San Diego — There are so many matchups that may decide which team goes to the Sweet 16 when 4th-seeded Kansas and 5th-seeded St. John’s do battle on Sunday in Round 2 of the NCAA Tournament.
But there’s little doubt that the battle of big men — KU’s Flory Bidunga and SJU’s Zuby Ejiofor — will play a massive role in which team advances.
On Saturday afternoon, St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said he spent “all last night” thinking about how his big man, who played at KU during the 2022-23 season, would handle the length, athleticism and shot-blocking prowess of his KU counterpart.
“Most people wall up and climb up and just hope you miss,” Pitino said of how bigs tend to defend down low. “This guy (Bidunga) walls up, but then he blocks your shot. And that type of length has bothered everybody who's played against him. So, Zuby is going to have to move more and not be a one-dimensional guy.”
It remains to be seen how effective Bidunga will be in neutralizing the former Jayhawk. But if anything like what Pitino laid out actually happens on Sunday afternoon, it would qualify as the closest thing to a new wrinkle that the Red Storm has seen a team throw at Ejiofor in a long time.
“I think we’ve seen probably everything you can throw at Zuby,” SJU guard Dylan Darling told R1S1 Sports on Saturday. “And, to be fair, I wouldn’t know what to do with Zuby because he’s a monster. He’s a monster. You can’t guard him with one person. If you guard him with two, he’s too good of a passer. I’m not really sure what to do with him.”
Having said that, Darling acknowledged that his job is to play, not coach, and he admits that he wouldn’t be at all surprised if KU coach Bill Self had something special planned for the St. John’s big man.
“I mean, I wouldn’t put anything past Bill Self,” Darling said. “I’ve heard that guy’s pretty good, too.”
Truth be told, it doesn’t really work that way.
Yes, the Jayhawks will spend a couple of days planning and preparing for how to play against Ejiofor and his teammates. But it’s not as if Self, Jeremy Case, Kurtis Townsend, Jacque Vaughn, Tony Bland and the rest of the coaching staff has been behind locked doors like a couple of mad scientists trying to create the perfect elixir.
“We didn’t spend a ton of time trying to figure out how to stop Zuby,” Associate Head Coach Case told R1S1 Sports in the KU locker room on Saturday. “We feel like it’s gonna be one of those things where it’s a team effort… He’s so active and, with his energy and always playing so hard, he’s gonna be hard to stop, whether he has the ball or doesn’t have the ball.”
“I mean, I wouldn’t put anything past Bill Self. I’ve heard that guy’s pretty good, too.”
— SJU guard Dylan Darling on KU coming up with ways to slow Ejiofor
There are exceptions to every rule. And Case provided an example of one from earlier this season, when the Jayhawks played BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa for the first time.
“We spent a lot of time trying to figure out do we want to trap him and how do we want to trap him,” Case said. “Something he maybe hadn’t seen. We did that with AJ for sure.”
That, Case said, is the fun part for the guys who have to win with X’s and O’s instead of jumpers and steals.
“It’s obviously the way coaches compete,” he said with a smile.
When asked how tough it can be to handle different things opposing defenses throw at you on game day, another Jayhawk weighed in with his thoughts on this topic on Saturday.
“I wouldn’t say it’s difficult,” KU freshman Darryn Peterson told R1S1 Sports. “I’ve been experiencing this my whole life. I think it’s kind of a respect thing, when teams are guarding you different ways. I’ve still gotta figure out ways to dominate games and help my team win.”
So, it’s almost like a riddle to solve?
“No doubt,” Peterson said.
In that context, Ejiofor’s St. John’s teammates agreed across the board that their 6-9, 245-pound big man has been masterful at handling that all season.
“We’ve seen a lot,” St. John’s forward Dillon Mitchell told R1S1 Sports. “Doubles, drags, triples, whatever. People throw a lot of things at him, but I think Zuby’s used to it and we prepare for it. Zuby’s seen it all and he’s been preparing for it all. We know it’s coming. We practice it and Coach P knows it’s coming, too.”
When nothing exotic comes, the Red Storm players said that’s when their eyes light up.
“When that happens, we kind of just watch Zuby be Zuby,” senior guard Oziyah Sellers told R1S1 Sports. “I don’t think there’s anyone in the country that can stop him one-on-one.”
We’ll find out where KU lands on that scale and what the Jayhawks choose to do against their former big man when the ball goes up at 4:15 p.m. central time on CBS at Viejas Arena on Sunday afternoon.
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