How KU basketball, without Darryn Peterson, battled Duke in Champions Classic loss
About 25 minutes before Kansas basketball tipped off against Duke, a decades-long KU fan, Dave Roberts, took his seat perhaps a dozen rows behind the basket at Madison Square Garden.
He was decked out in KU gear, intently watching warmups — even without the Jayhawks’ best player and No. 1 draft prospect on the court. He said he’d watched KU since 1959 and imparted this wisdom as he and others awaited the finale of this year’s Champions Classic:
Roberts said he believed Kansas would remain competitive against No. 5 Duke, with or without Darryn Peterson. Why?
He looked over at KU’s bench and responded: “Bill Self.”
That set the scene for Tuesday’s matchup in New York, one in which the shorthanded Jayhawks punched above their weight before ultimately falling 78-66. The margin had been as close as three points with less than five minutes to play.
“I actually thought we did some good things,” Self, KU’s coach, said postgame. “We’re a makeshift team right now, but I thought we did some good things. I thought we competed hard. I thought we uglied the game up pretty well.”
The Jayhawks showcased plenty of promise, with hopes that Peterson will soon enough return to the lineup. But they did not earn the win.
No. 24 Kansas dropped to 3-2 this season, missing both the chance to tie the all-time series vs. Duke (now 7-9) and pick up an early season marquee win.
A few standout performances helped them keep it close.
Senior guard Tre White scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Lead guard Melvin Council added 15 points and six assists. Flory Bidunga scored 14 points with six rebounds.
Freshman forward Bryson Tiller started in place of Peterson, who missed his third straight game due to a hamstring strain.
The Jayhawks led for much of the first half before foul trouble sent Bidunga and Tiller to the bench. Duke grabbed an eight-point lead at halftime courtesy of a 21-7 run following Bidunga’s second foul.
Kansas never got closer than three points in the second half.
Up next: KU travels to Las Vegas to play Notre Dame in the Players Era Tournament.
Until then, here are four takeaways from Tuesday’s game:
Flory Bidunga foul trouble changed this game
Flory Bidunga has to figure out a way to stay out of foul trouble.
It’s already been the case this year — he committed three fouls in three of four games leading up to Tuesday — and continued against Duke.
This game changed when Bidunga was whistled for his second foul with 6:40 left in the first half. Naturally, KU coach Bill Self subbed him out.
Bidunga didn’t return until the second half. The Jayhawks were outscored by 12 points (not counting the free throws from Bidunga’s second foul) in that time.
The Jayhawks won his first-half minutes by eight points; when he sat, they were outscored by 16.
On top of that, Tiller earned his second foul with 4:16 left. So Self was forced to get creative with his lineups. At one point, Council, Jamari McDowell, Elmarko Jackson, Kohl Rosario and Paul Mbiya took the floor.
The result was some ugly basketball all around. And it completely flipped the game.
Bidunga finished with four fouls. Tiller fouled out with 3:04 to play.
Tre White kept Kansas afloat
Fouls aside, Tre White kept Kansas within striking distance by making some timely buckets. He led all scorers with 15 points at the half.
White finished with a game-high 22 points on 7-for-13 shooting. He was the only Jayhawk to make multiple 3-pointers (2-for-4) and also contributed four assists, two steals and a block.
“Darryn’s a one-on-one scorer, so we’ve definitely got to make up for that,” White said. “But the message has been the same: Next man up. Do the little things. Play more aggressive.”
The half-court offense was bad
Look, the Jayhawks’ half-court offense is ugly at times, even with Peterson playing.
So it’s not exactly a surprise that KU struggled vs. Duke. The Jayhawks’ best chances to score came in transition. And that held up for a while.
But that pace was hard to maintain for the game. And eventually, Duke began taking better care of the ball. The Blue Devils had six turnovers the first half, two the second.
Without Peterson, the Jayhawks lack players who can create their own shot. Council was just about the only ball-handler on the floor. Add to that a lack of shooting, and the Jayhawks went a long stretch with questionable shots by Council and others in hopes of manufacturing offense.
Council finished the first half shooting 1-for-8, but did rebound to shoot 5-for-7 in the second period.
KU’s defense challenged Cameron Boozer
The Jayhawks did an admirable job against freshman phenom Cameron Boozer.
Kansas didn’t allow the freshman to get to his spots in the post. The Jayhawks sent smart double teams, forcing Boozer into wild shots and passes out to the corners.
Bidunga and Tiller spent much of their time guarding Boozer. When the Duke star got Tiller in the post, the Jayhawks would send the double.
Boozer eventually got his points, 18 of them, but it wasn’t an efficient night. He shot 7-for-17 and committed two turnovers. He did grab 10 rebounds with five assists in 33 minutes.
The Jayhawks certainly did their job against him.
This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 10:46 PM.
