Why Sunday was a special day for Kansas Jayhawks — away from the basketball court
Kansas freshman Flory Bidunga pedaled a bicycle through the toy department, then down aisles of sporting goods and winter clothing, saving himself a few steps while carrying on a Christmastime tradition with 18 of his friends and teammates Sunday night at Walmart.
The 19 Jayhawks men’s basketball players on the 2024-25 roster made the program’s annual finals-week visit to the south Iowa Street store for a charitable holiday shopping excursion that dates to the early 1990s.
The Santa’s Helpers event, which is run by former KU basketball player Roger Morningstar and his wife Linda in conjunction with the Salvation Army, assures a bountiful Christmas Day for 19 families. Each player at the start of the shopping spree receives printed-out information about a family that includes a “wish list” for gifts to be selected by the players.
The money for the gifts is raised by passing the hat for donations from KU supporters at Roundball Club events attended by head coach Bill Self. Also, the Jayhawk players have been known to kick in some of their own NIL money at the checkout counters.
The players were in especially good moods Sunday night, in the wake of Saturday’s 75-60 victory over North Carolina State at Allen Fieldhouse. That win snapped a two-game losing streak — at Creighton and at Missouri — and upped the team’s record to 8-2.
“They are excited about giving back to families in our community who maybe aren’t as fortunate around Christmastime as what most of us are,” KU coach Bill Self said in an interview with The Star during the event, which ran from about 9 to 10 p.m.
“I think it’s great to take the requests from Santa and go out there and try to buy things that will actually help make Christmas a special time for many families. Of course Roger and Linda Morningstar are the ones behind all this and have been doing this 31 years now. We’re happy to be able to play a small part in it. It’s the generosity of a lot of people that makes this possible.”
Self noted that “this was done back with coach (Roy) Williams’ staff as well. So we’ve been doing this and trying to provide for families at a special time of year. A lot of our guys come from situations over time that maybe they didn’t experience Christmas the way that some other families do. It’s important.”
“Our guys get it, and I think that’s really neat,” Self continued. “We’re all so fortunate and blessed, but there are a lot of people out there struggling, especially this time of year. Anything our guys can do I know gives them a great pride.”
The KU players began finals week on Monday. Several practices will be held at various times in advance of the final game before a short Christmas break — Sunday’s 2 p.m. home nonconference clash against Brown.
“We didn’t practice today obviously,” Self said Sunday. “We’re looking forward to getting six days of practice in before the Brown game. Hopefully we’ll be able to put some new things in and get better at things we’ve been trying to do. Yesterday was a good step in that direction. Certainly attitudes are good. I believe this will be a good time for us to get better. I’m certainly looking at this as a week we can hopefully get better.”
KU senior guard Zeke Mayo took part in the shopping excursion after his best game as a Jayhawk. The South Dakota State transfer scored 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting (5-of-9 from 3) with three rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes versus N.C. State.
“Zeke played well yesterday. For the most part, Zeke has had a really good first semester,” Self said.
Mayo through 10 games has averaged 12.4 points a game on 44.3% shooting. He’s 19-of-54 from 3 for 35.2%.
“He hasn’t shot it consistently every game. Very rarely does anybody do that.” Self said. “He’s gotten better in all facets of his game. We need him to be a perimeter scorer for us because we need to be able to score more points and be able to stretch the defense.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2024 at 10:18 AM with the headline "Why Sunday was a special day for Kansas Jayhawks — away from the basketball court."
