Flory Bidunga named Big 12 defensive POY. Other Jayhawks earned league honors
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- Kansas sophomore Flory Bidunga named first-team All-Big 12 and defensive POY.
- Darryn Peterson earns second-team All-Big 12 and leads KU with 19.9 ppg.
- No. 3 Kansas secures double bye and will play quarterfinal March 12, 2026.
Kansas sophomore forward Flory Bidunga has been named first-team all-Big 12 and the conference’s defensive player of the year in a vote of league coaches released Monday.
KU freshman guard Darryn Peterson was named second-team all-league, while senior guard Melvin Council Jr. earned honorable mention all-league status as well as Big 12 newcomer of the year.
Kansas State’s PJ Haggerty was named honorable mention.
Bidunga, a 6-foot-10 native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, also was named to the league’s all defensive team. Peterson, 6-6 from Canton, Ohio, earned all-freshman team honors while Council was on the all newcomer team.
Arizona’s Jaden Bradley was named the conference’s player of the year. BYU’s AJ Dybantsa was named freshman of the year. Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd was coach of the year.
The all-Big 12 first team consists of Bidunga, plus Arizona’s Bradley, Brayden Burries and Motiejus Krivas; BYU’s Dybantsa; Emanuel Sharp and Kingston Flemings of Houston; Joshua Jefferson of Iowa State; as well as Christian Anderson and JT Toppin of Texas Tech.
Peterson was joined on the second team by BYU’s Richie Saunders, Cincinnati’s Baba Miller; Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey and Milan Momcilovic.
The third team: Arizona’s Koa Peat; Baylor’s Cameron Carr; BYU’s Rob Wright; UCF’s Themus Fulks and TCU’s Xavier Edmonds.
Lipsey of Iowa State was named the league’s scholar-athlete of the year. Tobe Awaka of Arizona was named sixth man of the year. Tech’s Anderson was named most improved player.
The Big 12 awards were selected by the conference coaches who were not allowed to vote for their own players.
Bidunga leads the Big 12 and ranks second nationally in both blocked shots (84) and blocks per game (2.71). He leads the Big 12 and ranks 10th nationally with a 64.4% field goal percentage while averaging 13.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per outing.
He has a team-best 12 double-doubles, which is second in the Big 12.
Council, 6-4 from Rochester, New York, is averaging 13.4 points per contest. He leads the KU team with 160 assists and 34 steals.
Peterson averages a team-leading 19.9 points per game, He scored 27 points against Kansas State on Saturday, his ninth game of 20 or more points.
Other KU winners of the league’s top defensive player award: Mario Chalmers (2007), Cole Aldrich (2009, 2010), Jeff Withey (2012, 2013), Joel Embiid (2014), Marcus Garrett (2020) and Dajuan Harris Jr. (2023). Bidunga’s all-Big 12 first-team selection gives Kansas 39 first-teamers.
Council is Kansas’ fourth Big 12 newcomer of the year, joining Malik Newman (2018), Dedric Lawson (2019), and Hunter Dickinson (2024). Council is the 20th KU player to be named to the league’s all-newcomer team and the 40th to be selected all-Big 12 honorable mention.
Peterson is the seventh KU player named to the conference’s all-freshman team, which began in the 2018-19 season, joining Devon Dotson (2019), Christian Braun (2020), Jalen Wilson (2021), KJ Adams (2022), Gradey Dick (2023) and Johnny Furphy (2024). Peterson is the 23rd Jayhawk selected to the all-Big 12 second team.
No. 3 seed Kansas (22-9, 12-6) earned a double bye in the 2026 Big 12 Tournament and will play its first game in the quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at T-Mobile Center.
In its quarterfinal contest, Kansas will face either No. 11 Colorado, No. 14 Oklahoma State or No. 6 TCU. Colorado and Oklahoma State will play in the first round at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Winner of that contest will play TCU at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in the second round. The second-round winner will play Kansas on Thursday.
This story was originally published March 9, 2026 at 6:22 PM.
