KU Jayhawks’ Hunter Dickinson likes winning, even when it’s not ‘aesthetically pleasing’

Kansas basketball’s stingy man-to-man defense has held its first four opponents to a combined 51.3 points a game in the early stages of Big 12 play.

The No. 9 Jayhawks, who smothered Cincinnati in a 54-40 KU road victory on Saturday, meanwhile, have averaged 72.0 points per contest, a number inflated a bit thanks to a 99-point explosion on Jan. 5 at UCF.

“It might not be the most aesthetically pleasing type of basketball, but I do think that’s kind of what coach (Bill) Self would prefer actually in wins,” KU center Hunter Dickinson said of the 14-point victory over Cincy, as well as wins in which KU held UCF to 48 points and Arizona State 55 points. West Virginia scored 62 in a low-scoring one-point victory over the Jayhawks.

“Coach Self always talks about him wanting to have the team who is the tougher, the nastier, the better defensive team, the team that kind of just wants it more. I think he’d prefer those type of wins more than a 98-96 type of game just because I think it kind of truly shows how truly dominant you were,” Dickinson added.

“We only won by 14 points (at Cincy), but I think those 14 felt points felt more like 20 in that type of game. So it’s really fun for us to kind of just grind out a win,” Dickinson noted. “The last three second halves we’ve really been dominant defensively (in allowing 15 points vs. Cincy; 13 vs. Arizona State and 23 vs. UCF). Guys are honing in on that especially when you are not hitting shots because it’s really going to show that we’re able to win in different ways. Once we do start hitting shots, I feel like you’ll get the performances like UCF where we’re able to win by 51 on the road.”

Regarding the aesthetics mentioned by Dickinson, it hasn’t been pretty offensively of late.

The Jayhawks have hit just 42.7% of their shots in four Big 12 games to their opponents’ 32.1%. KU has struggled from 3, hitting 22 of 83 shots for 26.5% to opponents’ 22 of 96 for 22.9%.

“We haven’t scored easily the last two games, so we scored a lot easier down in Florida,” KU coach Self said of the 99-point UCF outing. “But the other day (at Cincy) everything was tough and felt like we were laboring every possession. In all honesty, they’ve got a really good defensive team as well.”

KU went 2-of-21 from 3 at Cincy.

In Big 12 play, Rylan Griffen has cashed 6 of 13 3s for a team-leading 46.2%. Shakeel Moore is 2-of-6 from 3 for 33.3%, Zeke Mayo 8-of-25 for 32%, Dajuan Harris 4-of-13 for 30.8%, AJ Storr 1-of-6 for 16.7%; David “Diggy” Coit 1-of-14 for 7.1% and Dickinson 0-for-6 from beyond the arc.

Of former Northern Illinois guard Coit, Self said: “I think it’s very surprising that his defense has probably been what he has done most consistently. We recruited him obviously to be offense off the bench and to make shots. In league play, (he’s) obviously not very good (from 3). But I will tell you this: If he gets good looks, I’ll take him shooting the ball just like I would anybody. And that’s what we’ll try to play to.”

Of former Wisconsin guard Storr, Self said: “I thought the first half the other day he did a couple of good things to help us and I thought Rylan actually did some things in the second half to help us more.

“But the thing about it is, and we get so carried away with so many different things, so let’s just look at it from a coach’s perspective. KJ (Adams, eight points, seven rebounds) was arguably the best player we had Saturday in the second half. And we don’t win the game and dominate defensively unless Shak (Moore, eight points, four rebounds, one steal) is in the game.

“So if you look at those two things, Zeke’s got to be in the game. Juan’s got to be in the game. We get too caught up on different things. But I thought AJ did some good things the other day. I think he’s definitely making an effort to defend and some things like that, but I don’t look at it as getting him going. I look at it more as getting a team going. And I think that obviously those two players I mentioned were probably as big of keys to us winning in Cincinnati as anybody.”

KU, ranked No. 9 in Monday’s AP poll, will meet No. 2 Iowa State at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum in Ames.