and show off what they had learned about themselves in their trip to the Maui Invitational. The Eastern Illinois Panthers were supposed to be the sacrificial lamb on the altar of "getting right". Instead, Kansas struggled most of the night, needing a late run to put the game away and close out a win by a 71-63 margin.

Key Plays

Everything seemed to be going to plan for the Jayhawks in this one, as Dickinson scored 6 quick points on the way to a 10-4 lead. But there were plenty of early signs that this game was going to be difficult. Nakyel Shelton scored 8 straight points for the Panthers that kept the Jayhawks from stretching the lead. This was right after a monster block by Parker Braun went straight to Nick Timberlake, who pushed the ball ahead to Johnny Furphy for a three-pointer.

Kansas had to stymie multiple runs throughout the game, as even the double digit lead they built up at the end of the first half nearly wasn't enough. In a play somewhat reminiscent of the big three Hunter Dickinson hit going into the half against Kentucky, the Panthers' Tiger Booker drained a three at the end of the first half in this game to bring the lead down to 13. 

The Jayhawks came out of the locker room in a severe slump, only making 3 of their first 12 shots in the half. During that time the lead shrunk drown to just two points. A quick flurry of scoring by Kansas pushed the lead back to 7 briefly, and the lead bounced back and forth between 1 and 10 the rest of the night. 

Key for the Jayhawks was the connection between Dajuan Harris and KJ Adams, as I counted at least three times that it resulted in an easy bucket for Adams to temporarily halt a run.

 But down the stretch, it was Hunter Dickinson who came up with the biggest plays, completing a traditional three-point-play with just under five minutes to go to extend a one-point lead and then hitting a layup out of a timeout to set up the final push.

Eye-Catching Stat Lines

Dickinson racked up another double-double with 25 points and 13 rebounds in 35 minutes of play. He got his 10th rebound midway through the second half, after getting 7 in just 5 minutes of the first half.

McCullar struggled with his shot in this one, especially early. But he was able to turn it around to get 18 points on 8-18 shooting. He also had 3 rebounds and 5 assists. KJ Adams was the only other Jayhawks to score in double figures with 10 points. Dajuan Harris only got a single point, but he finished the night with 9 assists.

Kansas only committed 10 turnovers on the night, but were outrebounded by a smaller Eastern Illinois team.

Areas of Improvement

The free throws continue to be an issue for the Jayhawks, as they only hit 12-18 in this game. Pair missing those freebies with the poor three point shooting night and it was a rough one for the Jayhawks.

Also worrying was the inability to guard the three point line against the Panthers. The Jayhawks allowed Eastern Illinois to shoot at a 41% clip, and a lot of those were just because they did a poor job closing out on shooters.

Takeaways

This was a bit of a letdown game, as Kansas never quite seemed to have a sense of urgency that you would expect at any point in this game. They took their foot off the gas at halftime, and Eastern Illinois took full advantage. Dickinson even noted in the postgame interview that "we let guys get too comfortable."

With that being said, the Jayhawks got some good minutes out of Jamari McDowell, Johnny Furphy and Parker Brown. Those three are doing everything you expect from them. And Nicholas Timberlake hit a three tonight and was productive overall, which is a good sign for Kansas moving forward.

Time to chalk this up as a learning experience and move on to Connecticut.