Des Moines, Iowa — Kansas freshman Gradey Dick is one swish away from breaking the program’s all-time record for most 3-pointers by a freshman in a single season, and he’ll get his next crack at setting the mark at 1 p.m. Thursday against Howard in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Dick tied Jeff Boschee’s record of 79 triples with a pair of 3-pointers in the Big 12 semifinal win over Iowa State last week. His first chance to set the new mark came in the Big 12 title game against Texas, but the sharp-shooting guard from Wichita misfired on all five attempts in the Jayhawks’ loss, which sent him to Des Moines still tied with Boschee.
On Wednesday, while meeting with the media in the KU locker room at Well’s Fargo Arena, Dick said he had heard about the record recently and that he even got a little message from KU’s all-time leader in career 3-pointers from current KU teammate Cam Martin, who played for Boschee at Missouri Southern State before coming to KU.
“Cam walked up to me on the bus and said (Boschee) texted him and told me to work on my (mid-range) jump shots and my layups.”
Clearly, Boschee’s doing what little he can to hold on to the record. Or at least a share of it. But, truth be told, there’s little doubt that the former Jayhawk who helped Kansas reach the 2002 Final Four and finished his KU career with 338 3-pointers, will be rooting for both Kansas and Dick when the top-seeded Jayhawks open NCAA Tournament play against Howard.
Last November, Dick got the chance to play in front of Boschee, who now coaches at Pitt State, which played the Jayhawks in an exhibition game on Nov. 3, 2022. The KU freshman made 3 of 5 from downtown with Boschee in the building and scored 20 points in 23 minutes in his Allen Fieldhouse debut.
Those 3s did not count toward the record because they came in exhibition play. But that moment and the chance to set the record all these weeks later meant something to Dick.
“It’s definitely a huge achievement,” he said Wednesday. “It’s a blessing, but I’ve been so focused on trying my best to help the team win that I really haven’t really heard about that. So when I heard about that the other day it was kind of cool. A little shock but definitely a huge achievement.”
• KU guard Kevin McCullar Jr. pain free and ready to roll for top-seeded Jayhawks
• Howard guard Jelani Williams faced Kansas during Jayhawks’ 2017-18 Final Four run
• Wednesday photo gallery featuring KU, Howard, Arkansas and Illinois
