Kansas guard Jamari McDowell (11) delivers a dunk against Utah during the first half, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

In the middle of a challenging five-game stretch for Kansas men’s basketball sat Utah — the last-place team in the Big 12, without a road win on the season, sandwiched between No. 13 Texas Tech and No. 1 Arizona on KU’s schedule.

So of course the Runnin’ Utes, at least for about 30 minutes on Saturday afternoon, gave the Jayhawks one of their toughest tests at Allen Fieldhouse so far this season.

However, amid a ho-hum 14-point showing for the star guard Darryn Peterson, his highlight-reel dunk set the tone in a stretch of 10 straight points that effectively knocked out Utah midway through the second half. The 11th-ranked Jayhawks held on for a 71-59 victory, setting up Monday night’s showdown with unbeaten Arizona.

“I thought Flory (Bidunga) was our best player by far,” KU coach Bill Self said. “… Other than that, I just thought average at best, not the same energy, not the attention to detail. We shot it miserably from beyond the arc. Defense wasn’t bad. They screwed us up on, I think, four slips they got eight points off of, but for the most part, defense wasn’t bad.”

The Utes had no answer for Bidunga, who recorded 17 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high seven blocks in one of his most impressive performances of the season.

“I always got taught to jump second, and I think that’s what I did pretty much all along,” Bidunga said.

Tre White fought through an uneven start to finish with 16 points, mostly scored in the second half, and Melvin Council Jr. added 11 with five rebounds and six assists.

“At halftime, my teammates just kind of told me to be aggressive, get my head in it, just trusting trying to get it in the flow of the offense, I feel like that’s when I’m at my best,” White said. “So we were playing faster (the) second half, and I was able to be a little bit more aggressive.”

KU struggled to contain Keanu Dawes (22 points on 10-for-13 shooting, 12 rebounds), but did relatively well to limit high-scoring guards Terrence Brown and Don McHenry to a combined 28.

“Credit to them, but I feel like they’re best when they can get the switches on the bigs and get the isos,” White said, “and I feel like that’s one of our strengths, so tonight kind of played into our hands.”

Added Bidunga: “I low-key want that. I want them to attack me, you feel me, so I can prove how athletic I am.”

Dawes, who entered Saturday 18-for-62 (29.0%) from deep on the season, made his first two 3-point attempts to boost the Utes early. He added a tough bucket inside off an inbounds pass to put his team up 12-8 at the first media timeout.

Leading scorer Brown chipped in six more points early for Utah, but as soon as the Utes put him on the bench KU scored six straight to take a 16-14 lead.

Peterson added another quick-release jumper and Bidunga blocked a pair of shots, but KU couldn’t extend its run past eight points due to a series of misfires by White and then Utah came back to tie the game in short order.

Peterson drained a 3-pointer, Tiller added a pair of free throws and Council tracked down an errant pass by McHenry into the backcourt to set up a transition 3 by Jayden Dawson.

KU led 26-20 when Council took a bad fall on a drive to the hoop and went to the locker room. White entered and made a pair of free throws in his stead.

The absence of Council combined with a pair of fouls in rapid succession by Bidunga put the Jayhawks in a bit of a precarious situation down the stretch in the first half. Making matters worse, White and Kohl Rosario each committed their second foul soon afterward.

“And I’m thinking, ‘OK, now are we going to have DP the second half?'” Self said. “I was thinking that. I didn’t think the first half went the way we wanted it to.”

Utah got as close as 30-28 before a much-needed hook shot by Bryson Tiller, followed by a transition dunk by Jamari McDowell after Tiller blocked McHenry. Council came back from the locker room and with just over a minute left in the half dropped in a close-range shot in the post to make it 38-30.

“You immediately felt his presence,” White said. “That’s kind of him to a T.”

Added Self: “He got six stitches under his chin. Is that toughness or is that you have to get it stitched up? I love him. I think the best thing he did when he came back in — he scored and then immediately forced a turnover too, when we were just duds out there. We needed him for his energy.”

Brown made one free throw to get to 11 points at the break — Dawes had a game-high 12 — but the Jayhawks entered the interval with a seven-point advantage despite their series of shaky moments.

McHenry, previously 0-for-5 from the field, opened the second half with a 3-pointer for Utah, and then Dawes got a wide-open dunk to improve to 6-for-6 on the day and necessitate an immediate timeout by Self.

The Jayhawks were able to score thereafter, but couldn’t get many stops. Peterson missed an open 3 that could have given KU a 10-point lead and Sanders muscled his way in for a tough bucket at the other end to make it 47-42.

KU built some momentum and energized its home crowd with an alley-oop from Council to White, followed immediately by a close-range leaner from Council to make it 54-44.

That was the Jayhawks’ largest lead at the time — but after a long stretch without touching the ball, Peterson got a shot goaltended, then knocked away a pass by Seydou Traore, went all the way for a dunk and drew Traore’s third foul in the process.

“I was shocked, but I wasn’t shocked to see it,” White said. “He’s so athletic, he can turn it on at any time. I don’t know why (Traore) jumped at the end.”

Dawes dunked through a foul by Council to halt the Jayhawks’ run at 10-0.

The Utes picked up some momentum as the clock crossed four minutes to go after a 3-pointer by McHenry and drive by Brown, but couldn’t get within single digits.

The Jayhawks, who extended their win streak to seven games, will host No. 1 Arizona at 8 p.m. on Monday.

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