LAS VEGAS — Kansas star center Hunter Dickinson was ejected in the second half of the No. 1 Jayhawks’ 75-72 win against No. 11 Duke on Tuesday night after kicking Maliq Brown in the face while the two were on the floor.
With 10:26 left, Dickinson missed a short jump hook over Brown. Both players fell to the court fighting for the rebound, with Dickinson drawing a foul on Brown. While they were down, Dickinson kicked out and made contact with Brown’s face.
After a lengthy monitor review, Dickinson was assessed a flagrant foul 2 and ejected. He initially remained in the bench area with his teammates before being escorted to the locker room.
“I thought it was a good call,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “I thought the flagrant 2 may have been a little severe. I thought it was definitely a flagrant 1. … I didn’t think at the moment that it warranted a level 2, but I do think it needed to be called.”
“The explanation was that it was intentional and his head went to the ground, which is probably accurate,” Self later added. “But I didn’t think it was enough to warrant that. But the bottom line is it did and it’ll probably be the best thing to happen to us that it did because it’ll teach him a good lesson and also it’ll give some other kids some confidence.”
Duke coach Jon Scheyer said he saw the incident only on the screen but that he agreed with the call.
“I haven’t seen it other than I saw it on the screen that he kicked him in his face,” Scheyer said. “So I think that warrants the flagrant 2. But again, I haven’t had a good look or anything more, but to me that was really an easy one for me.”
Kansas led 57-55 at the time of Dickinson’s ejection. The two teams went back and forth for the rest of the game, with Duke briefly taking a two-point lead on a Cooper Flagg dunk with 5:53 remaining. Kansas responded with a Rylan Griffen 3-pointer on the next possession, and Griffen had a three-point play minutes later to extend the lead to four.
Duke had multiple chances to tie or take the lead in the final minute of regulation, but Flagg and Kon Knueppel both turned it over and Knueppel’s 3-pointer at the buzzer didn’t fall.
Dickinson, who entered the game averaging 17.8 points and 10.4 rebounds, had 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists before his ejection. He was productive but struggled to finish at the rim against the length of Brown and Khaman Maluach.
With Dickinson out, backup center Flory Bidunga played the rest of the game. The freshman finished with 6 points and 8 rebounds in 16 minutes, coming up with a couple of key offensive rebounds late in the game and a steal in the final minute.
“I think he played really well,” senior forward KJ Adams Jr. said. “Obviously it’s a bummer that an All-American [in] Hunter had to go out, but it makes me happy that Flo got a chance to show the world what he can do and it’s amazing what he did out there, especially a freshman coming into that big environment, a huge game, and he did really good.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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