KU Jayhawks coach Bill Self likes the energy he is getting from big man Flory Bidunga
One bright spot — maybe the only positive — in Kansas’ 62-61 Big 12-opening loss to West Virginia on New Year’s Eve had to be the play of Flory Bidunga, who exhibited big-time versatility for a big man.
“I think I showed I can guard 1 through 5,” Bidunga, KU’s 6-foot-9, 220-pound freshman forward from Democratic Republic of Congo said Friday at a news conference held in advance of KU’s game against UCF on Sunday in Orlando, Florida.
Bidunga, who grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds while scoring eight points, needed to guard a guard at times while playing next to fellow big man Hunter Dickinson during the Jayhawks’ comeback from an 18-point second-half deficit.
The Jayhawks wound up losing by one point, the winner coming as a result of Bidunga leaving his feet to foul guard Javon Small on a deep jumper with 1.8 seconds left. Small hit 1 of 2 free throws with KU failing to score on a last-ditch possession.
Sure it was a mistake fouling Small on the deep jumper, but one that Kansas coach Bill Self could forgive because of the effort shown by Bidunga during the game.
Also, Self said it was his own fault Bidunga was on Small at that time of the game instead of KJ Adams.
“He played his butt off,” Self said of Bidunga. “I put him in a situation he’s never been in. Playing at Kokomo High School (in Indiana) how many times did he have to guard a point guard? How many times at our practices has he had to guard a point guard at game point? Not very often. We asked him to do it against a guy leading the league in scoring. We should have never been in that position, but I think we’ll be better when we are in that position again,” Self added.
Bidunga tied a season high in minutes played (17) against West Virginia.
“I thought Flory did great,” Self said. “He guarded a point guard a lot so we could keep ‘Hunt’ (Dickinson) in the game. (Bidunga) is going to be really good. He has had a good last two to three weeks. He kind of hit a rut there. He’s come out of it. He’s a great athlete who plays with energy. To me he’s fun to watch. I’m excited about him and certainly he’s going to play more and more as the season goes on.”
Bidunga said guarding somebody several inches shorter proved “exciting for me obviously. I had focus and tried my best to use my quick feet. That was about it. Stay down, make him drive me. People may think I was going to be slow that he will run around me.”
Asked if it was his best game as a Jayhawk, Bidunga said: “To an extent yes. Obviously I think I got more rebounds for the team, protected the rim, so I’d say yes. I’d probably go (with) Duke too when I had to step up.”
Bidunga had four points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes in a 75-72 win over Duke on Nov. 26.
“He’s a fabulous young man,” Self said. “He’s become a better defender, better rebounder. He had a double-figure game rebounding. We can all play better than what we did individually and collectively but he’s been fantastic.”
Bidunga said he learned a valuable lesson in his first Big 12 game.
“Everybody when they play Kansas, they play their best game,” Bidunga said. “We have to pay more attention to detail and be ready every game. We have to show toughness and make sure that (loss) doesn’t affect us because we have many games coming up.”
The Jayhawks (9-3, 0-1) will next meet UCF (10-2, 1-0) at 3 p.m. Central time Sunday at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida.
This story was originally published January 3, 2025 at 4:50 PM with the headline "KU Jayhawks coach Bill Self likes the energy he is getting from big man Flory Bidunga."
