🏀 Kansas Duo Named to Naismith Player of the Year Midseason Team
ATLANTA – The Kansas duo of Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar Jr. have been named to the 2024 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Men’s College Player of the Year Midseason Team, the Naismith Awards announced Thursday.
Kansas, Houston, North Carolina and Purdue are the only schools to have two athletes listed among the 30 named to the Naismith Trophy Midseason Team. Dickinson and McCullar are vying to become the third player from Kansas to win the Naismith Trophy, joining Danny Manning (1988) and Frank Mason III (2017).
On most all midseason All-American teams, McCullar leads the Big 12 in scoring at 19.5 points per game, which is 41st nationally. His two triple-doubles are the most amongst the NCAA. The San Antonio guard also leads KU with 35 three-point field goals made. His 6.4 rebounds per game are second on the team and he ranks in 11 Big 12 statistical categories.
A two-time national Naismith Defensive Player of the Year semifinalist and three time All-Big 12 selection, for his career McCullar has scored 1,468 points with 729 rebounds, 333 assists and 212 steals. He has 104 starts in his 134 games played, including 55 starts in 56 contests in his two seasons at Kansas.
A six-time Big 12 weekly award winner in 2023-24, Dickinson leads the Big 12 and is seventh nationally in rebounds per game at 10.8. He has double-doubles in three of his last six games and his 13 DDs lead the Big 12 and are ninth nationally. A native of Alexandria, Virginia, Dickinson is the only player in the Big 12 averaging a double-double. He also leads KU with 31 blocked shots and has 28 steals.
Like McCullar, Dickinson is on most every midseason All-America team. He enters Saturday’s game at Oklahoma with 2,071 points and 1,057 rebounds and is just the fourth active player in NCAA Division I to surpass both 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds for his career. Prior to joining Kansas last summer, Dickinson was a three-time all-conference honoree while at Michigan and a 2021 Consensus All-America Second Team selection.
No. 6 Kansas (19-6, 7-5) will play at No. 25 Oklahoma (18-7, 6-6) on Saturday, Feb. 17. Tip from the Lloyd Noble Center will be at 3 p.m. CT and the contest will be televised on ESPN.
For a complete list of the 2024 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Men’s College Player of the Year Midseason Team, one can go to naismithawards.com.
