Author: 75, in charity exhibition
SportsKU falls short against Illinois, 82-75, in charity exhibitionAP Photo/Charles Rex ArbogastKansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr.drives to the basket as Illinois forward Marcus Domask defends during the second half of the NCAA college basketball exhibition game Sunday, Oct.29, 2023, in Champaign, Ill.Illinois won 82-75.Champaign, Ill.— The Kansas men’s basketball team, making its unofficial return to the court for an exhibition match at Illinois to benefit victims of the Maui wildfires, trailed nearly wire-to-wire and fell 82-75 to the Illini Sunday evening.KU, the preseason No. 1 team in the nation, was within striking distance throughout but managed to hold an advantage for just one cumulative minute, entirely contained within the first 20.The Jayhawks, beset by a combination of a somewhat disjointed offense, poor defensive rebounding and the 25th-ranked Illini’s strong perimeter shooting, did not retake the lead after losing it on a Coleman Hawkins 3-pointer with 9:39 left in the first half.AP Photo/Charles Rex ArbogastKansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr.shoots over Illinois forward Marcus Domask during the second half of the NCAA college basketball exhibition game Sunday, Oct.29, 2023, in Champaign, Ill. Illinois won 82-75.Kevin McCullar Jr.displayed the offensive confidence he spent the offseason cultivating, on his way to 18 first-half points, including 9 of the Jayhawks’ first 13 to nearly singlehandedly sustain KU in that time.He finished with 25 points and eight rebounds, leading KU in scoring, before exiting the game following a collision with Illini players as he dove for a loose ball in the final minutes.Self said postgame that McCullar was dealing with something like whiplash, but “I don’t think he’s hurt seriously or whatever.”McCullar’s former Texas Tech teammate Terrence Shannon Jr.led all players with 28 points on 8-for-13 shooting.Three other Illini reached double figures, including Quincy Guerrier with 13 points and nine rebounds.“We’ve got some issues where our margin for error isn’t as high as what it’s been maybe in some years past,” Self said, referencing his team’s lack of depth. “And the guys that play need to play well.Like the way Kevin McCullar played today and Terrence played today, you hope you bottle that, but there’s no guarantee Terrence is going to shoot it like that or Kevin’s going to score the ball like that every game.”Hunter Dickinson was thoroughly off in the early going on a series of close-range jumpers and made just one of his first six shots before scoring on a pair of alley-oops late in the half.He nevertheless managed to tally 22 points and nine rebounds on the night overall.“Hunter got numbers but he didn’t play like he’s capable of playing,” Self said.Added Dickinson: “I think defensively, obviously, I know I didn’t do a good job out there.I might have scored the ball well, but if you give up just as many points as you score you’re not really helping your team out.”AP Photo/Charles Rex ArbogastKansas center Hunter Dickinson shoots over Illinois forward Coleman Hawkins during the second half of the NCAA college basketball exhibition game Sunday, Oct.29, 2023, in Champaign, Ill. Illinois won 82-75.The Illini’s Hawkins and Shannon combined for seven first-half 3s to help them build their lead as the Jayhawks had only three total attempts from deep in the same time frame.That included a miss from KJ Adams Jr.(14 points, mostly late in the game) who has hoped to cultivate his three-point shot as he plays more outside of the paint.Things got especially dire for KU late in the first half when Illinois scored 7 straight — including the third 3 for Hawkins — as the Jayhawks were held scoreless for four minutes to force a timeout from Self.“I thought Hawkins had a terrific game and was the difference because he was the guy we couldn’t match up with in off-ball screens and things like that,” Self said.Out of the timeout, they showed a flash of their potential when Dajuan Harris Jr.found Dickinson in the post, who threaded a pass through to McCullar on a backdoor cut for the best offensive possession of the day.Illinois maintained a steady advantage for most of the period, but could have gone into the half up just 40-37 after freshman Elmarko Jackson — who showed off his excellent speed on a pair of first-half buckets — scored on a drive.But Shannon arced the Illini’s seventh 3 over Dickinson on Illinois’ final possession of the half.The Illini tallied eight of their 19 first-half rebounds on the offensive glass.Shannon initially continued his hot start into the second half with another 3-pointer. The Jayhawks made it back to their first tie since 10:30 into the game on a McCullar free throw but saw their momentum derailed by a long string of fouls, exacerbated by exhibition rules preventing players from fouling out.(Self said postgame that he and Underwood each independently decided to suggest those rules.) Crisp passing around the horn for a Marcus Domask 3 allowed Illinois to extend its lead back to 56-49.KU found it difficult to cut into that 7-point margin and accumulated 10 fouls in under 11 minutes of play.Adams, McCullar and Hawkins all accrued at least five fouls on the night.Out of a late timeout, though, the Illini suddenly became turnover-prone and conceded easy baskets to Adams and Dickinson in short order.KU eventually tied the game at 70-70 on a Dickinson putback, but Illinois got a corner 3 it desperately needed from Guerrier with 4:45 remaining.Later, Dickinson had a potential layup waved off for a shot-clock violation and the Illini responded with a Hawkins stepback 3 to go up 6, a margin they more or less retained for the remainder of the evening.“We’re going to have some tough practice coming up because of some the mistakes we did down the road in the first part of the game,” Adams said, “but I think this is a great learning experience, especially to start a good exhibition game against a really good team, and I think we’re going to learn from it and do good from now on.”The Jayhawks will host Fort Hays State for their fifth overall exhibition contest Wednesday at Allen Fieldhouse.AP Photo/Charles Rex ArbogastKansas center Hunter Dickinson shoots over Illinois forward Coleman Hawkins during the second half of the NCAA college basketball exhibition game Sunday, Oct.29, 2023, in Champaign, Ill. Illinois won 82-75.AP Photo/Charles Rex ArbogastKansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr.reacts to pain in his left leg as members of the training staff check on him after he and Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr.collided during the second half of the NCAA college basketball exhibition game Sunday, Oct.29, 2023, in Champaign, Ill.AP Photo/Charles Rex ArbogastKansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr.(15) fouls Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr., as Shannon Jr. drives to the basket during the second half of the NCAA college basketball exhibition game Sunday, Oct.29, 2023, in Champaign, Ill.AP Photo/Charles Rex ArbogastIllinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr.drives to the basket past Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson during the first half of the NCAA college basketball exhibition game Sunday, Oct.29, 2023, in Champaign, Ill. AP Photo/Charles Rex ArbogastIllinois forward Dain Dainja (42) drives to the basket as Kansas forward Parker Braun defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball exhibition game Sunday, Oct.29, 2023, in Champaign, Ill.AP Photo/Charles Rex ArbogastKansas head coach Bill Self directs his team during the first half of the NCAA college basketball exhibition game against Illinois Sunday, Oct.29, 2023, in Champaign, Ill.AP Photo/Charles Rex ArbogastKansas head coach Bill Self, left, and Illinois head coach Brad Underwood talk before an NCAA college basketball exhibition game Sunday, Oct.29, 2023, in Champaign, Ill.Box scorePREV POSTSignificance of KU's victory will reverberate beyond one seasonNEXT POST It wasn't all bad, but Dickinson didn't thrive as promised in latest exhibition actionWritten By Henry GreensteinHenry is the sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, and serves as the KU beat writer while managing day-to-day sports coverage.He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.A., Linguistics) and Arizona State University (M.A., Sports Journalism).Though a native of Los Angeles, he has frequently been told he does not give off "California vibes," whatever that means.
