Kansas' Hunter Dickinson ejected after kicking Duke player during rebound battle
Kansas center Hunter Dickinson did his best Draymond Green impression in Tuesday’s 75-72 win over Duke.
The Kansas center kicked Duke forward Maliq Brown as the two lay on the ground battling for a rebound in a game the Jayhawks led 57-55 at the time.
Dickinson went over Brown’s back while trying to grab a rebound on his own short miss. As Brown aggressively boxed out, both players fell to the floor intertwined.
Dickinson tumbled and threw a back heel to the face of Brown, which turned the competitive play into a chippy one as players needed to be separated.
After review, the Jayhawks’ 24-year-old leading scorer and rebounder was issued a Flagrant 2 and ejected from the game.
“I didn’t think at the moment and nor now do I feel it a warranted a level-2,” Kansas coach Bill Self said after the game. “In my opinion, it’s probably a coin flip whether it’s a level-1 or a level-2.”
Dickinson is now in his fifth college year and his second at Kansas after starting his career with Michigan. Accusations of being a dirty player have followed him for most of his career.
“I saw on the screen that he kicked him in his face, so I think that warrants a flagrant-2,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “I haven’t had a good look or anything more, but that to me was really an easy one.”
Dickinson entered Tuesday’s game averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds per game.