KUsports.com Athletes of the Week: Flory Bidunga and Regan Williams
By Staff Jan 6, 2025
Each week during the University of Kansas’ winter and spring sports seasons, the Journal-World staff will select one athlete from a KU men’s sports team and one from a women’s sports team as athletes of the week.
For the week of Dec. 30-Jan. 5, the selections are a pair of true freshman centers: Flory Bidunga and Regan Williams.
Flory Bidunga, men’s basketball
KU coach Bill Self has found something intriguing with Bidunga and fellow center Hunter Dickinson on the floor at the same time. It started earlier in the season when the Jayhawks played Michigan State in Atlanta, but he began to use the combination in earnest on Tuesday in a loss to West Virginia. Bidunga’s skilled on-ball defense surprised the Mountaineers, and his eight points and career-best 11 rebounds were critical as KU nearly rallied from a massive deficit. Then, in a blowout win at UCF on Sunday, Bidunga racked up six blocks, the most for a KU freshman in a road game since Nick Collison in 2000; one block turned into a highlight-reel transition dunk as Bidunga finished with 12 points, his best mark since the season opener.
Regan Williams, women’s basketball
The 6-foot-3 freshman has done well to mitigate KU’s lack of size on the interior this season, and while Iowa State and its dominant post player Audi Crooks kept her mostly in check on New Year’s Day, on Saturday at Oklahoma State Williams was unleashed. Taking advantage of significant foul trouble for OSU center Ténin Magassa, Williams played her highest total number of minutes in a month (29) and set career highs for field goals (eight), attempts (13) and points (18) in the Jayhawks’ key road win over the Cowgirls.
