For the first few minutes of Tuesday night’s game against Towson, Kansas’ newfound emphasis on playing at a fast pace was quite apparent.
The Jayhawks moved the ball efficiently, surged ahead by double digits less than five minutes into the game — and then did little of note for quite a while afterward. They led by 10 points at 15:25 and 11 at halftime.
However, led by a sharp Flory Bidunga, Melvin Council Jr. and Tre White and a resurgent Bryson Tiller, KU built some distance after the break and finished off a 73-49 win over the Tigers at Allen Fieldhouse.
“We didn’t rebound the ball,” KU coach Bill Self said; Towson had 22 offensive boards and outrebounded KU 45-43. “Other than that, I thought we played pretty well. Didn’t turn it over, moved the ball better, had a lot of open looks that we didn’t make. Our first-shot defense was really good. I mean, I thought we did some good things.”
Bidunga led the Jayhawks with 18 points on 7-for-8 shooting and earned a double-double. White added 16 with six rebounds and five assists, and Council continued his strong shooting from Saturday’s memorable performance at N.C. State as he hit three 3s in a 15-point outing.
“I’m just enjoying it,” Council said. “It’s my last year with the guys. That’s really it, just taking one game at a time and playing my best that I can.”
Darryn Peterson missed the game due to his ongoing issues with quadriceps cramping. Self said he still considers it a “day-to-day deal” and reiterated that Peterson is no longer dealing with his hamstring injury.
Towson played a respectable game and its guard Dylan Williamson scored a respectable 19 points, albeit on 20 shots, but star forward Tyler Tejada encountered early foul trouble that prevented him from making much of an impact. The Tigers shot 27.5% as a team and went just 3-for-24 from beyond the arc.
“It was a good game on the defensive end,” White said, “but I still feel like we gave up a couple easy baskets, couple rebounds that we could have took away, but it was definitely good to see some of the progress.”
Bidunga presented an immediate matchup problem for the Tigers in the opening minutes and fought through contact inside for the Jayhawks’ first three buckets of the night.
“We always like to say, it’s like first five, you know, make the first punch, make sure we set the tone, send the first message, and I think that was the mindset,” Bidunga said.
The Jayhawks’ emphasis on improved ball movement manifested itself quickly as White ran the floor and finished through contact, then KU worked the ball around the perimeter to get Council a 3-pointer that made it 13-3.
“I thought it was pretty good,” Self said. “I don’t know what you guys thought, I thought the ball moved, and then I thought it got a little stale, and then there were times where it was better.”
Chike Ndefo scored twice inside for Towson to curb the Jayhawks’ momentum a bit, and Williamson threw in a contested shot while falling over at the end of the shot clock.
The Tigers trailed 19-11 before KU responded with six straight, including four points by White; however, Jack Doumbia added five in a row on his own for Towson.
Despite drawing three early fouls on the Tigers’ top player Tejada, KU did little to assert its advantage as the first half drew on. The Jayhawks went more than four minutes without a field goal before White buried a straight-on 3 to make it 31-17.
KU had its largest lead at 33-18 when Williamson rounded a screen and knocked down a 3, prompting an immediate timeout by Self. That didn’t lead to renewed offensive urgency for the Jayhawks, who didn’t score again until a minute and a half remained in the first period, at which point Council knocked down a much-needed 3-pointer to make it 36-23.
Williamson pulled up for another off-balance jumper over Bidunga before the break, giving up a game-high 14 points in the first half, and Council’s last-second 3 was offline at the buzzer. KU scored just eight points in the final eight minutes of the half.
The Jayhawks conceded four offensive rebounds on Towson’s first possession of the second half to bring the Tigers’ total to 16. That resulted in a jumper by Tyler Schmidt.
KU came back with seven straight points, and a 10-2 run overall, to deter Towson’s comeback hopes.
Tejada scored his first two field goals of the game in fairly quick succession after the foul-laden start. But then the Jayhawks came back and snapped a vastly longer individual drought, as Tiller drained a 3 from the left corner, his first time hitting from beyond the arc in a month after an 0-for-15 streak over the course of seven games.
Council gave KU its first 20-point lead with a well-timed floater midway through the half, and then Tiller tipped in another of Council’s attempts a moment later.
“I thought he was good again,” Self said of Council. “I like watching him play, and he’s kind of finding himself.”
With Council on the bench, White found himself playing a sort of point-forward role and embraced it in short order, launching a stepback 3 to put KU ahead 62-39.
“I told Tre, I went down there and I said, ‘Do you think I made a mistake and didn’t put somebody in as a mistake, or do you think I wanted you to play point?'” Self recalled. “He said, ‘Ah, you wanted me to play point for sure.’ I actually did want to see just if he could handle it or whatever, but they weren’t pressuring. But that was by design, but certainly not a lineup that I think that we would play a lot moving forward.”
A bench-heavy lineup went scoreless for three minutes before Kohl Rosario — previously 0-for-4 on the night — connected on a 3-pointer to induce one of the night’s biggest cheers from the Fieldhouse crowd.
“I thought our bench really struggled tonight with the exception of Elmarko,” Self said. “I thought Elmarko was pretty solid, but I didn’t think our bench played great tonight. I was really hoping they would have a chance to play and get some rhythm and all that stuff. I tried to play them, but I think that’s an area we can certainly get better in still.”
Paul Mbiya banked in a hook shot late for just his second field goal of the season.
The Jayhawks, who improved to 9-3, will host Davidson on Monday at 7 p.m. in their final game before the holiday break.
