Kansas center Hunter Dickinson was ejected midway through the second half of the top-ranked Jayhawks’ game against No. 11 Duke on Tuesday night for kicking the Blue Devils’ Maliq Brown in the head.
No. 1 Kansas outlasted No. 11 Duke, 75-72, on Tuesday night despite playing the final 10 minutes, 26 seconds of the game without its best player after all-American Hunter Dickinson was ejected.
The 7-2 Dickinson was kicked out of the game after kicking the Blue Devils’ Maliq Brown in the face after they tumbled to the court at T-Mobile Arena.
No. 1 Kansas led 57-55 when the 6-9 Brown picked up a foul when he undercut the 7-2 Dickinson as they battled for a rebound under the Jayhawks’ basket. As they hit the ground, Dickinson kicked his leg forward and caught Brown in the face with his foot.
Initially, only Brown was called for a foul. But after a lengthy officials review, Dickinson was assessed a flagrant 2 foul, which carries an automatic ejection.
Though he argued the decision in the moment, Kansas coach Bill Self said after the game Dickinson was worthy of punishment although he felt it was a “coin flip” as to whether a flagrant 2 or flagrant 1 was proper.
“I thought it was a good call,” Self said. “I thought the flagrant two may have been a little severe. I thought it was definitely a flagrant one.”
Duke senior forward Sion James, who was on the floor at the time and near Brown and Dickinson when the kick occurred, was among the players who converged on the two as tempers flared a bit.
“I mean, obviously, we don’t like really getting kicked in the face,” James said. “We’re all going to stand up for him.”
Duke coach Jon Scheyer didn’t see the kick in real time but saw the replays that were shown in the stadium’s video boards.
“I haven’t seen it other than I saw it on the screen that he kicked him in his face,” Scheyer said, “so I think that warrants the flagrant 2. But again, I haven’t had a good look or anything more. But, to me, that was really an easy one.”
Dickinson scored 11 points with six rebounds in 24 minutes of play prior to his ejection. With him unavailable, Kansas used 6-9 freshman Flory Bidunga during the late stages of the game. Bidunga had six points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes of play, along with four turnovers.
“The best thing about Hunter not being in the game was that Flory was,” Self said, “so we’re going to look at it as a positive.”
