Flory Bidunga, No. 19 Kansas pull away from Kansas State late
Flory Bidunga scored 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead No. 19 Kansas to an 86-62 win over in-state rival Kansas State in a Big 12 Conference contest on Saturday in Manhattan, Kan.
Melvin Council Jr. contributed 17 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds for Kansas (15-5, 5-2 Big 12). Elmarko Jackson scored 19 points, Bryson Tiller added 16 points and Tre White chipped in 13 points, as the Jayhawks won their fourth straight game.
P.J. Haggerty led Kansas State (10-10, 1-6) with 23 points, and Andrej Kostic added 12 points as the only other Wildcat in double figures.
The Jayhawks used a 12-1 second-half run to break open a tightly contested game. Bidunga capped the rally with a layup in traffic and an emphatic alley-oop dunk on Council's pass from the logo to give the Jayhawks a 71-56 lead with 4:35 to play.
While Bill Self returned to the Kansas' sideline after a one-game absence due to being hospitalized Monday and receiving IV fluids, the Jayhawks played their 10th game without leading scorer Darryn Peterson (21.6 points per game). The freshman phenom rolled his ankle in the second half of Tuesday's win at Colorado.
A 9-2 Kansas State run featured three 3-pointers by Kostic and pulled the Wildcats even at 19-19.
After Tiller's two-handed slam on an alley-oop pass from Council gave Kansas a 23-19 lead, Kostic nailed his fourth trey of the first half and the Wildcats trailed by one.
Taj Manning and David Castillo hit back-to-back threes as the Wildcats pulled ahead at 28-26 at the 5:54 mark. Bidunga's left-hand slam off a give-and-go with White put the Jayhawks up 35-31. Haggerty's finger roll cut the Kansas lead to 37-35 at halftime.
A 10-2 Kansas rally featuring a technical foul on Kansas State coach Jerome Tang gave the Jayhawks a 49-39 lead.
Haggerty's three later pulled Kansas State within 59-55 with 7:52 remaining, the closest it would get the rest of the way.
Kansas, which held a 46-18 edge on points scored in the paint, ended the game on a 27-7 run.