Flory Bidunga led Kansas with 18 points in a 71-61 win over Notre Dame in the opening round of the Players Era men’s tournament on Monday afternoon in Las Vegas.
Bidunga stuffed the stat sheet with nine rebounds, five assists and five blocks for Kansas (4-2).
Bryson Tiller tallied 17 points and nine rebounds, Tre White added 16 points and nine rebounds and Melvin Council Jr. chipped in 12 points for the Jayhawks.
Markus Burton scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Fighting Irish (4-2). Jalen Haralson tallied 13 points and Carson Towt pulled down 10 rebounds.
Kansas will face Syracuse on Tuesday and Notre Dame will take on Rutgers before the final round of matchups is decided.
Early on, Bidunga blocked a 3-point attempt by Burton from the top of the key. He fought his way through Burton’s flagrant foul on the other end for what became a four-point play as the Jayhawks took a 17-15 lead.
When Kansas inbounded the ball, Bidunga’s layup made it a six-point possession and part of a 13-2 run. As the Jayhawks found their way, Notre Dame struggled as it shot 0 for 8 on field goal attempts during the Kansas rally.
Another Bidunga layup gave the Jayhawks a 31-20 lead with 5:02 to go in the first half. Braeden Shrewsberry and Cole Certa hit threes on consecutive Fighting Irish possessions to cut the Kansas lead to 39-32 at halftime.
The Fighting Irish rallied early in the second half with a 6-2 scoring spurt. Burton’s driving layup cut the Jayhawks’ advantage to 45-40.
But Council canned a corner three on an assist from White to spark an 8-2 Kansas run as the Jayhawks extended their lead to 53-42 with 12:35 to play. Kansas had 16 assists on 28 baskets, while the Fighting Irish managed only six assists on their 22 makes.
The Fighting Irish were determined to stick close to the Jayhawks. Sir Mohammed’s jumper capped a 9-2 Notre Dame run as the Kansas lead shrunk to 55-51 with 8:11 to play. It was the closest the Fighting Irish would get the rest of the way, as Tiller scored four straight points for some cushion.
Kansas went up 64-54 with 4:15 left on Tiller’s two-hand slam.
