Las Vegas — All the momentum was on Notre Dame’s side when Cole Certa stepped into a 3-point attempt from the right wing with eight minutes left in Monday’s game against Kansas.
The Fighting Irish had cut their deficit to four points against an increasingly depleted and worn-out group of Jayhawks and could have gotten even closer had Certa’s fast-break attempt been on target.
Instead, it rolled out to the left, Jalen Haralson turned over another fast-break chance moments later and Bryson Tiller scored two critical buckets inside for the Jayhawks.
“I trusted my game,” Tiller said. “I trusted my teammates. They made great passes to me. So those buckets really definitely changed the momentum of the game.”
KU weathered the storm, controlled the final minutes and opened the Players Era tournament with a 71-61 victory over the Irish at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The Jayhawks had a difficult time slowing Notre Dame’s star guard Markus Burton, who went for a game-high 24, and Haralson added 13. But KU relied heavily on its two budding stars in the post in Flory Bidunga (18 points, nine rebounds, five assists, five blocks) and Tiller (17 points, nine rebounds).
“I think he’s just become better at everything,” KU coach Bill Self said of Bidunga. “I don’t think it’s that he’s that much better shooting the basketball, but I think he’s a better one-on-one defender, I think he’s a better team defender, I think he’s a much better passer. I think even though he hadn’t really shown it much, he’s a better screener. One thing that we can do, we can switch five, which is a big advantage over some teams that play a traditional 5-man.”
Tre White exited late in the first half after getting hit in the face but returned and provided a consistent veteran presence, scoring 16 and grabbing nine boards.
KU looked a step slow on several early defensive possessions and trailed 9-5 at the first media timeout. Bidunga went to the bench for guard Jayden Dawson early after missing three of four early shots at the rim, as KU went small.
Bidunga said postgame he felt he wasn’t ready and started cold, but responded to a challenge by Self.
“I wasn’t very happy with him,” Self said. “I thought his first three or four possessions (were) bad energy. So yeah, I don’t know that I did anything to challenge him but hopefully he gave himself a do-better talk and he was pretty effective when he got back in there.”
The Jayhawks briefly tied the game on a close-range floater by Melvin Council Jr. but struggled to get over the hump. Bidunga played better after his return to the court, although it was nearly cut short by a shooting foul initially called on him but changed to Tiller. Then he swatted a 3-point attempt by Notre Dame’s high-scoring guard Burton and went all the way for a layup despite Burton’s attempt to tackle him under the basket.
The foul on Burton was upgraded to a flagrant 1 upon review, Bidunga made two free throws, and then he banked in another shot through a double-team for what was essentially a six-point play.
The sophomore grabbed another offensive rebound for a putback a moment later through a foul, though he missed the ensuing free throw, so KU’s lead didn’t grow past 22-15 and the run ended at nine straight.
The Jayhawks still pushed forward, though, tightening up a bit on defense and also drawing a second foul on Notre Dame’s ace rebounder Carson Towt.
KU went up 31-20 on another tough bucket inside by Bidunga and had a chance at even more, but instead slipped into the final media timeout of the half with a nine-point lead after Kohl Rosario committed his third foul. Jamari McDowell also had three fouls before the break; he was playing extended minutes because Dawson went to the locker room with a hand injury. He returned to the bench but did not take the court for the rest of the game.
Making matters worse for the Jayhawks, White, one of KU’s most consistent sources of offense, immediately went to the locker room after taking a hit to the face from Kebba Njie in what was ruled a common basketball play.
“I was never concerned,” Self said of the prospect of White not returning to the game. “The one thing that I was probably thinking about: I hope it’s not a concussion … Anybody that’s been hit on the bridge of their nose knows it bleeds. And his really did.”
In the meantime, KU briefly took its biggest lead of the day at 39-26 on a 3-pointer by Elmarko Jackson but allowed back-to-back 3s to Notre Dame late and went into the break leading by just seven.
Bidunga and Tiller menaced Notre Dame’s frontcourt throughout the first half and accounted for 23 of the Jayhawks’ 39.
White returned to start the second half for KU. The teams largely traded buckets early, with the Jayhawks again led by Bidunga. The Fighting Irish crept closer on a drive by Burton that made it 45-40 and started to limit KU better in the halfcourt offense.
The Jayhawks got the sequence they needed when Council drained two consecutive 3s after a pair of near-misses.
“It felt great,” Council said. “You know, during the beginning of the season my shot wasn’t falling, but I’m getting more comfortable with the shots, shot selections, and Coach (Tony) Bland’s just keeping me uplifted and stuff like that.”
But Council’s luck ran out on a third wide-open attempt, and Jackson fouled Burton on a straight-line drive that resulted in a three-point play to cut the Jayhawks’ lead back to six. And as KU endured a four-minute scoring drought, Notre Dame got even closer when Haralson scored on new entrant Samis Calderon in the post.
Burton converted a three-point play aided by Bidunga’s goaltend, but White had a response with a stepback 3. He nearly made a second, but it rattled out.
However, McDowell’s late-clock 3-pointer with less than three minutes to go made it 67-57 and served as the dagger.
“I actually think that Jamari has labored so far and to see him come in and play that way for us when I think he played 52 seconds against Duke — of course, we need it, I love to see it, he’s a good shooter and the ball hadn’t gone down,” Self said. “… I was happy for Mari.”
The Jayhawks, who improved to 4-2, will continue the Players Era tournament by facing Syracuse at 2:30 p.m. Central time on Tuesday.
AP Photo/Lucas Peltier
