KU basketball surges late to blow out K-State in Sunflower Showdown
Make no mistake, Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self wanted to beat in-state rival Kansas State badly.
From his animated reactions after KU buckets to noting that it wasn’t just any other game in his pregame news conference Thursday, Self knew what was at stake in the Sunflower Showdown.
After all, Kansas had lost in Manhattan in each of the last three years, and no one would let Self forget it. From media members to fans on social media, that was a consistent talking point leading up to Saturday.
The Jayhawks seemed to take those frustrations out on the Wildcats, erupting for a late run in the final minutes to hand Kansas State an 86-62 defeat at Bramlage Coliseum.
Tre White dunked home the final basket for No. 19 Kansas (15-5, 5-2 Big 12), while point guard Melvin Council appeared to mimic K-State’s Wabash Cannonball tradition as the final seconds ticked off.
Center Flory Bidunga led the Jayhawks in scoring with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Council nearly had a triple-double with 17 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds. Reserve guard Elmarko Jackson added 19 points and five rebounds.
The final score was lopsided, but most of the game was not.
The Jayhawks only took a two-point lead into half at 37-35. The margin was four with under eight minutes to play, before the Jayhawks steamrolled the Wildcats to the finish.
Kansas ultimately led for more than 35 minutes, while K-State’s final lead came in the closing minutes of the first half. And the second-half margin was decisive, as KU outscored K-State 27-7 in the final 7:30 of the game.
Also of note, both sides were shorthanded Saturday. KU freshman star Darryn Peterson was ruled out due to an ankle sprain. Jamari McDowell started in his place.
K-State was missing four players Saturday.
Up next for KU: The Jayhawks host No. 13 BYU on Saturday.
Until then, here are four takeaways from the Sunflower Showdown:
No Darryn Peterson, no problem
In the absence of Peterson, the Jayhawks needed role players to step up and fill the scoring void. Peterson has missed plenty of time this year, but he was still averaging 21.6 points per game.
Four players answered the call: Bidunga, Council, Bryson Tiller and Jackson.
Council continued to fill in admirably, as he’s done when Peterson has missed time, and he also blanketed K-State star PJ Haggerty, who finished with 23 points but on 6-for-17 shooting.
Bidunga had a quiet first half, with only four points, but he came alive in the second half, scoring 17 points and throwing down a number of lob dunks.
Bryson Tiller, Elmarko Jackson were key contributors
Perhaps somewhat more surprising was the play of Jackson and Tiller. Saturday marked one of the best games both players have had in a long time.
In fact, Jackson hadn’t scored double-digit points since he had 11 against UConn — all the way back on Dec. 2. Tiller was last in double-figures against Davidson on Dec. 22.
On Saturday? Tiller had 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. Jackson poured in 19 points on 5-for-7 shooting (7-for-7 free throws).
Three-point shooting was important
Weird things tend to happen in rivalry games. So perhaps it’s no surprise that the Sunflower Showdown got a little strange.
The Jayhawks did an excellent job on defense … on 2-pointers in the first half. As a whole, K-State only shot 35.3% from the field in the period. On top of that, KU limited K-State star Haggerty to only five points on 1-for-7 shooting from the floor.
Based on those two stats, you might expect Kansas was up big.
Well, that wasn’t the case. K-State shot a blistering 8-for-19 (42.1%) on 3-pointers to hang around in the first half. KU was just 1-for-5 (20%) from 3 in that time, even while shooting 57.1% from the field.
That difference kept the game in the balance for far longer than the Jayhawks would have liked. But the defense tightened, holding K-State to 2-for-10 (20%) 3-point shooting after halftime.
For the game, K-State shot 34.4% from the field, 34.5% from 3.
KU made better use of second-chance opportunities
From tipoff, K-State made it a point to be aggressive on the offensive glass. The Wildcats grabbed 13 offensive rebounds for the game, but nine of those came in the first half. They finished with 11 second-chance points.
KU, on the other hand, had only three offensive rebounds in the first half, but the Jayhawks ended with 12 offensive boards, which they turned into 21 points.
It was a major difference.
K-State starting center Dorin Buca dominated the Jayhawks on the glass and oftentimes got better positioning than KU big man Flory Bidunga. Buca ended the night with 11 rebounds, including eight offensive rebounds.
But Buca only scored six points on 3-for-6 shooting, while the Jayhawks walled up inside and made paint scoring difficult.
KU outscored K-State 46-18 in points in the paint.
This story was originally published January 24, 2026 at 9:50 PM.
