Kansas big man Flory Bidunga had 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks, and the No. 11 Jayhawks recorded their seventh straight win by upending Utah 71-59 on Saturday afternoon in Lawrence, Kan.
Bidunga made 7 of 8 field goals and 3 of 4 from the line, while Trey White notched 16 points and six boards for the Jayhawks (18-5, 8-2 Big 12).
Darryn Peterson scored 14 points, and Melvin Council Jr. had 11 points, six assists and five rebounds as Kansas was 28 of 56 (50%) from the field.
With the victory, the Jayhawks remained in a tie for third place in the conference with No. 7 Iowa State, a 72-69 winner over Baylor.
In losing it fifth consecutive contest, Utah (9-14, 1-9) received a strong performance from Keanu Dawes, who posted a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds.
Terrence Brown had 16 points and four steals, and Don McHenry scored 12 with five boards as the visitors hit 40% (22 of 55) from the floor.
During the first four minutes, Dawes sank a pair of three-pointers and scored eight points as Utah led 12-8 on 5 of 7 shooting from the floor, while the home side missed 4 of 7 tries.
Kansas went back ahead for the second time on a 10-2 run highlighted by an alley-oop dunk tossed up by Council and slammed down by Bidunga at 13:05. The Utes aided the run by missing eight consecutive shots.
After being fouled on a long ball, McHenry canned all three free throws to make it 28-23 at 5:37, and Seydou Traore made three of four freebies to bring the deficit to 30-28.
Despite committing seven turnovers and seeing Utah coming up with six steals, Kansas used an 8-3 run to lead 38-31 at the break behind Council’s nine points and four assists.
Utah opened the second half on a 5-0 run to put it at 38-36 and force a timeout by Kansas coach Bill Self, and an alley-oop slam by White and Council’s floating jumper at 10:17 gave the home side its first double-digit lead at 54-44.
Peterson’s steal and breakaway slam for a three-point play at 8:26 lifted it to 59-44, a margin Utah could never reduce to single digits.
–Field Level Media
