LAWRENCE, Kan. — Hunter Dickinson scored with 3.4 seconds left to lift No. 2 Kansas past TCU 83-81 on Saturday.
Dickinson, who led Kansas with 30 points, hit a pair of free throws after a flagrant foul on TCU’s Ernest Udeh Jr. with less than a minute remaining to tie the score. Dickinson then followed Dajuan Harris Jr.’s miss in the final seconds.
“Hopefully I won’t have to take an elbow [to the face] to get a chance to win the game,” Dickinson said. “But I’ll do whatever it takes to win the game.
“It’s really fun to go out there with guys that know how to win, get it done at the end of the day.”
Kansas (13-1, 1-0 Big 12) also got 18 points from KJ Adams Jr. Kevin McCullar Jr. had 16 points and Harris scored 10.
TCU (11-3, 0-1) was led by Trevian Tennyson with 24 points. He was joined in double figures by Emanuel Miller with 20 points and Micah Peavy and Jameer Nelson Jr. with 10 points each.
“Tennyson was great,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “[TCU coach] Jamie [Dixon] has said publicly that he was their best shooter since Desmond [Bane]. We did a terrible job guarding him, but I thought he was terrific.”
Kansas did not have a field goal from anyone outside of Dickinson, McCullar or Adams until Harris hit a layup with 16:04 left in the second half.
“I’ve said this all along — we’re all for that,” Self said when asked if the Jayhawks need a fourth contributor. “Juan [Harris] had a terrible first half. But then he makes the hardest shot in the game and he made the past to win it.
“We’re all for somebody else stepping up. But you know, we’re not going to win all our games with four guys doing all the scoring, but that’s the way it was today.”
The Jayhawks couldn’t shake the Horned Frogs in the first half. Their largest lead was just six points (30-24). Each time Kansas tried to pull away, TCU responded. The Horned Frogs took two late leads before Kansas got a jumper from McCullar to take a 41-40 advantage into halftime.
“I’m proud of our players, no question about it,” Dixon said. “I love their execution, love their intensity, love the ball pressure that we displayed for the entire game. I’m proud of how the guys handled the last minute. I’m proud of everything they did. But we didn’t get the win. Disappointed by that.”
Dickinson led a trio of Jayhawks in double figures in the first half with 18 points.
Both teams shot better than 50% in the first half. TCU was 17 of 33 (51.5%), while Kansas had as many makes with one less attempt for 53.1% from the field.
