Bill Self calls KU’s win vs. OU ‘probably the best game we played in a long time’

The University of Kansas men’s basketball players were eager to return to their home court on Saturday, three days after squandering a 16-point lead in a 65-60 mid-week loss to new-Big 12 member UCF in Orlando.

“I think we all knew we obviously dropped one — being up 16 on the road, you don’t get many chances like that, especially in this league and how competitive this league is,” KU senior forward Hunter Dickinson said after scoring 24 points and securing 14 rebounds in the No. 3-ranked Jayhawks’ 78-66 bounceback victory over No. 9 Oklahoma at Allen Fieldhouse.

KU (14-2, 2-1) on Wednesday had a chance to bury UCF early. The Jayhawks led 35-19 with 3:45 left in the first half. The opportunity lost had been on the Jayhawks’ minds in the few days preceding the OU game.

“We knew this game was going to be big,” Dickinson said, “not just because we lost (Wednesday), but for us we wanted to come out with a lot of energy. We knew if we played Kansas basketball there’s no team in the country that can beat us. We did that today.”

Saturday’s double-figure win over a ranked team put a smile on the face of KU coach Bill Self, who after a loss always makes sure to remind his players of the importance of “not letting one become two.”

“I thought we played really well, probably the best game we played in a long time, maybe since Connecticut,” Self said.

KU is 7-1 since defeating UConn 69-65 on Dec. 1 at Allen Fieldhouse.

“I thought we shared it, got what we wanted on offense,” Self said. “We didn’t shoot it well (43.9% to OU’s 40%). We didn’t defend great, but pretty well. We had some guys have good individual performances.

“The first half I thought we played well. We were up one (38-37 at break). The second half we kind of separated it a bit (outscoring OU 40-29).”

The individual performances included 15 points and 10 boards from KJ Adams; seven points, eight assists, no turnovers from Dajuan Harris; 21 points, four rebounds and four assists from Kevin McCullar; and seven points from freshman Johnny Furphy, who made his second start of the season.

Freshman Elmarko Jackson, who came off the bench for the first time this season, scored two points. His jumper with 8:19 left gave KU a 65-55 lead.

“I thought our offense flowed better with Johnny in the game. Elmarko was more in rhythm than he has been,” Self said.

Of the 6-7, 235-pound Adams, who scored all of his points the first half, Self said: “He’s playing at a pretty high level.”

Adams and Harris played all 40 minutes. McCullar played 39 minutes, while Dickinson played 33 minutes, Furphy 19 minutes and Jackson 18 minutes. Parker Braun who had a fierce slam dunk off a lob pass, played seven minutes and Nick Timberlake three.

“We played guys too many minutes,” Self said of the starters. “I think one reason Hunter was better was he played less today than what he has been. KJ and Juan never came out.”

KU was outrebounded 39-38. Dickinson had 14 while Adams had 10, McCullar four, Furphy three and Jackson two. Braun and Harris had one rebound apiece. Jalon Moore grabbed 11 rebounds for OU, which fell to 13-3 overall and 1-2 in the conference.

“We are not a great rebounding team,” Self said. “When you think about great rebounding teams, we can be efficient. One thing we haven’t been doing with KJ up until Christmas is defensive rebound the ball. Hunter hasn’t been offensive rebounding the ball. So those two are both making a conscious effort to be better in those areas.”

Dickinson had two offensive rebounds, Adams seven defensive rebounds.

KU extended its winning streak over OU at Allen Fieldhouse to 23 games. It could be the last game played between the squads in Lawrence: OU joins the SEC starting next season.

The biggest takeaway from this final game in Allen, according to OU coach Porter Moser: “You have to give them credit. They had two turnovers (to OU’s 11). That’s really good efficiency. We’ve been better than that. We didn’t make them have any stress, as much as we needed to.

“Their big four (Harris, Dickinson, McCullar, Adams) really put pressure on us. We weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be in the second half.”

The Jayhawks will next meet Oklahoma State at 8 p.m. on Tuesday in Stillwater, Oklahoma.