Kansas trailed 48-33 when Flory Bidunga checked in with 12:35 to play in the second half. Bidunga impacted the game on both ends as the Jayhawks went on a 15-2 run over four minutes to cut the deficit to two. Kansas couldn’t complete the comeback, but the freshman proved impactful while playing an untraditional role. He finished the game with eight points and 11 rebounds in a season-high 18 minutes.

Bidunga had primarily served as Hunter Dickinson’s backup, playing alongside KJ Adams or around four guards in about 12 minutes per game. Tuesday’s game saw an extended look at a lineup with both Dickinson and Bidunga.

The two big men shared the court for 10 minutes and were a part of Kansas’ best five. The Jayhawks outscored the Mountaineers 20-9 over this stretch and provided rebounding opportunities and offensive mismatches.

“He really came in and brought a lot of energy, especially in that second half, he definitely fueled that comeback,” Dickinson said postgame. “When me and him are together in there, they usually have to have somebody smaller [on Flory], and he was able to take advantage of that.”

West Virginia’s smaller lineup forced the 6’9” Bidunga to guard one of the Mountaineers’ guards. Bill Self said Bidunga did a good job defending West Virginia’s point guard, which he probably has never had to do in his life.

“His defense was incredible,” Zeke Mayo added. “It’s not often you see a six-nine pick up the point guard 94 feet, like that’s just incredible. His athleticism, it really was on display tonight.”

The Bidunga/Dickinson lineup was almost seen as a necessity with no one else succeeding at the four. Self said KJ Adams didn’t have a great game, as he finished with two points and one rebound in 28 minutes.

Kansas couldn’t go to a four-guard lineup either, as the two bigger wings did “nothing” according to Self. AJ Storr finished with 0 points and was -14 in 15 minutes. Rylan Griffen had just three points on three shots. Self went to four guards around Dickinson for just 1:39 and was outscored 5-0.

“Maybe we just play three bigs and just rotate those guys equally,” Self said. “But Flory’s gotta play more, but the bottom line is, the reason he’s got to play more is because we’re not really getting a lot out of a couple positions right now.”

The only real negative of Bidunga’s performance happened with the game on the line. Kansas switched after a ball screen, leaving Bidunga on Javon Small. He got Bidunga in the air and drew a foul, making a free throw to give West Virginia the deciding 62-61 lead. Self said that he should’ve had Adams in that position, who has more experience defending guards in those situations.

“We put Flory in for Hunt for defensive purposes which was good,” Self said. “Should’ve put KJ on zero [Eduardo Andre] because zero was gonna be the ball-screener. So if you switch five, KJ’s on him instead of Flory. That’s not Flory’s fault, that’s my fault.”

Bidunga’s performance and the second-half comeback did not outshine the larger issues with the Jayhawks’ offense. Kansas lost its Big 12 opener for the first time in 34 years and faces a conference slate that will continue to get tougher.

“In order to play in this league, you need to hold serve at home and we obviously didn’t accomplish that, yet,” Self said. “We need to just continue to grind and stick together and we’ll get better, but the reality of it is, we’re not the team that I think a lot of us thought we would be on January 1.”