Hunter Dickinson calls 2OT loss vs Houston the “worst loss” of his Kansas career: “We could’ve won that game twice”

As the Houston Cougars were getting ready to face the Florida Gators in the NCAA Championship Game, Hunter Dickinson remembered what he called the “worst loss” of his career.

The Kansas Jayhawks center was referring to the Jan. 25, 92-86 double overtime loss to the Cougars.

“Coach Sampson always says ‘you are not over until you quit’. That exemplifies that game right there. They made the plays down the stretch when we didn’t. They were down six with 17 seconds left and we were shooting two free throws… That’s probably the worst loss of my career,” Hunter Dickinson said.

On that occasion, J’Wan Roberts scored two free throws with 13 seconds left in regulation to send the game into the extra period. After the first overtime ended level at 79 points, the Cougars were finally able to pull away in double overtime for the six-point win.

Hunter Dickinson finished with 17 points and eight rebounds on that occasion, but it was Roberts who stole the show with 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists

The manner on how regulation ended was similar to what happened at the end for the Houston vs. Duke game, in which Dickinson was present as a member of the media. Against the Blue Devils, Houston went on a 9-0 run in the final 42 seconds of regulation to eke out a 70-67 win.

While Houston couldn’t finish the job on Monday’s final and lost another tightly contested game against the Florida Gators 65-63, they had two of the most improbable wins of the year.

Hunter Dickinson calls for multi-year NIL contracts

The college basketball world is still getting used to NIL contracts for student-athletes, but former Kansas center Hunter Dickinson believes one move that would help both schools and athletes is having multi-year contracts.

Dickinson, who transferred from Michigan ahead of the 2023 season, suggested on “The Field of 68” that players get a buyout if they leave a program.

“Multi-year contracts, I think it would benefit the mid-majors the most because if you get a guy on a three-year contract for $1.2 [million], paying him $400 [thousand] a year.

“And after the first year, he wants to leave to another school and the school wants to commit to him, they’ve got to pay that buyout of $800 [thousand] so that they can bring that back into their collective,” Hunter Dickinson said.

The proposal comes at a time when there are questions surrounding the competitive balance in college basketball, after a chalky NCAA Tournament with few upsets and all four No. 1 seeds making it to the Final Four.