BLOOMINGTON, Indiana — Kansas basketball picked up a sixth-straight victory Saturday, when it went on the road and won 75-71 against Indiana.
The No. 2 Jayhawks (10-1) are now about a month removed from their last defeat, which came in November during the Maui Invitational against now-No. 6 Marquette. They’re primed to enter Big 12 Conference play with a fair share of momentum, as long as they can handle their business against Yale (Friday, home) and Wichita State (Dec. 30, in Kansas City). And they’ve looked every bit of the Big 12 contender they were described as before the season began.
Ahead of tipoff Friday against Yale (7-5), here are a few more takeaways from Kansas’ win against the Hoosiers (7-3, 2-0 in Big Ten Conference):
Kansas’ composure in big moments continues to showcase itself
Senior center Hunter Dickinson and freshman guard Elmarko Jackson both brought it up. Head coach Bill Self and graduate senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. both answered questions about it. Kansas showcased a lot of composure against Indiana, in a game that shared similarities to how the Jayhawks came back and beat Kentucky during the Champions Classic last month.
The win against Kentucky came during a neutral site game. The atmosphere was more difficult Saturday, from Self’s perspective, because they were inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. But both games required significant second-half comebacks, with the Wildcats leading by as many as 14 points last month and the Hoosiers leading by as many as 13 points over the weekend.
“We’re a very veteran led team and we work on situations like this in practice,” Jackson said. “When we’re down in a type game where we have to fight back and claw back and — I feel like that’s just the nature of our team. We’re fighters. We’re not quitters.”
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Kansas’ freshmen experience their first true road game
Self indicated postgame that Kansas’ exhibition at Illinois served the Jayhawks’ freshmen well, when it came to preparing for a true road environment. McDowell described that preseason loss to the Fighting Illini as more of a lesson than a loss. McDowell, Jackson and freshman guard Johnny Furphy all played in their first true road game at the college level against Indiana.
All three had moments that showed how they are continuing to grow as talents this season. Kansas will need them during the grind of Big 12 play.
“I mean, it’s two blue-bloods going against each other,” said McDowell, asked how the experience compared to his expectations. “So, of course it was a great environment. And, I mean, it’s Indiana — historic program. But it was super energetic. Nothing like the Fieldhouse or nothing, but it’s — it was good.”
McCullar picked up his fourth foul with a bit more than eight minutes left in the game, but never fouled out Saturday. He finished with a team-high 21 points, while also grabbing six rebounds and dishing out four assists. And he recorded another game with at least 20 points despite shooting 3-for-11 from the field.
He did, however, finish 13-for-16 from the free-throw line. He scored the Jayhawks’ last four points, all from the free-throw line. Had he been a less composed player, maybe the game ends differently.
“I told him just, ‘Send us home,’” redshirt senior guard Dajuan Harris Jr. said. “That’s all I said to him. I trusted him. Everybody on our coaching staff, our bench, trusted him. So, we just — we know he can make free throws and he stepped up like he’s supposed to.”
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
Indiana’s Trey Galloway (32) looks to make a move against Kansas’ Kevin McCullar Jr. (15) during the first half of a college basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Dec. 16, 2023.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball’s veterans, freshmen shine late in first road game
