Kansas star Hunter Dickinson was ejected as the Jayhawks toppled rival powerhouse Duke 75-72.
The center got tangled up with Blue Devils forward Maliq Brown after the latter fouled him.
Dickinson and potential No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg fight for the ball[/caption]
Dickinson’s foot caught Brown in the head while they were on the court and the officials ruled it a flagrant 2.
ESPN announcer Fran Fraschilla was stunned by the call and felt Dickenson should have stayed in the game.
“The rule is it has to be severe and extreme. I would’ve given it a flagrant 1,” he said. “I’m surprised it’s a flagrant 2.”
Dickinson had 11 points and six rebounds before his second-half ejection but the Jayhawks managed to hold on to keep their perfect record.
Freshman forward Flory Bidunga stepped up in his absence with six points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes.
“The best thing about Hunter not being in the game was that Flory was,” said Jayhawks coach Bill Self.
“What a game for pre-Thanksgiving. Three games we’ve played, two of them were instant classics with Carolina and Duke. We’re fortunate we won both.
“That team we played today can win the national championship. Of course, I think we could too.”
Self used Dickinson’s ejection as motivation for his players.
“I said, ‘We’ll find out how tough we are,’”he explained.
Dickinson is a two-time Second-Team All-American[/caption]
Flagg was kept quiet by Kansas[/caption]
“I think there’s moments in every season — it’s too early for a pivotal moment — when you have to define an identity.
“We can take some pride and say we have more an identity now because we won ugly down the stretch.”
Duke superstar Cooper Flagg is being tipped for the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.
But he was held to 13 points by a dogged Kansas defense.
Rylan Griffen scored the decisive points in the dying seconds.
“That was a Final Four type game,” he said.
“Two great teams battling it out. Nobody would have been surprised if you said this was a Final Four game — two great teams, two great programs playing.
“That’s one of the reasons I came to Kansas (from Alabama), games like these.”
