Could KU Jayhawks forward KJ Adams win a certain award two postseasons in a row?

Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self and Texas counterpart Rodney Terry shared the same sentiment after watching junior forward KJ Adams knock down six shots and ram two dunks in the Jayhawks’ 86-67 rout of Texas on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

“He’s one of the — if not the — most improved players in the Big 12,” Terry said after watching Austin, Texas native Adams score 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting and grab eight rebounds as No. 9 KU improved to 21-6 overall and 9-5 in the league. Texas fell to 17-10, 6-8.

“He is one of those matchups everybody in college basketball would love to have. He’s a 4 (power forward) and 3 (small forward), one of those guys at his size who can do a lot of different things. We want one of those guys. He’s tough,” Terry added,.

Self, who received great production from the 6-foot-7, 235-pound Adams on a day senior guard and team scoring leader Kevin McCullar was sidelined with a bruised knee for the third time in four games, said after the game that “Rodney is right. KJ was the most improved player in our league last year and he could win it again this year. That’s how good I think he’s done.

“He won’t (win it two years in a row). He could but that’s not how the voting works (of repeat winners in such a subjective category),” Self added, “He has made the transition from a 4 man to a 5 and now back to a guard. He does everything. He finds a way to utilize that body and athletic ability in positive ways. He’s just a really good player.”

It was obvious Adams was fired up possibly playing his last game against his hometown university.

Adams entered with a personal 2-3 record against Texas and two-game losing streak versus the Longhorns.

“He was going to be jacked because he’s from Austin,” Self said of Adams, who had two of KU’s 17 assists and four of KU’s 14 turnovers while playing 32 minutes.

“Brock (Cunningham, three points, three rebounds, 17 minutes) was his high school teammate (at Westlake High). He (Adams) was going to be turned up. We talked about that last night. And they beat us two times in a row last year at the end of the season. Our guys were ready today,” Self added.

Adams acknowledged he was ready to play in improving his record to 3-3 versus the Longhorns.

“It’s always going to be a fun time beating your hometown team,” Adams said. “I have friends over there on that team. I know a lot of people, (so) it’s definitely going to be fun when we beat them down the stretch. Hopefully we get to play them again (in Big 12 tournament, as UT is headed to the SEC next year), but if we don’t it’s going to be OK because we got a win.”

He appreciated UT coach Terry’s words of praise.

“I guess you always want to have praise like that, always. I pride myself on being a tough guy on the court,” Adams said. “It’s awesome to hear that coming from another coach.”

Five Jayhawks made up for the loss of McCullar by scoring in double digits. Hunter Dickinson had 20 points and seven rebounds; Johnny Furphy had 16 points and eight rebounds; Dajuan Harris added 14 points and six assists and Nick Timberlake scored 13 points in 33 minutes.

The bench contributed to the tune of five points and two steals from Jamari McDowell in 14 minutes; four assists from Elmarko Jackson in 14 minutes including a behind-the-back pass to Dickinson for a layup; and two blocks from Parker Braun in seven minutes. Braun in one sequence blocked a shot on one end and dunked on the other.

“Trusting each other, moving the ball around,” Adams said of the key to winning without McCullar, who Self said is not expected back anytime soon. “We had a lot of different pieces we were trying to fit in today. It worked pretty well. Everybody got pretty good shots so I think we played well together.”

Adams helped hold big man Dylan Disu to eight points on 3-of-6 shooting and three rebounds in 23 minutes. Guard Max Abmas was held by Harris to five points with three assists.

“I got a lot of help, people like Johnny helping a lot and Hunter,” Adams said of slowing Disu. “When you have guys helping and taking away his shots it helps a lot.’

Texas, which hit just 41.9% of its shots to KU’s 61.5% mark, is leaving the Big 12 next season with no games against the Jayhawks on future schedules at this time.

The KU student section in fact chanted “S-E-C, S-E-C” during the final few minutes of the rout.

“Those guys came out and took it to us from the very beginning. They had us on our heels. They were ready to play,” Terry said.

KU will next meet BYU at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Allen. Self said McCullar would not be available for that game.