Kansas jumped off to a 7-0 start with wins over North Carolina, Michigan State and Duke, and ranked No. 1 overall in the country.

The Jayhawks then tumbled with back-to-back losses at Creighton and at Missouri to start the month of December. KU hasn’t played a game since the loss to the Tigers on Dec. 8.

Kansas has two non-conference games left, with hosting Kansas at 3:15 p.m. Saturday on ESPN.

Kansas is built around the returning trio of senior center Hunter Dickinson, senior point guard Dajuan Harris and senior power forward K.J. Adams.

Senior transfers Zeke Mayo, a wing from South Dakota State, and point guard David Coit of Northern Illinois are the recent starters in the backcourt. Wisconsin junior wing transfer A.J. Storr has three starts this season and Alabama junior shooting guard transfer Rylan Griffen has five.

Rankings

Kansas is No. 18 in the NET rankings this season, and NC State is No. 108.

ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Jayhawks ranked No. 8 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 58.

KenPom.com has Kansas at No. 11, and NCSU checks in at No. 79.

Shooting

Kansas is averaging 78.8 points per game and shooting 49.1 percent from the field, 34.6 percent on three-pointers and 71.4 percent at the free-throw line.

Coit has been the best three-point shooter at 14 of 29 for 48.3 percent, and Griffen is a streaky sniper at 36.7 percent. Storr is third on the team at 36.0 percent.

Rebounding

The Jayhawks are averaging 37.1 rebounds per game and are a plus-4.3 for rebounding margin. KU has 86 offensive rebounds this season with Dickinson leading the way with 20.

Dickinson is averaging 9.6 rebounds per game, but the big surprise is that Adams is at 3.8 boards a contest, which ranks fourth on the squad. Freshman backup center Flory Bidunga is second with 5.0 a contest.

Defense

Kansas is allowing 68.1 points per game, with opposing teams shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 30.6 percent on three-pointers.

Dickinson leads the team with 13 blocks and the Jayhawks have 37 this season. Harris leads KU with 16 steals.

Depth

Kansas has impressive depth, with a blend of transfers and younger players.

Storr wasn’t expected to be a sixth-man type after averaging 16.8 points per game last year at Wisconsin. He played his freshman year at St. John’s. The 6-6 Griffen averaged 11.2 points per game at Alabama, and shot 39.2 percent from beyond the arc on the Final Four squad.

The aforementioned Bidunga was ranked No. 19 overall in the class of 2024, and former NC State freshman wing target Rakease Passmore was No. 42.

One of the reasons Kansas senior center Hunter Dickinson feels like he has been around forever is because he emerged in the ninth grade.

The listed 7-foot-2, 265-pounder played at famed Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic, and with Team Takeover traveling team. Some of his teammates with Team Takeover included former NC State wing Casey Morsell, former North Carolina center Armando Bacot and former Duke guard Jeremy Roach, who is now at Baylor.

Rivals.com was ranked No. 40 overall by Rivals.com in the class of 2020, but he hot a heated recruitment. Dickinson picked Michigan and coach Juwan Howard over Notre Dame, Maryland, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina, Providence and Purdue, and interest from Duke.

Dickinson was an instant impact performer for the Wolverines, averaging 14.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game his freshman year in 2020-21. He averaged 18.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks a contest his junior year and entered the portal following the dismissal of Howard.

Dickinson picked Kansas and his game transferred over smoothly to the Jayhawks. He averaged 17.9 points, 10.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in his first year at Kansas, and shot 23 of 65 on three-pointers.

Dickinson has scored in double figures in all but one game this season and has four double-doubles for points and rebounds. He has 28 points and 12 rebounds in a 77-69 win over Michigan State on Nov. 12. He is fresh off of getting 19 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and four blocks in a 76-67 loss at Missouri last Sunday.

NC State

PG — 12 Michael O’Connell (6-2, 195, Sr., 6.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 4.2 apg, 1.3 spg)

SG — 8 Jayden Taylor (6-4, 195, Sr., 12.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.5 spg)

G — 10 Marcus Hill (6-4, 185, Sr., 13.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.7 apg)

F — 3 Dontrez Styles (6-6, 212, Sr., 10.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 0.6 apg, 1.1 bpg)

C — 34 Ben Middlebrooks (6-10, 240, Sr.,9.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.2 spg, 1.6 bpg)

Kansas

PG — 3 Dajuan Harris (6-2, 175, Sr., 10.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 5.9 apg, 1.8 spg)

SG — 8 David Coit (5-11, 175, Sr., 6.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.8 apg)

SF — 5 Zeke Mayo (6-4, 185, Sr., 10.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.3 apg)

PF — 24 K.J. Adams (6-7, 235, Sr., 9.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.0 bpg)

C — 1 Hunter Dickinson (7-2, 265, Sr., 15.0 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.6 spg, 1.4 bpg)

4 National titles for the Jayhawks — 1952, 1988, 2008 and 2022. Kansas has a 2,393-896 overall mark, which is a 72.8 winning percentage.

1,433 All-time points in two years for center Wilt Chamberlain at Kansas. He averaged 29.9 points and 18.3 rebounds in 48 contests from 1956-58.

2,951 Career points for the legendary Danny Manning, who also had an all-time school mark of 1,187 rebounds. Manning played at Greensboro (N.C.) Page High and then followed his father, who became an assistant coach at Kansas. He played for the Jayhawks from 1985-88 and was the No. 1 overall draft pick.

Senior Dajuan Harris has been a proven winner and was the starting point guard on Kansas’ national title team in 2022.

Harris had two points and three assists in 27 minutes in the 72-69 national title game over North Carolina on April 4, 2022.

Harris wasn’t a big-name recruit, but was a Rivals.com four-star prospect coming out of Columbia (Mo.) Rock Bridge High in the class of 2019 by Rivals.com. He has previously signed with Missouri State, and was also offered by Tulsa.

The 6-2, 175-pounder is a pass-first floor general is averaging 10.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game, but is shooting a career-low 25.9 percent on three-pointers this season. He’s a career 37.6 percent three-point shooter in his five-year career.

Harris came alive for 14 points and nine assists in the big 75-72 win over Nov. 26. He has reached double figures in six games this season.

Harris had a career-high 23 points and seven assists in a 89-84 win over Kentucky last year Nov. 14, 2023.

NC State senior point guard Michael O’Connell will get matched up against Harris. The 6-2 O’Connell is averaging 6.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, and he’s shooting 32.0 percent from beyond the arc. O’Connell has 12 points and 12 assists in his last three games.

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