LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 14 Kansas (22-8, 10-7 Big 12) concludes the 2023-24 regular season at No. 1 Houston (27-3, 14-3) on Saturday, March 9. Tip from Fertitta Center will be at 3 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on ESPN.
Kansas is coming off a 90-68 win against Kansas State on March 5 in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown. Houston won at least a share of the 2024 Big 12 regular-season title with a 67-59 win at UCF on March 6.
Kansas leads the overall series with Houston, 6-2, which includes a 78-65 win on Feb. 3, 2024, in Allen Fieldhouse earlier this season.
Kansas is 9-17 all-time against Associated Press No. 1 teams, including 4-3 under head coach Bill Self.
Kansas enters Saturday’s matchup averaging 77.0 points per game with a plus-8.7 scoring margin. The Jayhawks pull down 36.1 rebounds per outing with a plus-3.2 rebound margin. Kansas leads the nation in assists per game at 19.3. KU leads the Big 12 and is sixth nationally in field goal percentage at 49.8%. KU also averages 7.4 steals and 3.8 blocked shots per contest.
Named to most every national player of the year late watch list, graduate G Kevin McCullar Jr. leads the Big 12 in scoring at 19.1 points per game, which is 54th nationally. His two triple-doubles are the third most in the NCAA. McCullar also leads the team with 39 three-point field goals made. His 6.2 rebounds per game are second on the team and he ranks in 11 Big 12 statistical categories.
A six-time Big 12 weekly award winner and also on most every national player of the year list, senior C Hunter Dickinson leads the Big 12 and is seventh nationally in rebounds per game at 11. He recorded his 16th double-double of the season with 15 points and 20 rebounds against Kansas State (3/5) and his 16 double-doubles lead the Big 12 and are 10th nationally. With an 18.2 ppg, which is second in the Big 12 behind McCullar, Dickinson is the only player in the Big 12 averaging a double-double. He also leads the Big 12 with 14 games of 20-plus points. Dickinson also leads KU with 42 blocked shots and has 29 steals.
Junior F KJ Adams Jr. continues to lead the Big 12 and is 21st nationally in field goal percentage at 60.1%. Adams is averaging 12.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. He has 96 assists in 2023-24, including 34 in his last 10 contests.
Redshirt-senior G Dajuan Harris Jr. is second in the Big 12 with 6.6 assists per game, which is ninth nationally, and third in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.0), which is 23rd nationally. Harris averages 8.5 points per contest and has a team-high 47 steals.
Freshman G Johnny Furphy (9.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg) is averaging 11.6 points and 6.1 rebounds in Big 12 play. He has started in 15 games for KU and is second on the team with 38 threes made this season.
Other KU regulars include graduate G Nicolas Timberlake (4.7 ppg, 24 3FGs, four starts, season-high 18 points vs. Kansas State, 3/5), freshman G Elmarko Jackson (4.1 ppg, 52 assists, 22 steals, 16 starts), graduate F Parker Braun (2.2 ppg, 19 blocked shots) and freshman G Jamari McDowell (1.7 ppg).
UP NEXT
Kansas will next play at the 2024 Big 12 Championship, March 12-16, at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. KU will not play on March 12 and its first game has yet to be determined.
Kansas is 78-29 in postseason conference tournaments, including 48-13 in the Big 12 Championship. The Jayhawks have won 15 league postseason tournament titles, including 11 in the Big 12. Last year, Kansas went 2-1 in the event after falling to Texas in the championship game.
