The Blue Devils are in Las Vegas to take on a No. 1-ranked Kansas team in the second matchup of an early-season test in the West, which they started by taking down then-No. 17 Arizona. Kansas has been looming on head coach Jon Scheyer’s schedule, as any matchup with the top team in the country would.
The Jayhawks have been literally looming over other teams as well. Kansas’ playstyle runs through star 7-foot-2 center Hunter Dickinson, who played for three years at Michigan and was dynamite in his first season in Lawrence, Kan. last year. Any player who can have an almost-20 minute highlight reel from only one season is a force to be reckoned with. The preseason First Team All-American is exactly that — simply put, Dickinson is good at everything.
Although Dickinson leads the Jayhawks in points, rebounds, steals and blocks, the Jayhawks are more than a one-man show. A fellow transfer in Zeke Mayo leads the charge behind Dickinson, as the former South Dakota State guard has averaged 12.6 points per game for the second most on the team. In his time as a Jackrabbit, Mayo never put up a mark less than 36.9% from behind the arc, a number he’s warming up to now with an early 31%.
Dajuan Harris Jr. plays Mayo’s partner in the backcourt, leading the team in assists while playing as a traditional point guard. The strong majority of the senior’s 9.2 points per game have come from inside the arc, only shooting two threes a game and making them at a slim 20% rate. In his redshirt junior season, Harris was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, and he has continued to be a standout on that end of the floor. His defense often leads to offense, as he catches his opponent out in transition, allowing him to utilize his deep bag of layups or playmaking ability with the ball in his hands.
The other two starters for the Jayhawks are Rylan Griffen and KJ Adams, who play at the three and four, respectively. Griffen is a sharp-shooting guard-forward combo who played his freshman and sophomore seasons at Alabama. He’s done the same work with his shot this season for head coach Bill Self’s team, shooting 40.9% from beyond the arc with at least one triple in every game he’s played thus far.
Adams has been the secondary paint scorer behind Dickinson, averaging 8.6 points per game, though he’s never made a 3-pointer in his collegiate career. In the post, he’s a unit, playing 28 minutes per game and making 53.1% of his shots. Despite Adams’ activity in the post, he hasn’t been a difference maker on the boards for a player of his stature, only grabbing 3.2 per game in his career up to this point.
All of Dickinson, Mayo, Harris, Griffen, and Adams — Self’s starters — are juniors or older, a team constructed quite differently from the Blue Devils. These players have all seen years of action in college basketball in a multitude of environments against numerous opponents, and will not be phased by Duke. This combination of experience and talent should make the Jayhawks to be a formidable opponent for young Cooper Flagg and company.
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