Some of the most-heralded freshmen in college basketball, for various reasons, missed their season-openers earlier this week — among them Duke‘s Dereck Lively and Dariq Whitehead, Arkansas‘ Nick Smith and UCLA‘s Adem Bona. That’s not ideal. But one five-star freshman who debuted as planned is Kansas guard Gradey Dick — and his season-opening performance was both historic and encouraging for a KU program trying to become the first back-to-back national champion in men’s basketball since Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators did it in 2006 and 2007.
Dick took 13 shots in Monday’s 89-64 victory over Omaha, made nine of them and finished with a game-high 23 points, two rebounds and two steals. The 6-foot-8 McDonald’s All-American made four of the six 3-pointers he attempted and generally looked great as one of three new starters. Dick’s 23 points were the most in any KU debut since Xavier Henry scored 27 in 2009. Dick’s nine field goals were the most in any KU debut since Carl Henry made 12 in 1982.
“He’s a terrific kid — goofy too,” said Kansas acting coach Norm Roberts, who is running the program while Hall of Fame coach Bill Self and assistant Kurtis Townsend serve self-imposed four-game suspensions to start this season. “So, he’s a terrific kid. He doesn’t worry about anything. He just thinks about the next shot going in. And he’s gotten better and better [in recent months].”
Dick will play his second game as a Jayhawk Thursday night when Kansas hosts North Dakota State inside Allen Fieldhouse. KU remains No. 8 in Thursday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. The Jayhawks’ first real test should come Tuesday when Kansas plays Duke in the Champions Classic.
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