The No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks tipped off their season against Howard on Nov. 4 in the second annual McLendon Classic.

Lauren Richey | @RicheyLauren12

For the Jayhawks, all eyes were on center Hunter Dickinson after sitting out in Kansas’ first exhibition game due to a back injury. Dickinson went on to play 21 minutes and finished the game with 16 points.

The fifth-year senior said he was just glad to be back out on the court with his teammates getting to compete again. 

“Yeah, it felt really good,” Dickinson said. “Obviously there’s some rust from the finishing aspect. Thankfully [I] still got a couple more days before you know a big game.”

Senior transfer guard Zeke Mayo stunned the crowd going 5-8 from three and led the team in scoring with 19. Mayo believes his shooting is what this team will need out of him moving forward.

“I’m coming here to be able to shoot the ball,” Mayo said. “Keep it close to 40 hopefully, I think that’s a good percentage for a regular shooter.”

Head Coach Bill Self praised what he saw out of Mayo tonight.

“He’s a good shooter,” Self said. “I think he’s reluctant to shoot sometimes but I thought tonight he was more aggressive shooting the ball, I like it.”

Next up for Kansas is a top-10 showdown against No. 9 North Carolina as the Tar Heels will come into Allen Fieldhouse with tipoff set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.