LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 2 Kansas (10-1) returns home to host Yale (7-5) on Friday, Dec. 22, at 7 p.m. CT. The game from Allen Fieldhouse will be televised on Big 12 NOW via ESPN+.
Kansas brings a six-game winning streak into Friday’s contest after its 75-71 victory at Indiana on Dec. 16. Yale has won two straight after its 73-66 win at Quinnipiac on Dec. 11. The Bulldogs are 2-3 on the road this season.
This will be the fourth meeting between Kansas and Yale with the Jayhawks having won all three previous battles. Kansas won the most recent matchup during its 2007-08 NCAA National Championship season, an 83-56 victory on Dec. 29, 2007, in Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas enters Friday’s matchup averaging 79.5 points per game with a plus-13.8 scoring margin. The Jayhawks pull down 38.7 rebounds per outing with a plus-5.9 rebound margin. Kansas leads the nation in assists per game at 21.7. KU leads the Big 12 and is seventh nationally in field goal percentage (51.8%), while also averaging 7.3 steals and 4.7 blocked shots per contest.
Senior C Hunter Dickinson and graduate G Kevin McCullar Jr. lead Kansas in scoring both averaging 19.2 ppg. Dickinson leads the Big 12 and is second nationally in rebounds per game at 12.7 rpg and double-doubles with seven. A three-time Big 12 weekly award honoree this season, Dickinson is the only player in the Big 12 to average a double-double. He also leads KU with 14 blocked shots. McCullar leads the nation with two triple doubles. He pulls down 7.0 rebounds per game and leads KU with 16 threes made and 17 steals.
Junior F KJ Adams Jr. is second in the Big 12 and 16th nationally in field goal percentage at 65.6%. Adams is averaging 16.8 points in his last four games and 13.0 ppg for the season. He pulls down 3.8 rebounds per game and has 34 assists.
Redshirt-senior G Dajuan Harris Jr. leads the Big 12 with 7.0 assists per game, which is eighth nationally. Harris averages 6.6 points per contest. Freshman G Elmarko Jackson (6.1 ppg, 3.1 assists per game) had a season-high 11 points against Missouri (12/9) and rounds out the KU starters.
Other KU regulars include freshman G Johnny Furphy (5.3 ppg, 12 3FGs), graduate-senior F Parker Braun (3.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 10 blocked shots), graduate-senior G Nicolas Timberlake (3.2 ppg, seven 3FGs) and freshman G Jamari McDowell (2.3 ppg).
UP NEXT
Kansas will face Wichita State on Saturday, Dec. 30 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The contest will start at 3 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN2.
In a series that dates back to 1908, Kansas leads the Shockers 12-3. The Jayhawks have won five of the last six meetings dating back to 1989. Wichita State won the most recent matchup, 78-65, on March 22, 2015, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Omaha, Nebraska.
