Hunter Dickinson had 27 points and 21 rebounds, and the top-ranked Jayhawks outlasted No. 17 Kentucky for an 89-84 victory in the Champions Classic on Tuesday night.
The 7-foot-2 Dickinson, who announced in May that he was transferring from Michigan to Kansas, went 8 for 12 from the field and 10 for 11 at the line.
The young Wildcats, playing without a pair of injured centers, fought hard inside, but Dickinson was just too much to handle.
“What he does is he takes pressure off everybody else by having everybody else focused on him,” Self said. “So that’s a big bonus.”