Twenty-three points. Ten rebounds. Three blocks. One massive victory. And a stat that was perhaps more important than any of those others.
Two fouls.
Those were the numbers put up by KU big man Flory Bidunga in the Jayhawks’ 82-78 win over No. 1 Arizona on Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse, and, without any of them, it’s impossible to think about KU winning that game.
That’s particularly true about the two fouls and the reason is twofold.
For one, the 6-foot-9 Bidunga is the Jayhawks’ starting center and his presence — on both ends of the floor — was a huge part of Kansas surviving its showdown with a big, physical Arizona frontline.
But, perhaps more importantly, Bidunga’s ability to stay on the floor and avoid foul trouble represents a huge sign of growth in his game.
At roughly this time last season, Bidunga was thrust into the starting lineup for the first time in place of an injured KJ Adams. He started five consecutive games from Jan. 18 through Feb. 1 and averaged 26 minutes per game during that stretch.
He also averaged more than 3 fouls per game in those five games.
Beyond that stretch, Bidunga’s numbers last season also told another story. One that is not being repeated so far this season.
During limited usage as a true freshman off the bench, Bidunga averaged 2.24 fouls per game in 16.3 minutes per game. That expands out to 5.5 fouls per 40 minutes, a number that’s far too high for a player who was expected to handle the majority of the minutes at the 5 for the Jayhawks this season.
Two things were working against Flory to get to those numbers last season. First, he was a reserve behind two other capable big men and, therefore, did not have to be quite as concerned with how much he fouled. And, second, he was still a freshman playing college basketball for the first time.
That all changed this year and so, too, has Bidunga.
“Flory was a gambler. And now he doesn't lunge, he stays down and he plays to his length. I think he's figured out that way is far better for him and us.”
— KU coach Bill Self on big man Flory Bidunga's defense
In KU’s first 24 games of the current season, Bidunga is averaging 31.3 minutes per game — nearly double the minutes he played as a freshman — but his fouls-per-40-minutes number has dropped to 2.66.
So, in roughly double the minutes, he essentially has trimmed his fouling in half.
Bidunga has yet to foul out this season and has recorded 4 fouls just three times, and none since the first week of January. In fact, he's recorded just 12 fouls total in KU's last eight games, one with no fouls, three with one foul and just one with three.
Asked after last Saturday’s home win over Utah what Bidunga has done to transform himself from foul liability to shot-blocking machine — he currently leads the Big 12 in that category in both blocks (68) and blocks per game (2.8) — Kansas coach Bill Self summed it up in the simplest of terms.
“Flory was a gambler,” Self said. “And now he doesn't lunge, he stays down and he plays to his length. I think he's figured out that way is far better for him and us.”
It's timing. It's intelligence. It's understanding. And it's working.
Just like that, a freshman season that featured Bidunga being as much for his tendency to foul as his enormous potential has become a thing of the past. Nowadays, Self says things like Flory Bidunga is the best defensive player in America.
And he means it and says it with a straight face.
None of that could have happened if Bidunga didn’t figure out the fouling bit.
“I think it ranks up there,” Self said when asked if Bidunga’s effort against Arizona on Monday night was one of the better ones he’s coached from a physicality standpoint. “You know, he's gotten so much better. Offensively, he's gotten better, but just the defensive presence… he didn't get as many blocked shots as what he has some other games, but they knew he was around. And that makes a big difference.”
That brings us back to Monday night, against Arizona, when Bidunga played what many considered his best game as a Jayhawk to date.
Asked after the victory if he thought it was his best physical performance as a college basketball player, Bidunga himself brought it back to the same number of fouls he had, needing just two words to answer.
“So far,” he said, head tilted as if to hint that there’s more to come.
Bidunga believes it. His teammates believe it. And Self believes it, as well, with that line of thinking fully hitting the KU coach after Bidunga’s showing in a home win against BYU a couple of weeks ago.
“The BYU game was great for us,” Self said. “Because it gave Flory a chance to guard a guy that's on the national stage (BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa) and they're either going to talk about him or they're going to talk about (the other guy). And I think there were numerous opportunities where he made himself look good by doing that and it's kind of energized him a little bit.”
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