Takeaways from Kansas' 73-49 romp over Towson -- without Darryn Peterson

Shreyas Laddha, The Kansas City Star on Dec 16, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

LAWRENCE, Kan. — No Darryn Peterson, no problem for the Kansas men’s basketball team.

At least in Tuesday’s game, a dominant wire-to-wire victory over Towson.

No. 17 KU defeated Towson, 73-49, in Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks improved to 9-3. They are 4-0 all time against the Tigers.

Fans learned about two hours before the game that Peterson would be sitting out again, this time due to cramping in his quad. Tuesday was his eighth missed game of the season.

Jamari McDowell started in his place.

Flory Bidunga led KU with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Tre White added 16 points, six rebounds and five assists.

The Jayhawks were big favorites and never trailed Tuesday, but they did not pull away for some time.

The trio of Bidunga, White and Melvin Council Jr. accounted for 29 of KU’s 36 points in the first half. But the Jayhawks only led by 11 at the break.

The margin was as close as nine early in the second half before the Jayhawks pushed their advantage to as many as 25 points. They led for more than 39 minutes of game time.

Up next for KU: The Jayhawks host Davidson on Monday

Until then, here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s game:

Bidunga asserts himself

From the start of the game, Bidunga wasn’t shy about looking for his shot.

It was the first time in weeks that the big man played this aggressively on offense, and it showed on the stat sheet.

The last time Bidunga scored more than 13 points was against Notre Dame on Nov 24. He had 18 points in that game.

Well, he had 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting in the first half alone. He also had five rebounds.

He kept up that level of aggression in the second half. It’s how he posted 18 points for the game, his most since that outing against Notre Dame.

Promising signs from KU’s defense

Like much of the season, Kansas played exemplary defense against Towson. It wasn’t exactly shocking, as the Tigers are not known for being great on offense. Still, it was impressive.

In a game where KU was the heavy betting favorite, the defense didn’t slip.

Kansas held Towson to 27.5% shooting, including 12.5% from deep. Those numbers could have been even lower.

One Towson player had no issue scoring against KU’s stifling defense: Dylan Williamson. He had 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the floor in the first half. Only one other Towson starter scored — and he scored exactly one point — during that time.

The Jayhawks figured out how to limit Williamson in the second half. He scored only five more points on 2-for-8 shooting.

Towson made just three 3s for the game and only attempted 12 free throws.

Area for improvement: Rebounding

Given the Jayhawks never trailed, this might seem a little nitpicky, but KU’s rebounding left a lot to be desired.

Coming into Tuesday, the Tigers had some impressive rebounding numbers, including ranking No. 34 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage (37.3).

So, maybe it’s not surprising that the Tigers dominated the offensive glass. Towson not only had more total rebounds (45 to KU’s 43), but also grabbed an offensive rebound on 44% of its misses.

Towson finished with 22 offensive rebounds to KU’s 12. It led to 13 second-chance points for the visitors.

The Jayhawks’ box outs and effort on the glass weren’t sharp, and that was noticeable in this game.

It didn’t matter Tuesday, but Kansas can’t repeat that showing against higher quality opponents.