Kansas November Player of the Month: Hunter Dickinson
With one month of basketball in the books, we are introducing a new monthly feature. The Kansas basketball player of the month will highlight one player’s achievements throughout that month of basketball.
The Jayhawks played seven games in the month of November, and only two candidates really stood out as POTM candidates, Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar. In the end, we opted for Dickinson over McCullar who by the way, got off to a splendid start in December with his performance against UConn. But November was all about the new big guy and what he brings to the KU offense.
Over the course of the month of November, the big transfer from Michigan dominated. Dickinson averaged 21.7 points and 12.7 rebounds in the initial month of the season, often showing out big when the spotlight was the brightest. In the Champions Classic game against Kentucky, Dickinson absolutely went off, scoring 27 points and ripping down 21 boards. He shot 67% from the field in that game and made 10 of 11 free throw attempts. It was one of the strongest showings of any recent Jayhawk in a game of that magnitude.
After an off night against the swarming defense and manic sped up offense of Marquette, Dickinson returned to form against the highly ranked Tennessee Volunteers, recording his second twenty rebound effort of the season when he snatched 20 boards, a feat even more impressive when you consider it was KU’s third game in three days and on such a quick turnaround from the late game the night before. Hunter added 17 points in that one as well as dishing out two assists.
But he didn’t just shine in games with the biggest national spotlights. Dickinson also excelled in the games where you’d expect him to. He scored 21 points in his Jayhawk debut against North Carolina Central, a game where the starters watched the last eight minutes from the bench.
In the first game of the Maui Invitational in Honolulu, Dickinson scored 31 against Chaminade, recording another double-double with his eleven rebounds.
And in the game against Eastern Illinois, a game where the intensity level was low, Dickinson was seemingly the only Jayhawk to show up, scoring 25 and grabbing 13 rebounds in the win. That game also featured Dickinson’s best block performance in November when he swatted away three Panther shots.
Throughout the month, we saw Dickinson dominate the paint, can threes, make crucial free throws, and work in tandem with KJ Adams and McCullar down low. It was an impressive start to his career at Kansas, no matter how you slice it apart.
Kansas has a December schedule littered with tough games (UConn, Indiana), intense semi-rivalry games (Missouri, Wichita State) and buy games (UMKC, Yale) that will enable Dickinson to be in the hunt for our December award as well. But if we’re being honest, with his immense talent, he will always be on the shortlist.
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