Hunter Dickinson ejection was never major advantage for Duke basketball team

Hunter Dickinson’s ejection on Tuesday night against the Duke basketball team was the biggest story in college basketball and a turning points in No. 1 Kansas’ victory over the Blue Devils.

However, after many people thought it was going torpedo the Jayhawks chances of keeping its perfect season alive, it did quite the opposite.

Dickinson, after being fouled by Blue Devil center Maliq Brown, kicked Brown in the face as the two players lied on the ground. A lengthy review from the officiating crew determined that it was a Flagrant 2 foul, which is an automatic ejection.

“I thought it was a good call,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said about the ejection following the 75-72 victory.

“I thought the Flagrant 2 may have been a little severe. I thought it was definitely a Flagrant 1.”

The sequence came with 10:26 remaining in the second half and Kansas leading by two, 57-55, but Duke was never able to take advantage.

The Blue Devils only led once, 67-65, following a Cooper Flagg dunk with 5:53 remaining. It was strange considering how much of an impact the Kansas All-American can provide on games.

Jayhawks backup center, Flory Bidunga, finished with six points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes.

“It’s a good lesson to learn,” Self continued. “I didn’t think in the moment, nor now did I feel like it warranted a level two [flagrant foul], but I do think it needed to be called.”

Duke had four separate occasions to tie or take the lead in the final two minutes but split free throws from Flagg with 1:38 remaining in addition to a turnover with 48.4 left hurt the Blue Devils chances.

Kon Knueppel also committed a turnover with 3.3 seconds left as his game tying 3-point attempt just rimmed out in the final seconds.

No. 11 Duke (4-2) returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Friday night (7:00 p.m. ET, ACC Network) to play Seattle (2-4).