Prior to coming to Kansas, Darryn Peterson had asserted that Flory Bidunga was the player with whom he was most looking forward to playing.
He made that comment in an interview after a Grind Session game at Haskell Indian Nations University in March, and he reminisced about it on Friday night, 10 months later, after he and Bidunga combined for an impressive 49 points on 22-for-27 shooting in a win over Baylor.
“Who was I excited to play with? Flory, because I want to throw some lobs,” Peterson said. “So it was good to actually get one today.”
It was a wholesome press conference for the two teammates in general. Bidunga responded to that remark with an “Aww…” and had also dapped up his teammate when Peterson said, “I came to Kansas to play with him, so I know what we’re capable of.”
They were on the same page throughout the evening. Peterson assisted on a pair of Bidunga’s dunks, out of the seven in total he threw down in one of the most dominant performances of his career. The 23-point, 11-rebound double-double on 78.6% shooting provided KU a reliable paint presence both when Peterson was pouring it on from the outside and when he was on the bench.
It was Bidunga’s first game with that many points since Nov. 15 and matched his highest rebounding total since Dec. 2. It was also the first time in his career he had made more than 10 field goals — and it certainly helped his numbers, and the Jayhawks as a team, that quite a few of them were dunks.
“It’s pretty great because I feel like me dunking, (I) hype up my teammates and I bring more energy,” he said. “So as long as I keep doing it I think it’s good for the team.”
He did it on the opening possession, he did it in the halfcourt and he did it in transition, including most notably on a fast-break feed from Melvin Council Jr. — whom head coach Bill Self credited as well for Bidunga’s strong night — on which the guard essentially lobbed the ball backward as both players were headed toward the rim.
“I actually think we made more of a conscious effort to throw it to him tonight,” Self said, “and I think his energy level tonight was better after he got some touches early, no question.”
The result was a tough go of it in the frontcourt all night for Baylor, which as a result of a season-ending injury to Juslin Bodo Bodo has been forced to play a lot of small ball and to incorporate former overseas pro James Nnaji, a 7-footer, at midseason. Neither Nnaji nor Caden Powell did much to impede Bidunga on Friday night.
“I thought they did a really good job finding him,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “I thought he was really active, really impressive. But if you get 23 and 11 from him every night, that really takes them to another level.”
Drew saw Bidunga up close last season when the Bears rallied to take down KU at Foster Pavilion. In that game, the forward had as many points as fouls (two) and zero rebounds in 15 minutes.
Quite a lot changed in the span of a calendar year (and with Bidunga playing before a friendly crowd at Allen Fieldhouse). Drew said he seemed “a lot more aggressive, a lot more physical, a lot more confident.”
“A lot of times you see the game moves faster for freshmen, and they might be a step behind,” he added. “The other thing is obviously when you’re playing 30 minutes, you’re getting used to things, and him getting a lot of minutes this year has obviously helped with that development. But Coach Self always does a great job with developing his bigs, and Flory’s worked hard, I’m sure, on his game.”
Now Bidunga will need to demonstrate the results of that work more consistently as KU takes its show on the road, beginning on Tuesday night with a road game at Colorado, a team against which he wasn’t much of a factor in either of two matchups as a freshman. If Friday was any indication, that doesn’t have much bearing on what lies ahead.
