Stillwater, Okla. — The Oklahoma State Cowboys’ student section, like several before it, really leaned into the opportunity to heckle Kansas freshman Gradey Dick by using his last name in a loud and unrelenting chant on Tuesday night.
Dick’s response to the chant that explains to the KU freshman exactly what opposing fans think about his game while teetering on the line of inappropriate at the same time?
“I love it,” he said. “I love it. I kind of like being the hated one. It definitely fuels the fire for sure.”
Kansas coach Bill Self predicted as much after the 5th-ranked Jayhawks’ 87-76 road win at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Tuesday night. And then he took time to praise the monster season Dick is having during his first run with the college game.
Even during those times when the opposing fans chant “You suck” and connect it to his last name, Dick continues to think next play and keep his mind focused on what’s ahead rather than what just happened.
“He’s got a unique last name and he’s heard that since he was probably in third, fourth, fifth grade,” Self said of the chants that the OSU crowd and five or six others have used heavily in their games against Kansas earlier this season. “I don’t think it bothers him at all. I think he likes it. I think it fuels him.”
“The chants, you know, I’m there and I don’t hear the chants,” Self added. “So, if you’re focused on the game, I think a lot of that stuff is just water off your back.”
That was certainly the case on Tuesday night, when Dick scored a career-high 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting in 37 crucial minutes.
The 6-foot-7 freshman from Wichita played more minutes than any player on either team Tuesday night in Stillwater. And he carried the scoring load during the most critical stretch of the game, when Kansas grew its lead from two at halftime to double-digits five minutes into the second half.
The showing did not surprise any of Dick’s teammates, nor did it come as an unexpected bonus for Self. In fact, in discussing Dick’s night after the win over the Cowboys, Self fell back on the repeated recognition he has had just how impressive Dick has been throughout the first 26 games of his freshman season.
“As far as having a freshman year, I would put his freshman year with just about any freshman that we’ve had here when you just talk about the year,” Self said Tuesday.
The numbers certainly back that claim up. Dick’s 26 points pushed his season average to date to 14.7 points per game, which would sit fourth on KU’s all-time freshman scoring list, just ahead of Danny Manning’s 14.6 points-per-game mark from the 1984-85 season and behind names like Andrew Wiggins, Josh Jackson and Ben McLemore.
Dick’s offensive explosion on Tuesday also pushed him to 381 points for the season, moving him into 11th place on the freshman scoring list. His big night Tuesday pushed him past Nick Collison (357), Jeff Boschee and Darrell Arthur (361), J.R. Giddens (374) and Mario Chalmers (379). And he still has a minimum of seven games remaining and a maximum of 14.
Regardless of where Dick finishes the season on those scoring lists, Self was already prepared to hand his talented freshman one honor on Tuesday night.
“He’s the best freshman shooter I’ve ever had, hands down,” Self said of Dick, who now has hit 61 of 143 3-point attempts this season, good for 42.7%. “We’ve just got to get him more shots.”
KU’s next chance to do that will come Saturday, when the Jayhawks, who sit at 21-5 overall and 9-4 in Big 12 play, take on Baylor, which sits at 20-6 overall and 9-4 in Big 12 play.
The contest, which will be the featured game on ESPN’s College GameDay, figures to have huge implications in the way the Big 12 title race plays out.
Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. on ESPN from Allen Fieldhouse.
