Takeaways from Kansas' First Puerto Rico Exhibition Game
It’s August 3 and the Kansas Jayhawks played in a basketball game. What a beautiful sentence that is to type.
Kansas took care of the Puerto Rico Select team 106-71 on Thursday. To no surprise considering its the first competitive exhibition for this squad playing with different (FIBA) rules and ball, there was some rust to start the game. Still, the game gave fans a lot to get excited about.
And yes, this was an offseason exhibition game against an inferior opponent, but I’m not going to let that stop us from overreacting. Let’s look at some of the biggest takeaways from the first exhibition game in Puerto Rico.
The KJ Adams, Hunter Dickinson Front Court Shines Early
I mentioned this on Twitter (I won’t call it X) that I will take all of the KJ Adams stock for this year. Now that he’s at the four and Dickinson is drawing a ton of attention in the post, Adams has more freedom and showed off his array of skills.
One of the first plays of the game was Adams doing his best Jalen Wilson impression, grabbing a rebound, driving it the length of the court, and dishing to Dickinson for a bucket. Dickinson then returned the favor by hitting Adams for a three. That’s right, Adams can hit threes now. Adams was aggressive driving the lane and drawing fouls and grabbing boards and then Dajuan Harris and Kevin McCullar found him for multiple alley-oops. Adams was everywhere, which makes KU even more dangerous.
Meanwhile, Dickinson was cold shooting the ball early, but just his mere presence opened up so much movement and passing for everyone else on the court. And as he showed, he’ll eventually get his, too. His passing was also impressive. The second half began with Dickinson finding Adams driving baseline for an and-one dunk.
McCullar Coming Back was Huge
Along with Adams, the other biggest transformation of the offseason might belong to McCullar. He looks stronger and more athletic, impacting both ends of the floor. He even showed off some new offensive moves, including a beautiful turnaround jumper from about 15 feet out. He finished strong at the rim with a dunk off a Nick Timberlake steal and on the next possession stole the ball himself and slammed it home a second time.
The wing is the area with the least amount of depth for the Jayhawks, so a veteran who can affect the game in so many ways like McCullar can is wildly valuable.
This Team Does Not Lack Athleticism
These Jayhawks can run, jump, and are long. These continuously disrupted passing lanes (forcing 15 steals in the official stat book), ran in transition, and were strong on the glass. Last year’s team struggled to play above the rim, but it doesn’t look like that will be an issue this year.
Arterio Morris in particular showed off his incredible athleticism early in the game with a dunk off a behind-the-back pass from Harris and a strong drive and layup. He also hit a couple of threes and pressured the ball well, seamlessly moving from defense to offense on the attack. But he was not alone. Adams was jumping out of the gym, Harris was as great defensively as ever, and Elmarko Jackson was impressive getting to the rim and shooting the ball in his first appearance in a Kansas jersey.
The Newcomers Made a Strong Debut
Morris led all scorers with 20 points, Dickinson had 13, and Jackson looked very much the part of a college player with 13 in his debut. Freshman Jamari McDowell also had a few flashes with seven points. The team’s heart and soul still feels like it’s Harris, McCullar, and Adams, but there’s a lot of firepower from this group of transfers and freshmen.
