photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas forward Flory Bidunga (40) pressures a shot from Howard guard Jaren Johnson (3) during the first half on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Newcomers David Coit and Rylan Griffen may have earned nominal places in the starting lineup for Kansas’ season opener, but it wasn’t long before the full depth of KU’s offseason haul was revealed.

Freshmen Flory Bidunga and Rakease Passmore and transfers Zeke Mayo and AJ Storr took the floor mere minutes into Monday night’s game and each had their own opportunities to shine.

In fact, a couple of those bench players ended up being the most impressive Jayhawks of all — especially Mayo, the Lawrence native, who looked confident in his first official appearance at Allen Fieldhouse. His 19 points led the way for KU as it cruised to an 87-57 victory over Howard, its 52nd consecutive win in a home opener.

KU coach Bill Self praised his team’s performance in the early stages of the game in particular, highlighting its defense.

“I thought we looked fast, I thought we looked athletic, I thought we pitched ahead and we ran in transition better than what we had been,” he said.

Bidunga scored 13 and pulled down eight rebounds, frequently spelling Hunter Dickinson as the preseason All-American saw his first action since returning from a foot injury.

“It was exciting to be there,” Bidunga said. “Obviously I came after Hunt, and then I was just focused on bringing the energy for the team, making sure that second team is not letting down everybody’s energy.”

Dickinson finished with a quiet but still solid 16 points and six boards in 21 minutes. Self called him “a guy that had lost some rhythm, out of sorts a little bit, but he needed to be out there. That was great for him to be out there. That was perfect.”

“Obviously there was some rust, from the finishing aspect,” Dickinson said, “I might not have been able to play like 35, but maybe a couple more minutes, but thankfully, still got a couple more days before the big game (against North Carolina).”

Blake Harper paced the Bison with 16 points.

KU took its first four shots from behind the 3-point line and made just one, falling behind 4-3 before Dickinson laid the ball in for his first points of the year. That got the Jayhawks going on an 8-0 run, largely driven by pinpoint-accurate passing in transition, that forced an early timeout by Howard.

Bidunga contributed six points — including a pair of thunderous dunks — plus three rebounds and a dunk in his first-ever shift as a Jayhawk. Meanwhile, Howard missed 10 straight attempts from the field, before Bryce Harris eventually banked in a contested shot in the post to cut the Bison’s deficit to 24-7.

Storr hit a 3-pointer in transition to give KU its first 20-point lead at 31-11 with six minutes to go in the half.

Mayo, who hit his first three 3-point shots, and Bidunga continued to pace the KU offense in the lead-up to halftime. Mayo added one late layup and then locked down Howard’s Joshua Strong on the final possession to give KU a 46-19 lead entering the break.

Coit, who had previously begun the game with a 3-pointer, hit another one to start the second half, then stole the ball to set up a transition layup.

“He deferred and pitched ahead and did a lot of other things other than just look to shoot the ball, which is meaning he’s figuring it out,” Self said.

But KU slowed down considerably and allowed a 7-0 stretch to Howard while failing to score for more than three minutes.

The Bison hit a couple of 3s, but so did Mayo, and a dunk by Zach Clemence and pull-up jumper by KJ Adams allowed the Jayhawks to go up 72-38 by the eight-minute mark. They didn’t defend well enough in the later stages of the game to extend that margin.

The Jayhawks will host No. 9 North Carolina on Friday at 6 p.m.

“Going against ourselves would probably be the best practice,” Dickinson said of the team’s preparedness for UNC. “Because if we are who everybody says we are and we’re the No. 1 team in the country, we should be able to play each other and make each other better in these next three days.”

Roster update

After months of speculation, Self stated on Monday night that sophomore guard Jamari McDowell will redshirt during the 2024-25 season.

“He actually wants to,” Self said. “That’s our plan as of today.”

Self had praised McDowell in advance of the season, noting that he looked to be ahead of Griffen and Storr as the transfers got adjusted to KU’s system. But he hadn’t pulled the trigger on making an official decision by Friday.

However, on Monday McDowell didn’t go through warmups or dress in uniform for the evening, all but confirming his decision.

McDowell averaged 1.8 points in 7.2 minutes per game as a freshman on KU’s depleted roster.

The other Jayhawk of note who didn’t dress on Monday night was Shakeel Moore, a transfer point guard from Mississippi State who missed nine weeks of practice due to a broken bone in his foot. Self said Moore has practiced in full, but his foot hurt after Sunday’s practice.

“It probably doesn’t look promising for him to play substantial minutes in the next week,” Self said, “but I do hope that he can be out there at least available to us.”

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