Kansas dominates UCF in Big 12 basketball road game. Here are 3 takeaways.

Shreyas Laddha, The Kansas City Star on Jan 5, 2025

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The No. 7-ranked Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team entered Sunday’s road game at UCF with many question marks.

One of the biggest: whether KU can win on the road. The Jayhawks’ struggles away from Allen Fieldhouse this season, and last, have been well documented.

KU answered that concern with one of its most dominant showings in a long time. The Jayhawks led this Big 12 showdown from start to finish, beating the Knights 99-48 at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando.

KU’s Hunter Dickinson led all scorers with 27 points and also grabbed nine rebounds, while Rylan Griffen added 14 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field.

Kansas coach Bill Self sent out his fifth different starting lineup of the season on Sunday. KU (10-3, 1-1 Big 12) started KJ Adams, Dickinson, Dajuan Harris, Shakeel Moore and Zeke Mayo.

Moore replaced guard AJ Storr in the starting lineup.

KU led 44-25 at halftime behind Dickinson’s 21 points and never looked back.

Up Next: The Jayhawks play host to Arizona State on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET inside Allen Fieldhouse.

Until then, here are three takeaways from Sunday’s road game in Florida …

Hunter Dickinson dominates

Dickinson might have had his best half as a Jayhawk. He was aggressive from the opening tip.

He helped the Jayhawks score 36 points in the paint — and that was just in the first half. Anytime Kansas needed a bucket, he answered the call.

At halftime, Dickinson had 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. His strong play enabled KU to get off to a blistering start offensively — 20 of 40 (50%) in the first half.

Dickinson had a quieter second half but still finished with a stellar stat line of 27 points and nine rebounds.

KU’s defense shines

In the Jayhawks’ last game, a New Year’s Eve home loss to West Virginia, KU’s opening half was one of its worst of the season defensively.

That wasn’t replicated against the Knights.

KU’s defense stifled UCF, limiting the Knights to woeful 8-for-39 shooting (20.5%) from the field. UCF also shot a ghastly 5 for 19 (26.3%) on 3-pointers.

The Jayhawks forced eight turnovers in the first half alone. Kansas did an excellent job of swarming UCF’s players in the paint and held Knights star Keyshawn Hall to 11 points on 2-for-7 shooting.

The Jayhawks kept up their stellar defense in the second half. UCF shot 20.6% from the field and 23.3% from deep for the game. Hall finished with just 12 points on 4-for-17 shooting.

Flory Bidunga’s block party

KU coach Bill Self has called Kansas freshman Flory Bidunga the most athletic player on the team.

That athleticism is on display every game, but perhaps never more so than Sunday. Bidunga had multiple impressive dunks around the rim and his defense was eye-popping.

He finished the game with six blocks. He also had 12 points and five rebounds in 24 minutes.

Bidunga is the type of big man the Jayhawks have desperately needed for the past two seasons.

It’s clear why Self speaks so highly of the freshman — and why KU fans have much to look forward to next season, when Bidunga will likely replace Dickinson at center in the starting lineup.

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