Bill Self Lauds Kansas' Star Player After Thrilling Win Over Arizona

Hunter Dickinson put up 33 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in his final game in Lawrence

Mar 8, 2025; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Kansas Jayhawks coach Bill Self on the sidelines prior to the game against the Arizona Wildcats at Allen Fieldhouse. / William Purnell-Imagn Images

In what has been a whirlwind year for Kansas basketball, the regular season closed against new Big 12 for Arizona at Allen Fieldhouse. The unranked Jayhawks needed a big day from their senior leaders and that's exactly what they got from veteran big man Hunter Dickinson in the 83-76 victory over the 24th ranked Wildcats.

Bill Self Discusses Hunter Dickinson's Huge Night

Hunter Dickinson drops 33 and 10 on Senior Day in a Kansas W! 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/tcwkoEWA0x

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 8, 2025

Dickinson came up huge for Kansas on Saturday, lighting up the scoreboard with a game-high 33 poitns and 10 rebounds. Kansas head coach Bill Self said after the game it was the exact kind of game the Jayhawks needed from its veteran leader.

"They played great. They played great. That was about as well as I can remember seniors playing on senior night. They carried us. But, yeah, it was nice. We needed that bad. And we needed our best player to carry us, and we needed everybody else to play well, really well and that's exactly what happened. Hunt(er Dickinson) was unbelievable."

Bill Self on Kansas' Recent Season Restart

about blew the roof off AFH 😤#PayHeed x @kj_atx pic.twitter.com/KM5vRtP8xb

— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) March 8, 2025

Self also spoke after the game about Kansas' marked improvements in recent weeks. It goes back to the season restart Self spoke of after embarrassing losses at Utah and BYU, and returns have been improved although far from perfect since.

"Well we actually didn't play poorly against (Texas) Tech, we just didn't guard the arc. They played great and at Houston, we didn't play bad. We fought, we just didn't finish some plays and had a couple of awful turnovers their late game. But for the most part, Colorado and Oklahoma State and today we played better. We've gotten better in the last two and a half weeks. The big thing is, even even though this game isn't a big game on a scale of of what goes into a successful season or not, but this was probably a bigger game than I can remember having as a last game, just because we've labored so much. 

Kansas' Big 12 Tournament Draw

Next up for Kansas will be the Big 12 Tournament before it heads to the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks earned the sixth-seed in the conference tournament and will open play on Wednesday when it takes on the winner of the matchup between No. 11 Utah and No. 14 UCF, who play on Tuesday.

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