Kansas center Hunter Dickinson did his best Draymond Green impression in Tuesday’s 75-72 win over Duke.
The Kansas center kicked Duke forward Maliq Brown as the two lay on the ground battling for a rebound in a game the Jayhawks led 57-55 at the time.
Dickinson went over Brown’s back while trying to grab a rebound on his own short miss. As Brown aggressively boxed out, both players fell to the floor intertwined.
Dickinson tumbled and threw a back heel to the face of Brown, which turned the competitive play into a chippy one as players needed to be separated.
After review, the Jayhawks’ 24-year-old leading scorer and rebounder was issued a Flagrant 2 and ejected from the game.
“I didn’t think at the moment and nor now do I feel it a warranted a level-2,” Kansas coach Bill Self said after the game. “In my opinion, it’s probably a coin flip whether it’s a level-1 or a level-2.”
Dickinson is now in his fifth college year and his second at Kansas after starting his career with Michigan. Accusations of being a dirty player have followed him for most of his career.
“I saw on the screen that he kicked him in his face, so I think that warrants a flagrant-2,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “I haven’t had a good look or anything more, but that to me was really an easy one.”
Dickinson entered Tuesday’s game averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds per game.
The 7-foot-2, 265-pound center is a crucial piece of the top-ranked Jayhawks, who failed to reach the Sweet 16 in back-to-back seasons after winning the 2022 national title.
Dickinson has been productive his entire college career, averaging at least 14 points per game in each of his five years.
He had 11 points and six rebounds before departing Tuesday’s contest.
Flory Bidunga replaced Dickinson and finished with six points and eight rebounds.
“Obviously, it’s a bummer that an All-American like Hunter had to go out,” Kansas forward KJ Adams said, per the AP. “But it makes me happy that Flo got a chance to show the world what he can do. It’s amazing what he did out there, especially a freshman coming in in that big environment, a huge game. He did really good.”
After his departure, the lead bounced back and forth with Kansas ultimately holding on when Duke freshman Kon Knueppel rimmed out a bank shot 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Kansas will next meet with Furman on Saturday in the early season Las Vegas tournament.
