1 – Jalen Wilson – It wasn’t a great shooting night for Wilson, who hit just 6 of 16 shots in the hard-fought Senior Night win over Texas Tech. But he more than made up for it by flat-out competing. Wilson drove hard to the rim over and over during the final 30 or so minutes of the game, drawing multiple fouls and hitting 9 of 10 shots at the free throw line to make sure that Kansas won. It was the quintessential Jalen Wilson game. He didn’t play all that great. He didn’t shoot it well. And the opponent never went away. Yet there he was at the end, leading all scorers with 21 points and flashing a big smile after yet another Kansas victory — this one in his last game at Allen Fieldhouse and to clinch at least a share of the Big 12 title. What a perfect farewell for one of KU’s most recent greats.
2 – Kevin McCullar Jr. – The former Texas Tech Red Raider was great in the first half against his old team, finishing with 10 points and 5 rebounds to lead Kansas. He went a little quiet on offense in the second half, but he never slipped defensively and, once again, he made some of the game’s biggest plays down the stretch. Like Wilson, albeit in a slightly different way, McCullar’s a winner. He doesn’t care what it looks like or who says what about it; as long as he gets the job done, he’s happy. And more times than not this season he has done exactly that. He finished with 14 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal in 37 minutes in this one, earning the senior send-off he received.
3 – Dajuan Harris Jr. – Harris kicked it into gear early in the second half after Tech stormed out of the locker room and made it a game, scoring 7 consecutive Kansas points to make sure the Jayhawks never lost the lead. How about this for a statement about his solid night — Harris finished with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting, with 5 assists, 1 turnover and 2 steals in 38 minutes and no one really raved much about it. Oh, and he did it all after leaving the Jayhawks’ most recently game just a couple of days earlier because of a foot injury. Harris is that dude and he was sensational again in this one, even if some of the other things around the game overshadowed it.
4 – KJ Adams – Adams had his hands full with Tech’s size and he fought his tail off to try to match it, finishing with one of his best rebounding games (8) of the season to date. Other than that, his production was limited, other than a huge lob he finished off of an inbounds pass late in the game to help KU maintain a small cushion. He finished with 7 points on 2-of-4 shooting and made just 3 of 6 free throws in 33 minutes.
5 – Gradey Dick – His clutch free throw shooting late was pretty key in a four-point game, but the rest of the night was pretty forgettable for the KU freshman. He missed all seven shots he took, including five from 3-point range and never really got going. He did enough to be deserving of his time on the floor — 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. But he probably buried this one away in the back of his mind as the buzzer was still sounding. It remains to be seen if this was also Dick’s last game at Allen Fieldhouse. But even if it was, there’s little doubt that the win mattered way more to him than anything he did or didn’t do individually.
6 – Ernest Udeh Jr. – He played 7 minutes and scored a key basket while also grabbing an offensive rebound and dishing an assist within seconds of checking into the game. KU could have used his size against the TTU big man who finished with 13 points and a whopping 18 rebounds. But Udeh was not able to use it much to KU’s advantage, which limited his playing time and curbed his production. Not the worst game for the KU big man. But not close to the best either.
7 – Joe Yesufu – In 9 minutes off the bench, Yesufu’s best contribution came in the first 20 seconds he was on the floor. That’s when he drilled a 3-point shot off of a pass from Udeh to help KU build its first-half lead. From there, it was a bunch of misses and limited minutes. I’ll say this for Joe, though. This was the first game where I noticed him really looking like more of a veteran while he was out there. He moved the ball really well, helped others get in the right spots on offense and did what he could to contribute to the win in ways that didn’t have anything to do with scoring.
8 – Bobby Pettiford – Played just 3 minutes and missed his only shot, a 3-pointer from the wing. There’s little doubt that Pettiford has been passed up by Yesufu as the first guard off the bench. But there’s also little doubt that KU will need him to stay ready and dialed in in case he’s needed in the postseason. He will. Bobby’s a competitor and a grinder and he’s happy to follow in the footsteps of this team’s leaders — by doing whatever it takes to win, pretty, ugly or otherwise.
Season standings
———–
1 – Jalen Wilson, 238
2 – Dajuan Harris Jr., 217
3 – Kevin McCullar Jr., 193o
4 – Gradey Dick, 192
5 – KJ Adams, 191
6 – Bobby Pettiford, 108
7 – Joe Yesufu, 102
8 – Ernest Udeh Jr., 81
9 – MJ Rice, 63y
10 – Zuby Ejiofor, 57u
11 – Zach Clemence, 44z
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*
