Hunter Dickinson dedicates Maui Invitational to KJ Adams after mother's passing

Kansas basketball was motivated to play the Maui Invitational this week with Jayhawks forward KJ Adams in mind. Adams’ mother, Yvonne, passed away this past week after battling cancer.

No one would have faulted Adams if he decided to stay home to be with his family, but he instead made the trip to be with his teammates. He appeared in all three of the Jayhawks’ tournament games, including a 69-60 victory against Tennessee on Wednesday to earn third place.

After the game, Kansas center Hunter Dickinson spoke with ESPN, where he dedicated the performance to Adams.

“Kev said it earlier, the whole tournament’s for him,” Dickinson said. “Everything we’re doing, everything that he’s going through. I can only imagine what he’s going through right now. But we’re here for him and we tried to go out there and get the win for him.”

Adams finished the contest with 13 points to go along with four rebounds and two steals. He was one of three Kansas players to finish in double figures along with Dickinson and Kevin McCullar.

It was a tightly contested game most of the way before the Jayhawks pulled away late in the second half. KJ Adams made back-to-back baskets during the run, including a layup with 4:20 remaining that put Kansas up by double digits.

Dickinson ended the game as the team’s leading scorer with 17 points while also hauling in 20 rebounds. It marked his second 20-plus rebound game this season after he pulled down 21 board in a win against Kentucky last week.

“Just playing with the best guys, so unselfish, playing for a great head coach,” Dickinson said. “He knows how to draw up a couple plays for me. But it’s really the players out there, really trying to be so unselfish and looking for me all the time.”

With the win, Kansas bounced back after suffering its first loss of the season to Marquette on Tuesday. Although they didn’t get the tournament championship, Dickinson is still proud of his teammates for rallying to finish in third place.

They got another quality win against a ranked opponent that will surely be a resume booster come March.

“This was big for us,” he said. “The mentality coming in was just make one, not two. We know we dropped one earlier, we just didn’t want to have that snowball. We wanted to come back and beat a really good Tennessee team that we’ll use later on in the season.”