Much of the attention in 19th-ranked Kansas’ 90-82 exhibition victory on the road at No. 11 Louisville centered on guard Darryn Peterson, and even when the games start to count, that will undoubtedly be the case for much of the 2025-26 season.
Peterson was indeed exceptional in the first half on Friday night, and the cushion he gave the Jayhawks made for a rather stress-free second period.
But he also didn’t score or even play all that much in the final 20 minutes, and nine of his teammates in total took the floor in what ended up being quite the team effort.
Here are some key takeaways from KU’s preseason performance:
— A big talking point from national media with regard to this year’s Kansas team (and a fairly reasonable one, given the frontcourt’s relative inexperience) has been the depth in the post behind Flory Bidunga. If Bryson Tiller can play like he did on Friday, he’ll quiet those concerns in a hurry. Behind Peterson, the redshirt freshman from Atlanta might have been the single most impressive Jayhawk at the KFC Yum! Center — and KU needed him to be that, because Bidunga was in foul trouble (more on that in a moment). Tiller blocked shots, he both threw and caught lobs, and after a few rough possessions when he first entered the game, he settled in and looked extremely comfortable for someone playing his first competitive basketball in a long, long time after surgery in the spring.
— Bidunga was good, with 14 points and six boards, and proved a bit more adept with the ball in his hands, just as we had been told he would be. But at least to me, that was largely overshadowed by his foul trouble. During his freshman year, Bidunga committed a foul approximately every four minutes and 41 seconds he was on the floor. Against Louisville, he had two fouls in the first three minutes and 47 seconds. Coming out of halftime, he committed two more in the first 2:25. Bidunga was hardly the only player struggling with this sort of thing in a game that featured 29 fouls by each team, but it wasn’t a great (unofficial) start to a campaign during which he might be KU’s second most important player.
— KU coach Bill Self told a story recently about how Kohl Rosario hadn’t been grabbing offensive rebounds in practice, and it became a “point of interest,” and then the next chance Rosario had the opportunity to do so in a scrimmage he went after all 24 possible offensive rebounds. He didn’t get them all, but he was hustling all the same. That same energy was very clearly on display during Friday’s exhibition, in which Rosario was 0-for-everything and finished with a lone rebound, but it felt like he was about a foot away from every contested ball during his 19 minutes on the floor. Maybe actually grabbing those will come with a bit more experience for the fast-rising freshman.
— I was interested to see Jayden Dawson in this matchup to get a sense of how he was progressing after transferring from Loyola-Chicago during the offseason — and dealing with a sore knee in recent weeks — and why he didn’t do enough to wedge himself into the starting lineup this offseason. Well, Self had said everyone was healthy entering Friday night’s game, and Dawson played three minutes, in which he recorded one rebound and one block. Instead, Jamari McDowell got the bulk of the backup wing minutes and looked about as expected, in the sense that much like his freshman-year self, he blended in well and filled his role reasonably effectively (although he did go 0-for-2 from the field in 16 minutes). Dawson has the potential to be at minimum KU’s third-best 3-point shooter and at maximum its best overall player in that domain. It’s not clear if his position in the rotation was legitimately reflective of how much he’ll play this year, or if Self deferred to the longer-tenured Jayhawk McDowell, or if Self wanted to keep Dawson healthy after the sore knee. But it wasn’t encouraging to see him sidelined that much as his non-Peterson teammates went 2-for-11 from beyond the arc (with both makes by Tre White).
— KU showed some serious potential in terms of its ability to frustrate an opposing offense, something it should certainly have the athleticism and defensive tenacity to do throughout the year. Louisville under Pat Kelsey attempted 28.5 3s per game during the 2024-25 season, which was 24th in the country. Even with a fresh roster, the Cardinals looked like a team that was maybe a bit too accustomed to shooting 3s on Friday, as they settled for increasingly desperate and contested attempts as the second half drew on. KU did a good job limiting their open opportunities among the 38 they ultimately attempted.
— Dawson’s marginal role was a bit of a surprise, but he did at least make it on the floor. Corbin Allen, Samis Calderon and Nginyu Ngala did not. Allen seems headed for a redshirt this season, although Self said recently that he doesn’t anticipate making any such decisions until right around when games get started. Self has also said he sees Ngala serving his primary role in practice, but I don’t doubt there will be situations this season when the head coach sees fit to throw him into game action (or use him as an “insurance policy,” as Self has put it). Calderon had some positive buzz this summer, but Self clearly views him as more of a prospect right now than a player who is currently ready to contribute. The Jayhawks will undoubtedly need the depth at wing at some point on a team that’s pretty limited there. All of these players should be in line for some actual playing time in KU’s remaining exhibition against Fort Hays State on Tuesday night.
