Kansas guard Kohl Rosario (7) delivers a dunk off a lob from Kansas guard Jayden Dawson (1) during the first half against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas coach Bill Self said on Monday that Flory Bidunga would ideally serve as the secondary option on offense to star guard Darryn Peterson as the Jayhawks’ season progresses.

With Peterson out on Tuesday night against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Bidunga limited in the first half by severe foul trouble, KU had to get creative, and a variety of players chipped in.

Freshman wing Kohl Rosario demonstrated his high potential with a hard-earned team-high 16 points and five rebounds. Forwards Bryson Tiller and Tre White added 11 apiece with a combined 14 boards and Bidunga played a much cleaner second period and finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.

KU led from the opening minutes and despite committing 18 turnovers never faced a serious challenge from the Islanders, as the Jayhawks earned a 77-46 win at Allen Fieldhouse.

“Coaches wanted us to be aggressive and super physical,” Tiller said. “They’re an aggressive team, so we just had to match their aggressiveness, and that’s how we got the win.”

KU won the rebounding battle 44-26 on Tuesday after losing it 39-27 in Friday’s loss to North Carolina.

“Coach always talks about turning up, and that’s part of playing hard, is going and attacking the offensive rebound, and defensive rebounds too,” Rosario said. “I think if we could do that, we’ll be pretty good.”

Peterson, who had previously dealt with cramping issues but played against UNC and practiced in the lead-up to Tuesday night, did not play due to what Self described as a precautionary measure as a result of a tight hamstring. Elmarko Jackson started in his place.

“I actually told our guys, ‘I’m excited to watch you guys play because he’s not going to be here, so let’s see,'” Self said. “There’s going to be times in the games when he’s got four fouls with 15 minutes left, and how do we play from 15 to the eight-minute mark without him, or he fouls out and how do we finish a game the last six minutes.”

KU scored its first three baskets on alley-oop dunks, led by a surging Rosario, and did not accomplish much else in the opening minutes, but neither did the Islanders.

Melvin Council Jr. went to the locker room with a dislocated left pinky finger four minutes in, and the Islanders soon got their first points on an aggressive drive by Sheldon Williams. He returned soon afterward with two fingers taped together and scored on a short pull-up jumper.

TAMUCC drew uncomfortably close to the Jayhawks before Jamari McDowell drained a contested 3 from the left wing ahead of the under-12 timeout to make it 15-6.

Rosario brought the crowd to its feet with another lob dunk and Tiller made some strong moves inside to draw fouls and chip away at the Islanders’ defense.

“I told the guys, and I actually believe that, I don’t think we should look at Bryson as a bench guy,” Self said. “I think we should look at we got three starters playing two spots with Flory and Bryson and Tre, because I do believe that’s the case.”

However, TAMUCC was able to draw Bidunga’s third foul with 7:18 to go in the first half and effectively render him unplayable for a long stretch of the game.

“The first one was a phantom call,” Self said. “The second one was a bad foul because he didn’t even get his money’s worth, and the third one was all because of Jayden (Dawson) letting his man beat him on a straight-line drive and he had (come) to help.

“To me, if that’s a big game and you can imagine that’s (Thomas Robinson) back there and Tyshawn (Taylor) makes that same play, then Tyshawn wouldn’t play again the rest of the half or whatever, the game, because he put Thomas on the bench with three fouls.”

KU got aggressive and leaned on its athleticism advantage, with Council, White and Jackson all slashing to the hoop for hard-fought layups. The Jayhawks took their largest lead of the night at 31-11 prior to the final media timeout of the first half.

Nginyu Ngala splashed a pair of 3s late in the first half in some productive minutes, and after a small offensive surge by the Islanders, Rosario held off Leo Torbor on a last-second drive to the rim as KU maintained its 20-point lead entering the break.

The Jayhawks committed 10 first-half turnovers that only amounted to eight points for the Islanders.

TAMUCC couldn’t do much to cut into KU’s margin in the early stages of the second half, and the Jayhawks went up 49-26 when Council zoomed down the court in transition to set up a 3-pointer for White.

The Islanders racked up the fouls as the half crossed its midway point and KU started to extend its margin with a barrage of free throws from the likes of White, Tiller and Jackson. The Jayhawks’ lead crossed 30 points for the first time when Tiller beat his defender off the dribble for a fierce slam, and Dawson followed that up with a 3-pointer, set up by Bidunga, that capped off a 12-0 run and prompted a timeout by TAMUCC.

Samis Calderon threw down a highlight-reel dunk on a baseline drive with three minutes to go after beating his man from the corner.

The Jayhawks, who improved to 2-1, will host Princeton at 1 p.m. Saturday.

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