No. 1 Kansas jumped out of the gates early, then overcame a second-half ejection of All-America center Hunter Dickinson Tuesday for a tense 75-72 win over 11th-ranked Duke Tuesday night.
The Jayhawks secured the high-profile win while limiting Duke’s Cooper Flagg to 13 points and forcing the freshman phenom into four turnovers. Flagg’s supporting cast led multiple runs to keep things close before the tone of the game took a dramatic turn midway through the second half.
With Kansas leading 57-55, Dickinson grabbed an offensive rebound in traffic and was undercut by Duke’s Maliq Brown. Both players fell to the floor with their bodies entangled. While on the floor, Dickinson kicked Brown in the head with his right foot, and a brief scuffle ensued.
Officials assessed Brown with a personal foul on the floor, then went to the monitor. After a lengthy review, they issued a flagrant 2 technical foul to Dickinson, a penalty the comes with an ejection. Dickinson’s night was done, and he was required to leave the Kansas bench.
Dickinson remained on the bench before officials noticed that he was still there at the next break in action. He was eventually led off the court with an escort.
The game was a back-and-forth battle the rest of the way before Duke had a look at a go-ahead shot in the game’s final seconds. Kansas defenders smothered Kon Knueppel’s runner with 3.3 seconds remaining, and Kansas guard Rylan Griffen grabbed the rebound.
Griffen hit two free throws on the other to extend the lead to three, and Duke couldn’t respond on its final possession with 3.3 seconds remaining. Knueppel had one last look at a 3-pointer, but it rolled out of the rim as the final buzzer expired.