photo by: AP Photo/Eric Gay

Kansas guard Melvin Council Jr. (14) and Tennessee guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie (0) chase a loose ball during the half of an NCAA college basketball game in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025.

Las Vegas — Already down star guard Darryn Peterson and key reserve Jayden Dawson due to injury, the Jayhawks’ task got even tougher when their lone standout from the first half on Wednesday against Tennessee, Tre White, ran into severe foul trouble.

They responded with a remarkable comeback from down 12 points in the second half to beat the 17th-ranked Volunteers 81-76 at MGM Grand Garden Arena and claim third place in the Players Era tournament.

“The biggest thing is when the game got in question and we went down, the guys just played one possession at a time,” KU coach Bill Self said, “as opposed to Duke and Carolina, (where) I think we felt like there were some eight- or 10-point plays for us to go make, and today was just one after another. I thought that’s a sign of maybe growing up.”

Guards Melvin Council Jr. and Elmarko Jackson, a surprise breakout, combined for 27 second-half points to boost KU to victory after White scored 14 in the first half.”

“Who would have thought we got better when Tre was out of the game, actually?” Self said. “Marko played great, (Jamari McDowell) made some big plays, and Mel kind of got into a rhythm and roll, but we just kept defending and rebounding.”

Flory Bidunga overcame one of the ugliest halves of his career for an efficient second period and finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

“We came out strong there at the end, we made a fistfight and then even though we didn’t have DP, there’s no excuses, we still need to do our job, and I think take care of business,” Bidunga said.

Star freshman Nate Ament had 20 points and nine rebounds to lead the Vols, but they never got consistent scoring anywhere else. High-scoring guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie was limited to 11 points on 5-for-19 shooting.

“I actually thought we guarded them for 40 minutes,” Self said. “I thought they made shots, hard shots in the first half, or shots we wanted them to take, and they were just good players and made them.”

Despite the six-figure stakes of Wednesday’s matchup — which yielded $300,000 in name, image and likeness opportunities for KU and $200,000 for Tennessee — it took place before by far the quietest crowd of KU’s three games at the Players Era.

It was a low-energy start for Tennessee outside of a couple impressive drives to the rim for Ament, but the Volunteers took a 9-6 lead into the first media timeout after Amaree Abram threw in a late-clock 3 from the right wing. The Jayhawks had little trouble getting the ball inside to Bidunga, but he made his first shot and then missed the next six.

The teams traded a couple of 3-pointers each but remained generally unsettled on offense. McDowell’s long-range connection from the left wing brought KU within a point at 20-19, but Jackson missed an attempt for the lead and then Cade Phillips flushed an alley-oop dunk for the Vols. Ament’s second 3 of the day gave him 10 points and forced Self to call timeout.

The Jayhawks had a response with White hitting another 3-pointer. As he made it, Bishop Boswell committed a flagrant foul, and McDowell made 1 of 2 free throws. KU turned the ball over on its next two possessions, but White tied the game with a dunk with six and a half minutes left in the half.

Council twice gave KU the lead with strong drives to the rim, but those advantages were fleeting. Bidunga turned the ball over and then goaltended a layup by Ament on the fast break to give Tennessee a 33-30 lead.

After Bidunga finally concluded his cold streak with a hook shot (he had been 1-for-10 on the day), KU left Ethan Burg unmarked in transition and allowed an open 3. Then a missed 3-pointer by Kohl Rosario and a turnover by Jackson gave the Volunteers two more layups as part of a key 7-0 run.

Jackson added two free throws and KU successfully derailed the Vols’ final possession by fouling to set the halftime score at 41-34.

White had exited at the 3:43 mark shortly after picking up his second foul and was not on the floor for the key stretch in question. All Jayhawks other than White were a combined 7-for-28 from the field in the first half.

That disparity became even more apparent when White incurred two additional fouls very early in the second half, including one attempting to stop a fast break.

“Honestly, with DP being out, you kind of get adjusted with getting used to playing with everybody, and also playing without some people,” McDowell said. “So when Tre went out, we just hung in there, we knew it was going to be a fistfight, and we had to do it for all of us that couldn’t on the bench.”

KU trailed by a dozen before Jackson came alive for a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws, restoring some hope for the Jayhawks. Council missed a 3 that could have made it a four-point game and then Bryson Tiller fouled going for the rebound, but Jackson got the ball on the way back down the court after another miss by the Vols and connected from deep once again to make it 55-51.

Gillespie drilled a 3, but Jackson responded with a three-point play on a tough shot in the paint.

With KU down just 59-56, White tried to jab the ball away from J.P. Estrella on a post entry pass and committed his fifth foul. That both disqualified him with more than eight minutes to go and resulted in a sequence of events — Estrella free throw, Ament offensive rebound on Estrella miss, Tiller shooting foul, two Ament free throws — that amounted to three additional points for the Vols and gave Paul Mbiya his first playing time of the entire tournament.

“I feel like it gives us more energy when somebody we need is out,” Bidunga said. “I feel like we need to do even more, and I think that’s the mindset.”

That’s when Council willed KU back into contention with back-to-back three-point plays — with a chaotic sequence of turnovers in between — tying the game at 62 as KU finally erased its double-digit deficit. With less than six minutes to go, Mbiya converted an awkward layup, Council blocked a corner 3 by Gillespie and Jackson got an acrobatic layup to fall to make it 68-64 with five minutes remaining.

Bidunga and Tiller drew significant fouls to go to the line late, but the result remained in jeopardy into the final minute. Council got called for a blocking foul in the lane against Boswell, whose free throws made it a three-point game — only for Bidunga to respond with two more at the other end.

McDowell’s interception of a pass by Gillespie with 20 seconds to go essentially sealed the Jayhawks’ victory. Despite their 3-0 record, the Players Era championship was contested by Michigan and Gonzaga later on Wednesday night. Self said afterward he felt the format could be tweaked — “You can still go by point differential, but you can’t penalize teams for going 2-0,” he said — in an apparent reference to Iowa State’s omission from the prize-money games after the Cyclones won on both Monday and Tuesday.

“I’m mad that we didn’t compete for the championship, because I feel like, OK, the point differential, but I feel like we had a chance to play for the title,” Council said. “Extra money in our pocket. But God is good, so we got a chance for third place. And it’s free money, so I’m not mad about that with Christmas on the way.”

KU improved to 6-2, should return to the AP Top 25 and will host No. 5 UConn on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

“I’m going into Thanksgiving very optimistic,” Self said.

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