Month two of the Kansas basketball season has come and gone, and that means two things. One, conference play begins on the weekend, and two, we have our December player of the month. The first month of the season was dominated by Hunter Dickinson and he strolled to the prize in November, but December saw the emergence and dominance of Kevin McCullar. In a race with no other candidate, McCullar was the only choice.
Kansas played six games over the course of the month of December, from UConn on the first of December through Wichita State on December 30 with big names like Indiana and smaller teams like Missouri and Kansas City in between. No matter how you slice and dice the stats, McCullar had the best month of any Jayhawk.
Over the course of the month, Kevin McCullar averaged 19.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.2 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game and these numbers were good enough to vault the super senior into the first team All-American discussion. He shot 47% from the field in the year's final month, and equalled that percentage from beyond the arc as well. Everyone knew that McCullar would be better this season than last, but his jump in national prominence has been pretty extraordinary.
Kevin started the month with a stellar game against Connecticut, scoring 21 points in KU’s come from behind win. He had a sequence near the end of the game where he made three crucial threes (he went three of four from deep in that contest) where he took KU on his shoulders, willing them to a victory over a fellow national title contender.
McCullar had another stellar game against Kansas City, scoring 25 points on nine of thirteen shooting from the floor. Kansas let the Kangaroos back into that game, but McCullar refused to leave the door completely open, dishing out his December high in assists with five while also grabbing two steals and blocking a shot.
McCullar shot poorly from the floor in games against Missouri, Indiana, and Wichita State, but more than made up for it by getting to the rim and getting fouled. But getting fouled is meaningless unless you make the free throws and McCullar did just that in the month of December. He attempted 54 free throws in the six December contests, making 50 of those. For those keeping track at home, that’s a 93% clip.
But the Yale game is where McCullar really made the difference. In the game before the holiday break, it seemed like K3V was the only player that bothered to show up. He nailed four of seven triples in that game, and totaled 34 points, a new career high. If McCullar was on his season average of 20 in that game, Kansas would’ve lost by one. He picked the perfect time to have the best game of his career, and that’s the mark of a true leader. When his team needed him the most, Kevin went to work for his team.
In order for Kansas to get where they want to be, Hunter Dickinson will have to play at an All-American level, but there will be multiple more times this season where Kevin McCullar will need to step up for Kansas to win, and we’re at the point in his career where we will expect him to do it.
Having the best one-two punch in college basketball could pay huge dividends for Kansas in the upcoming months.
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