Kansas plans to retire Jalen Wilson's jersey

Kansas star Jalen Wilson will join elite company after his storied career with the Jayhawks. The program will retire his No. 10 jersey, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported.

Wilson put together by far the best season yet in 2022-23, averaging 20.1 points and 8.3 rebounds to win the Julius Erving Award as the nation’s best small forward.

It caps quite a journey for Wilson, whose freshman season was cut short by a broken ankle after he appeared in just two games. He was a force for the Jayhawks this year as a senior, leading them to the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and winning Big 12 Player of the Year. He was also a consensus All-American and has a national championship to his name from last year’s Kansas team.

Now, he’ll join the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Paul Pierce, Danny Manning and Kirk Hinrich in Jayhawks lore. Wilson’s jersey will be the 33rd retired by the program.

Wilson still has the COVID-19 year, but it’s possible he played his last game with the Jayhawks in the NCAA Tournament. After that game — a loss to Arkansas in the Round of 32 — he said he’ll never forget how much the program pushed through adversity during his career.

“That we persevered through a lot, no matter what was going on, we stayed true to who we are and true to our family, our culture that we’ve built through many years that I’ve seen,” Wilson said. “This is one of the tightest groups I’ve ever been around. One thing about all year, no one is going to feel bad about anything that Kansas goes through. We have rallied through with each other and understood that it’s really us against everybody else. No matter what the outcome is, you know, I love these guys, I loved this year, and I will remember this forever.”

Even after the game, Wilson’s future plans were becoming clear. The Kansas Basketball Twitter account posted a message from him, reflecting on his career in Lawrence. The post also said “Once a Jayhawk, always a Jayhawk,” and that’s apparent by the decision to retire his jersey.

“Putting on this jersey everyday has changed my life. For the rest of my life I’ll remember putting on this jersey. I just want to be remembered as a guy who loved this place and did everything to make this place special,” Wilson wrote. “I never wanted it to be about me. Even now. There have been so many different guys that [have played] here. I just wanted to make this place as special as I could.”