Kansas is seeing other players step up while Darryn Peterson inches closer to returning from a hamstring injury.
It was a combination of Flory Bidunga, Tre White and Bryson Tiller on Monday, and the Jayhawks (4-2) hope to get similar contributions from the trio on Tuesday afternoon when they face Syracuse in the Players Era men’s tournament in Las Vegas.
Peterson has not played since an 87-74 loss at North Carolina on Nov. 7, but Kansas coach Bill Self said the freshman was doing some running, cutting and could get re-evaluated when the Jayhawks return home after the tournament.
While Peterson watched Monday’s 71-61 win over Notre Dame, Bidunga totaled 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists. He shot 8 of 15 from the floor and led the Jayhawks in scoring for the third time and rebounding for the fifth time, doing so after Self pulled him before the first media timeout for a few minutes.
“I wasn’t very happy with him,” Self said. “I thought his first three or four possessions were with bad energy. So, yeah, I don’t know that I did anything to challenge him, but … he was pretty effective when he got back in there.”
Tiller added 17 points and nine rebounds after scoring 42 points in his first five games, and White finished with 16 points and nine boards on Monday for Kansas, which held a 44-34 edge in rebounds.
Syracuse (4-1) opened its trip to Las Vegas with a hard-fought, 78-74 overtime loss to No. 3 Houston, overcoming an 11-point deficit in the final three-plus minutes to force overtime. The Orange nearly pulled off the comeback without leading scorer Donnie Freeman, who is missing this week’s games with a lower-body injury for the Orange.
Tyler Betsey scored 16 points on Monday, including a 3-pointer that tied the score with 55 seconds left in regulation, and William Kyle III added 12 points, including two layups in Syracuse’s run near the end of regulation.
“You know what I take and what these guys take is what we pride ourselves in,” Orange coach Adrian Autry said. “It’s our culture. Our energy. Our connection. Our toughness. Our fight.”
–Field Level Media
