ATLANTA — The opportunity to compete on the national stage always motivates Hunter Dickinson.
But a shot at an old enemy during the Champions Classic at State Farm Arena on Tuesday night added more intensity to the moment for the All-American center.
Dickinson, the former Michigan star, led all players with 28 points and 12 rebounds as No. 1 Kansas defeated Michigan State, 77-69.
Afterward, he said his malice toward the Spartans built up during his years in Ann Arbor fueled the big performance.
“It was a very important game for me,” he said. “A very important game. Definitely a great game.”
“Obviously, I went to Michigan. I graduated from Michigan. I still have that rivalry in me.”
Michigan State and Kansas struggled at times offensively. They combined to go 1 of 18 from beyond the arc. At one point in the first half, Michigan State had made just 18% of its field goal attempts. At halftime, Kansas players not named Hunter Dickinson had made 6 of 26 field goals.
“Believe [Bill Self] he agrees with me and I agree with him… offensively, we both stink, to put it bluntly,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “We both have to get better and we have to find a couple of guys. “
However, Dickinson's effort helped the Jayhawks overcome those misses. Michigan State, which decided not to double-team him, couldn't stop him.
Midway through the second half, Dickinson spun on Jaxon Kohler and nearly scored before Coen Carr was penalized for goaltending. Dickinson made the “too small” gesture with his hand before pretending to step on the player guarding him.
“I was saying they were too small,” Dickinson said when asked about the gesture. “They can't guard me and I was putting emphasis on that.”
Still, four days after a thrilling win in Lawrence over a top-10 North Carolina team, the Jayhawks struggled to get a win over an unranked Michigan State team that has made just 20% of its attempts. triples this season and entered the game. He was ranked 34th in the KenPom rankings.
But Dickinson said Tuesday's challenges shouldn't change KU's current position as the No. 1 team in America.
“It is impossible for us to beat 3-0 at the moment,” he said. “It can't get better than 3-0. We beat a team in the top 10 in the country. We beat a Michigan State team that will probably finish in the top 25.”
There were many moments where it looked like Kansas might leave here with a loss, but Dickinson was too good and had too much energy from the matchup to let his team fail.
“You have to work hard in games like this, especially against teams like Michigan State,” said Dajuan Harris Jr., who finished with 11 points and six assists for Kansas. “You know they play super hard, they play super fast. So that was a game where we had to dig in and play together and we really played it.” [Dickinson]. He brought us home [a win]”.
Self, who improved to 591-143 in his 22nd season at Kansas and passed Phog Allen for most wins with the program, said a team is defined by its ability to win games when it plays well and also when it has to. get ahead. adversity.
He also said Dickinson helped stabilize a team that has added multiple key transfers and continues to learn how to work together through difficult times. Self said he expects the big man to improve in the coming weeks as he gets more reps in practice after missing multiple exhibition games and practices with a foot injury.
“He doesn't like Michigan State very much,” Self said. “In large part, simply because he went to Michigan. And I'm sure they're trained to dislike the other team on a pretty significant level.”
