LAWRENCE — For a moment, it looked like TCU would be able to wrestle the game away from Kansas basketball Saturday inside Allen Fieldhouse.

The No. 2 Jayhawks had the ball, trailing 79-77 with about a minute left in the second half. Graduate senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. tried to feed the ball inside to senior center Hunter Dickinson. And then Horned Frogs sophomore center Ernest Udeh Jr., a former KU player who transferred to TCU before the season, swiped the ball away and began to push the ball up the floor — the potential for a two-score lead and victory looming large for the visitors.

But as Udeh stole the ball away, his arm appeared to strike Dickinson above the shoulders. As the Horned Frogs attempted to push their advantage, Dickinson fell to the ground and stayed there, prompting the officials to stop play. And upon review, the officials called Udeh for a flagrant foul that sent Dickinson to the free-throw line and gave the Jayhawks possession of the ball after.

The sequence saw Kansas tie the score 79-79 with just under a minute left and soon after take an 81-79 lead. Although TCU tied it up 81-81 later on, Dickinson went on to hit the game-winning bucket with little time remaining. At the buzzer the Jayhawks were celebrating an 83-81 win in Big 12 Conference play, not the Horned Frogs.

“Hopefully I don’t always have to get elbowed to try to win us a game,” Dickinson said. “But yeah, if that’s what it takes to win, I’m all for the team and whatever it takes.”

In a game that no one led by more than six points at any time, the 6-2 run Kansas (13-1, 1-0 in Big 12) went on after the flagrant call proved substantial. TCU (11-3, 0-1 in Big 12) didn’t have time to overcome it. And understandably, postgame the two head coaches had different responses when asked about what transpired.

Jayhawks coach Bill Self acknowledged Dickinson sold the foul well, because if Dickinson hadn’t the officials wouldn’t have stopped play in his mind. But he noted as well that when he saw the replay, he felt it was an easy and obvious call. Self called it unfortunate because he didn’t feel the contact Udeh made was intentional.

Horned Frogs coach Jamie Dixon didn’t even allow himself to comment on the call on Udeh, mentioning he was going to let everyone else talk about it. “We can’t say anything, we’re not allowed to,” he added as he alluded to a recent meeting where he was told not to say anything in a situation like this. It wasn’t even the only call on Dixon’s mind.

Regardless, the call went Kansas’ way. It allowed Dickinson to put the finishing touches on another stellar performance. Dickinson collected a 30-point and 11-rebound double-double as he led his team in both points and rebounds.

“It was only about 58 seconds of performance, I think, after he got smashed in the face,” Self said about Dickinson’s play late. “But he made the free throws, and then we didn’t get the defensive rebound — so I’ll have to watch that, maybe he could have done something there. But fortunately we went two-for-one and I think they got the ball with 40, 42 (seconds), something like that, and then wasn’t enough time for them to go two-for-one. So, worst case scenario we get the last shot game tied, and that’s what ended up happening. Then we executed pretty good on that last play.”

Considering the strength of the Big 12 this season, a win like this could end up being significant in the conference standings at regular season’s end. Just take a look at the margin Kansas had to win the league outright last season, a one-game lead over Texas. A two-point win counts as much as a blowout victory in that respect.

Maybe as the conference slate progresses Dickinson will be needed to step up late again. Maybe he won’t. But with as much of a talent as he has been, and should continue to be, odds are the former is true.

“I mean, I like to see myself as a clutch player,” said Dickinson, as he thought back to his key free throws late. “So, I feel like it’s not — that’s what I do.”

Junior forward and teammate KJ Adams Jr. added: “I think he played a great game. I think he’s one of the best bigs in college basketball  right now. He has an unbelievable skillset and I think everybody saw it tonight. And hopefully he keeps doing that during the season. So, I think we’re going to have a good chance around the league.”

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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: Late flagrant foul helps Kansas basketball salvage win against TCU