LAWRENCE — Hunter Dickinson’s ability as a rim protector Saturday didn’t surprise Oklahoma basketball.

Sooners junior guard Javian McCollum talked postgame about how it was in their scout. Sooners coach Porter Moser highlighted soon after their plan if a player met Dickinson near the basket, that they should play off two feet and dish the ball out. Having a play finish with Dickinson blocking a shot, Moser explained, is as good as a turnover.

But while No. 9 Oklahoma came into Allen Fieldhouse prepared, it didn’t execute near well enough in its eventual 78-66 loss at No. 3 Kansas. Dickinson finished with five blocks, in addition to his 24-point and 14-rebound double. That’s a season-high in blocks for Dickinson that also matches his career-high, dating back to earlier in his college career when he played for Michigan.

“I feel like I might have had more, honestly, I feel like they might have shorted me a couple,” said Dickinson, having some fun with the total postgame. “But coach has definitely emphasized me trying to be more of a rim protector and just trying to alter shots and I think just trying to be more aggressively defensively, taking some more risks coming over. And I think that helped us out a lot.”

Kansas coach Bill Self said postgame Dickinson has been a decent shot-blocker when he’s guarding his man, but hadn’t matched that as a help defender. Against Oklahoma (13-3, 1-2 in Big 12), Self thought Dickinson did a better job in that area. It contributed to what Self described as, overall, a pretty good defensive effort from the big-man.

Dickinson still isn’t averaging many more blocks per game over the course of the season now, compared to what he was before the game. His average increased from 1.1 per game to 1.4 per game. But it showcased the potential he has on the defensive end of the floor, and compliments what he’s already shown on the offensive end as one of the Jayhawks’ leading scorers.

Kansas (14-2, 2-1 in Big 12) has only lost two games over the course of this season. Both games have come when Dickinson has recorded an amount of blocks that’s less than what he currently averages, and in games when he has no blocks or just one block this season the Jayhawks are 9-2. When Dickinson has recorded two or more blocks in a game they are 5-0.

“Coach has been emphasizing him to block and play defense a lot more than he’s used to,” junior forward KJ Adams Jr. said, “so I think —”

Dickinson jumped in, “They called me baby (Hakeem) Olajuwon back in the day.”

Adams, chuckling, continued: “So, yeah, just getting him more aggressive all the time during practice and it shows when he plays big games like this.”

Self smiled as he heard Dickinson had made that comment. “I’m sure everybody called him baby Olajuwon,” Self noted. But as Kansas continues to test itself against Big 12 competition this season, the more Dickinson can live up to that the better.

Next up for the Jayhawks is a pair of road trips, first to Oklahoma State (8-8, 0-3 in Big 12) and then to West Virginia (6-10, 1-2 in Big 12). Neither team has had an overly stellar year to date, but both have shown in Big 12 play they can be dangerous opponents — WVU recently topping Texas. Kansas also isn’t that far removed from a road loss at UCF (10-5, 1-2 in Big 12), either.

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Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Hunter Dickinson has season-high 5 blocks in Kansas basketball win