Postgame Notes: A closer look at KU's big road win
KU STARTERS (AT KANSAS/CAREER)
3-Tre White (11/97)
14-Melvin Council Jr. (11/72)
15-Bryson Tiller (8/8)
22-Darryn Peterson (4/4)
40-Flory Bidunga (17/17)
SERIES INFO
Kansas leads 14-1
THE WIN
— Makes Kansas 8-3 or better for the 20th-consecutive season and the 22nd time in Bill Self’s 23 seasons at KU.
— Makes the Kansas-NC State series 14-1 in favor of Kansas and be Kansas’ 14th consecutive series victory.
— Makes Kansas 1-1 in true road games this season and 5-2 in games not played in Allen Fieldhouse.
— Makes Bill Self 617-159 while at Kansas, 824-264 all-time and 4-0 all-time against NC State, all while at Kansas… Make Kansas 2-1 in the month of December and 120-19 in December under Bill Self.
— Makes Kansas 2,422-912 all-time.
TEAM NOTES
— Kansas went with the starting lineup of Tre White, Melvin Council Jr., Bryson Tiller, Darryn Peterson, and Flory Bidunga for the second time this season. The first was against Missouri on Dec. 7, which Kansas won, 80-60.
— Kansas and NC State were tied at halftime, 30-30, marking Kansas’ first halftime tie this season.
— NC State’s 30 first-half points were the fewest by the Wolfpack in a first half this season.
— Saturday’s game marked Kansas’ first overtime game of the season and first since March 12, 2025, which resulted in a 98-94 win over UCF in the Big 12 Tournament.
— The overtime win marked Kansas’ first in a true road game since Feb. 11, 2019, in an 82-77 victory over TCU. It was also Kansas’ first non-conference true road win in overtime since Jan. 9, 2011, in a 67-60 win over Michigan.
— Kansas hit 11 three-point field goals. In the only other true road game this season, Kansas knocked down 12 three pointers at North Carolina on Nov. 7. The last time Kansas had double-digit three-pointers in back-to-back true road games was the 2022-23 season when the Jayhawks did it three games in a row, Dec. 10, 2022, at Missouri (10), Jan. 3, 2023, at Texas Tech (11), and Jan. 7, 2023, at West Virginia (11).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
— Senior Melvin Council Jr. scored a career-high 36 points on 13-of-27 from the field, marking his seventh game in double figures scoring this season and 63rd game of his career.
— Council’s 36 points were a career high, surpassing his previous high of 28 points, which came against Gwynedd Mercy on Dec. 22, 2023, while at St. Bonaventure. Council is the first Kansas player with at least 30 points in a true road game in their first year at KU, since Dedric Lawson at Arizona State on Dec. 22, 2018 (30 points).
–Council’s 36-point performance was the first 30+ point performance of the season and the first since Hunter Dickinson scored 33 points against Arizona on March 8, 2025.
–Council’s 36 points were the most by a Jayhawk in a true road game since Jalen Wilson scored 38 points at Kansas State on Jan. 17, 2023, while Council is just the third since 1996-97 with 36 or more points on the road (Jalen Wilson, 38 points at Kansas State, 2023; Andrew Wiggins, 41 points at West Virginia, 2014; Elijah Johnson, 39 points at Iowa State, 2013).
— Council’s 36 points were the second most in a single game by a Big 12 Conference player this season and are the 13th most in all of college basketball.
— Council also surpassed 1,100 career points; he currently has 1,133 over his career.
— Council’s 36 points are tied for the fifth most by a Division I player in a true road game this season.
–Council shot 9-of-15 from beyond the arc, marking a career-high in 3-point attempts and makes. Council’s previous career-high of four 3-pointers came against Niagara on Dec. 21, 2024, while at St. Bonaventure.
— Council’s nine 3-pointers made were the second-most in a game in Kansas school history, behind only Terry Brown’s 11 made 3-pointers against NC State on Jan. 5, 1991.
— Council tied a season high with seven rebounds, and has grabbed five or more rebounds in six games this season, and 49th time in his career.
— Council played 43 minutes, which is the most by a Jayhawk this season.
— Sophomore Flory Bidunga recorded one blocked shot, giving him 26 blocks this season, which leads the team. Bidunga now has at least one blocked in each of the last nine games.
— Bidunga pulled down 11 rebounds against NC State, and has eclipsed 10 or more rebounds in three consecutive games, and fifth time this season.
Freshman Darren Peterson scored 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting, marking his fourth career game in double figures scoring. Peterson scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half.
— Peterson grabbed a season-high five rebounds and recorded a season-high four assists.
— Kansas senior Tre White scored 12 points on 4-of-11 from the field, marking his ninth double-digit scoring effort of the season and the 57th over his career.
— White grabbed six rebounds and has now recorded six or more rebounds in nine consecutive games.
— Redshirt sophomore Elmarko Jackson tied a season high by grabbing four rebounds.
