Photo by Val Montanez
Written by Eric Lucio
Darryn Peterson and the No. 14 Jayhawks won in a 90-82 duel against No. 13 Brigham Young University (BYU) in Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday.
All eyes were on star freshmen AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson for the game, as they were the No. 1 and 2 players in the nation coming out of high school. The highly anticipated matchup drew national attention, with ESPN’s College Gameday and alumni like Paul Pierce in Lawrence.
The two freshmen for Kansas showed out on the biggest stage, with Bryson Tiller scoring a career-high 21 points, and Peterson with 18, despite only playing three minutes in the second half after suffering cramps. Elmarko Jackson also left in the first half after tweaking his knee, according to Self.
The Jayhawks went nuclear to open the first half, including a Peterson steal on Dybantsa that turned into an isolation mid-range shot, and the Allen Fieldhouse crowd went unconscious after Peterson dunked over two Cougars minutes later.
“[The crowd] was phenomenal. Shoutout to all the students for camping out, to the fans and your support,” Tiller said. “It was a great environment. Every kid dreams of playing in something like this.”
Self said postgame that the energy in the crowd during the first half was among the best he’s seen since he became head coach. It was BYU head coach Kevin Young’s first time at Allen Fieldhouse, and he noted how tough the atmosphere made it to win.
Kansas continued to dominate the rest of the first half, pulling away with a 13-0 run and securing a 53-33 lead going into halftime. Tre White and Tiller made five combined first half threes on 100% shooting, contributing to Kansas’ 64.3% field goal percentage in the half, shooting 9-12 on threes.
“It’s hard to overcome 9-12 from three,” Young said. “You have to give Bryson a lot of credit. He hadn’t made a lot of threes on the year, and we were going to make him prove it, which he did.”
To open the second half, BYU responded in its normal second half fashion, scoring a quick 13 points in the first five minutes of the half to close the Kansas lead to 14.
The dunk party officially started in the second half after Richie Saunders punched in a slam for BYU, then moments later, Bryson Tiller and Melvin Council Jr. responded with dunks of their own.
Dybantsa started to get comfortable after scoring 10 in the half, but Saunders put on a clinic to keep BYU in the game. Saunders charted 24 of his 33 points in the second half, constantly hitting shots to bring the Cougars back into the game.
“[Saunders is] nice. He can shoot the ball very well,” Council Jr. said with a smile. “… 33 points is a lot of points, but I give him props.”
With Peterson gone, Kansas’ offense went stagnant, leading to a Cougars seven point run to cut the lead down to 82-78 with 90 seconds left.
“We were exhausted on both ends,” Self said. “That’s as tired as I’ve seen Flory and Melvin and Jamari… we were just trying to get to the finish line.”
Despite the comeback, Allen Fieldhouse was not going to allow Kansas to blow the game. In the last minute of the game, Council Jr. sank a mid-range jumper, followed by two free throws by Jamari McDowell, followed by a Flory Bidunga finish on an alley-oop, followed by a Tiller block, and concluding with a White slam.
“I just had to get a bucket,” Council Jr. said. “My teammates were looking for me, and they trust me with the ball.”
Kansas’ 8-4 run in the last 60 seconds propelled the Jayhawks to win No. 16, while the Cougars suffered their third loss in four games. The Jayhawks will travel to Lubbock, Texas, to take on Texas Tech on Monday, Feb. 2, at 8:00 p.m.