Kansas guard Darryn Peterson (22) gets off a shot after the Baylor foul during the first half on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

The Kansas men’s basketball team on Friday night demonstrated just how fearsome a duo Darryn Peterson and Flory Bidunga can truly be.

Peterson scored 26 and Bidunga added 23 points — on an unbelievably efficient 22-for-27 combined shooting — and the Jayhawks took care of Baylor, 80-62 at Allen Fieldhouse.

“Those guys, they were great,” KU coach Bill Self said. “Both of them were great. They’re 22 of 27, and the rest of the starters are 5 of 25, and we still won semi-handily, but they were both terrific. I thought that’s the best game Flory’s had in a while, maybe all year.”

Cameron Carr (24) and Tounde Yessoufou (20) helped the Bears erase an early 15-point deficit and even take the lead for a minute and 24 seconds late in the first half. But KU scored seven straight to close the first period and then reasserted its advantage after the break.

Bidunga had 11 points and five blocks to go with his offensive showing for one of the most distinguished performances of his career — one that he accomplished in tandem with his highly touted teammate.

“We know what each other can do and how good we are, so we just need to play to our abilities, basically,” Bidunga said.

Neither team got any additional players to double figures in what, especially in the first half, often amounted to a scoring duel between NBA-caliber talents.

In the end, KU accomplished, at least for the moment, a goal Self had written on the board in the locker room: not to be “one-hit wonders.”

“Everybody’s been patting these guys on the back because they did something on Tuesday (blowing out Iowa State),” Self said. “I mean, we haven’t done anything. It’s a long season … That needs to become the consistent effort, not just a one hit. I’m sure ‘My Sharona’ — The Knack — since many of you guys are too young to know The Knack, but look it up.”

Baylor coach Scott Drew didn’t like what he saw early as his team gave up the first five points in just over a minute, and he called an immediate timeout. That didn’t work right away as Peterson went all the way for a layup, then pulled up in the post for another jumper.

Yessoufou halted KU’s early run at the 17-minute mark with Baylor’s first bucket. But Peterson, despite missing two free throws early, had seven points at the under-16 timeout as the Jayhawks jumped ahead 13-4.

He then added six more in a matter of seconds on back-to-back 3s as Drew brought play to a halt again.

“Shots were falling, so I was getting them up,” Peterson said simply, adding that his mindset was to “dominate.”

From then on, Baylor got a bit of a handle on things. The Bears scored eight straight, aided by the fact that a layup by Elmarko Jackson got disallowed due to basket interference by Bidunga.

KU led 27-19 when Jamari McDowell got called for his second foul under the basket jockeying for position for a defensive rebound. The resulting inbounds pass generated a 3-pointer for Yessoufou, bringing Baylor closer than it had been since the opening minutes.

Peterson responded with a three-point play and a leaning jumper, but Yessoufou punched back with five of his own. After KU briefly responded with an alley-oop dunk by Bidunga, Baylor ripped off an 8-0 run in two minutes, with Carr giving the Bears their first (and only) lead at 37-36 with a 3-pointer with 2:51 left in the half.

Jayden Dawson, who did not play on Tuesday, shook off two early misses and broke KU’s scoring drought of nearly four minutes with a 3-pointer — Self called it “the biggest shot of the game” — before Bryson Tiller made two free throws.

Peterson added one more step-back jumper, and Yessoufou’s 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced out to leave the score at 43-37 in KU’s favor.

Peterson led all players with 20 points at the break, closely followed by Carr’s 16 and Yessoufou’s 15.

“That was fun to watch,” Self said. “That was impressive. Of course, Tounde and Carr both were great too, but that was impressive. I still think when he wasn’t in the game the other guys were aggressive, and even when he was in the game after that initial push I thought other guys were aggressive, and I think that’s the biggest thing, is we’re kind of learning how to play off each other and not take away from somebody else’s skill set because we’re watching one guy.”

Peterson scored two additional times and had an assist early in the second half. In the meantime, Tiller got to the line again to boost the Jayhawks’ lead back to double figures, and Carr bungled a potential layup on the next possession before Peterson knocked down another fadeaway against Yessoufou.

Peterson came in and out on several occasions in the second half before exiting for good with 7:51 to go. He said postgame he felt “great,” but Self said he had asked to come out.

In any case, Melvin Council Jr. extended KU’s run with a pair of standout plays, rolling in a leaning shot at the left block and then setting up Bidunga for a lob dunk to make it 57-40 entering the under-16 timeout. He added a free throw on the other side.

Baylor threw KU off its game with a couple possessions of 1-3-1 zone defense and in the interim added a 3-pointer by Carr.

With both Bidunga and Peterson — at that point 43 combined points of offense — on the bench, the Jayhawks needed to get scoring from a different source. It wasn’t pretty at first, though Council did manage a tough bucket inside and they didn’t let Baylor inside of 14 points.

Bidunga displayed great vision to locate Jackson for a corner 3 that put KU up 71-51 inside of eight minutes to go.

The Bears went back to zone, which successfully slowed the Jayhawks down, but at that point the clock was not on their side. Carr and Obi Agbim knocked down consecutive 3s, but Carr hobbled off injured after slipping on a drive.

KU emptied the bench for the final two minutes and did not score as Agbim made another 3-pointer and Yessoufou knocked down a turnaround jumper.

The Jayhawks, who improved to 13-5 and 3-2 in league play, will travel to face Colorado (12-5, 2-2 Big 12) on Tuesday at 10 p.m. Central time.

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