How KU’s Darryn Peterson & Flory Bidunga delivered on the former’s long-held wish
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Peterson and Bidunga linked on pick-and-rolls and an alley-oop to fuel KU's 80-62 win.
- Peterson scored 26 in 23 minutes; Bidunga posted 23 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks.
- Coach Self praised the duo; Self said teammates must learn to play with Peterson.
The moment was brief in the grand scheme of the Kansas Jayhawks’ men’s basketball blowout of Baylor on Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
But it was an important moment nonetheless.
It came as freshman star Darryn Peterson and KU big man Flory Bidunga were running a pick-and-roll against Baylor. Two Bears defenders hyper-focused on Peterson, which left Bidunga wide-open underneath the basket.
Bidunga dunked for the alley-oop finish, but the moment was about more than two points. It was the realization of a vision that Peterson had prophesized last March.
The Star had asked the former Prolific Prep star who he was most excited to play with as a Jayhawks in Lawrence. Peterson answered with one word, a name:
“Flory.”
When Peterson answered that question, it was fun to envision the duo becoming a Kansas version of Kobe and Shaq — or perhaps more realistically, Devon Dotson and Udoka Azubuike.
The dream felt real on this particular Friday evening in mid-January. Peterson and Bidunga dominated Baylor at every turn. Peterson scored a team-high 26 points with three assists, while Bidunga had a double-double: 23 points and 11 rebounds, plus five blocks.
The result: a dominant 80-62 victory that improved KU’s Big 12 record to 3-2 (13-5 overall)
And afterward, Peterson recalled that March interview. “If you go back to like an interview in my senior year,” he said, “who was I excited to play with: Flory, because I wanted to throw him some lobs, so it was good to actually get one.”
Bidunga, seated next to him, responded: “Awwww.”
He expected this.
“We know what each other can do and how good we are, so we just need to play to our abilities basically,” Bidunga said.
Bidunga, in particular, had a special game Friday. He was aggressive in getting to his spots and looking for the ball from the opening tip.
On the defensive end, he was a menace in the paint and altered a good number of shots with his defense. Offensively, he missed just three shots, shooting 11-for-14 from the field.
The pair earned glowing praise from Jayhawks coach Bill Self.
“I think those guys were great, both them were great,” Self said. “They were 22-of-27 and the rest of the starters were 5-of-25 and we still won semi-handily.
“They were both terrific. I thought that was best game Flory has had in a while. Maybe all year.”
Both players can be even better. Peterson’s 26 points came in just 23 minutes. He’s continuing to manage his cramping issues and only played seven minutes in the second half.
Peterson has played in nine of KU’s 18 games due to various health issues, so Self has stressed how important it is for the rest of the team to learn to play alongside him.
“It’s only about half time — what did he play, 19 minutes today? — where he was on the court healthy,” Self said. “Tonight, he scored. The last two games he didn’t score, but against Iowa State, others were aggressive. Tonight, I actually thought the others weren’t as aggressive shooting the ball.
“We actually did a better job of looking for him because he was on a heater. That was fun to watch. That was impressive. ...
“When he wasn’t in the game, the other guys were aggressive, and when he was in the game after the initial push, I thought the other guys were aggressive. I think that’s the biggest thing is they’re kind of learning how to play off each other and not take away from somebody else’s skill-set because they’re watching one guy.”
