1 – Jalen Wilson – The start alone — 4-for-4 shooting for 11 points right out of the gate — was good enough to take the top spot. The fact that he added 14 more points and recorded another double-double merely made it a piece-of-cake call. Wilson’s dialed in. But don’t look at his offense to see that. Watch the way he defends and competes. That’s how you know what time of year it is.
2 – Dajuan Harris Jr. – He finished with six assists and it felt like 26. Another night of filling the stat sheet, with 11 points, a couple of rebounds, four steals and a block, Harris continues to thrive in a leadership role and is doing what all great point guards do — making his teammates better.
3 – Ernest Udeh Jr. – He scored four points and grabbed two rebounds with two blocks in eight minutes. Those might not be the kind of numbers that you would think would lead to this high of a ranking. But if you realize when they came — during the stretch when Kansas responded to Iowa State taking its first and only lead with a 10-2 run — then you see just how big they were. The stats were nice, but the lift his play gave this team was even nicer. Udeh’s starting to look like the kind of player who could be a factor this postseason. And every single word he uttered in the locker room after the game was about team, team, team.
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Box score: Kansas 71, Iowa State 58
Photo Gallery: Kansas basketball vs. Iowa State
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4 – Gradey Dick – Gradey gets the nod here over KJ Adams because he made all five free throws and Adams’ missed his only free throw attempt. Dick finished with 16 points, give rebounds and three steals. And even though he didn’t shoot it great — just 4-of-10 overall and 2-of-6 from 3-point range — his two 3-pointers were both HUGE and he had a second straight night of showing that he understands how to use the drive to force people to back off of him on the perimeter. He still has moments where he stands, but those are becoming few and far between.
5 – KJ Adams – All energy all the time again, Adams finished with 8 points and 4 assists on 4-of-6 shooting in Friday’s win. He played tough defensively, inside and out, and managed his foul trouble admirably. Iowa State wasn’t interested in letting Adams get anything off of the high ball screen rolls, so he didn’t force it — nor did his teammates — and instead tried to score on lobs and buckets at the rim.
6 – Kevin McCullar Jr. – A little bit lower ranking here than it would’ve been because of the injury, but it’s crystal clear by now how important McCullar is to this team. If he’s ailing at all on Saturday — and probably even if he’s not — KU should really consider sitting him and letting him have the better part of the next week to get fully healthy, or at least as close to it as he can at this point.
7 – Bobby Pettiford – There wasn’t much to Pettiford’s night, but he did do one thing really well — avoided turnovers. In fact, he was a net positive in the turnover game, giving away none and recording one steal. He also added a rebound in his 8:10 on the floor.
8 – Joe Yesufu – Yesufu played 24 minutes and again struggled with his shot, hitting just one of four and missing all three 3-point tries. Had grabbed a couple of rebounds but also turned it over twice. If KU can find a way to get him going a little more, it would help a ton heading into the Big Dance. Maybe extended minutes with McCullar out (if he is) will help with that in the title game.
9 – MJ Rice – Rice was given the chance to play some decent minutes and he held his own at times. One of the better things about his night was the fact that his mistakes were most noticeable on the offensive end, rather than on D. That’s not a ton, but that’s not nothing either.
10 – Zuby Ejiofor – Played just 31 seconds late in the game and was valuable in that time because he pulled one of KU’s rotation guys off the floor on a night KU needed to get home without further injury.
Season standings
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1 – Jalen Wilson, 266
2 – Dajuan Harris Jr., 244
3 – Kevin McCullar Jr., 212o
4 – Gradey Dick, 213
5 – KJ Adams, 209
6 – Bobby Pettiford, 115
7 – Joe Yesufu, 114
8 – Ernest Udeh Jr., 95
9 – MJ Rice, 68y
10 – Zuby Ejiofor, 63u
11 – Zach Clemence, 45z
12 – Cam Martin, 11q
13 – Kyle Cuffe Jr., 2x
*x – Out for 10-12 weeks with a knee injury starting Nov. 13*
*y – Missed 3 of the first 5 games of the season because of injury and illness; also sat out games because of COVID, kidney stones and back spasms*
*z – Missed Duke, Southern Utah and NC State games because of injury. Also injured a knee in road loss at Iowa State, which caused him to miss more time*
*o – Missed Nov. 29 game vs. Texas Southern with a groin injury
*q – Missed first nine games of the season with shoulder injury
*u – Missed a few weeks during the middle of the Big 12 season with a foot injury*
