KU Jayhawks’ bench scores 42 vs. UNC. Coach Bill Self sees room for improvement

Kansas Jayhawks guard Zeke Mayo has a way of making scoring look effortless.

The South Dakota transfer scored 21 points off the bench in KU’s thrilling 92-89 victory over fellow hoops blueblood North Carolina on Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse.

The idea of a quality bench scorer has been a foreign concept for Kansas in the last two seasons. After all, the Jayhawks’ reserves averaged a mere 11.8 points per game combined last season.

Forget about all that. Against the Tar Heels, the bench players combined for 42 points. That came after the KU reserves teamed up for 45 against Howard in the season opener on Monday.

KU’s reserve trio of Mayo, guard AJ Storr and freshman big man Flory Bidunga accounted for all 42 of Kansas’ bench points Friday.

Coach Bill Self indicated this is just the beginning of seeing what those three can do

“Well, I don’t think Diggy, Rylan (both starters) and AJ are comfortable yet,” Self said. “Zeke obviously played lights-out (but) he got tired. He missed like his last five (shots), but he was on fire there for a stretch.

“Looking at it, KJ Adams played way to many minutes, but other than that nobody played 30 (minutes), which is kind of a welcome deal for us, considering how we had to play everybody 35-37 (minutes) last year. We’ll get better, but that was just trying to piece it together down the stretch and not to lose in the second half.”

Self’s assessment was spot-on. Storr averaged 16.8 points per game for Wisconsin as a first option last year and is still adjusting to his role at KU. At moments on Friday — during a downhill drive, or while he was creating a clutch bucket when KU’s offense had stalled out — Storr looked good.

Meanwhile, Mayo had a spectacular game. His transition appears to have been the smoothest of KU’s six transfers. He’s also KU’s best shooter.

“Keep shooting the ball man, keep shooting,” Dajuan Harris said of teammate Mayo. “(Former KU star) Devonte Graham even told me to tell Zeke to keep shooting. … He’s the best shooter on our team and we need him to do that.”

Freshman big Bidunga also held his own against UNC, showing flashes of why Self is so high on him — and why he has the potential to be KU’s next great big man.

For example, he collected two offensive rebounds in the same sequence and turned them into a bucket. He finished with eight points vs. UNC.

Bidunga has way to go yet, much like the rest of the Jayhawks. But having a quality bench is a newfound if welcome luxury for KU. The last time KU had a bench this good — 2022 — they cut down nets in New Orleans.

Harris is still getting used to having capable guys behind him ... and being subbed out for them from time to time.

“To be honest, I do not like it,” he said of coming out of games as needed. “I like playing. But we (are) deep this year, so I understand. I don’t even need to make a lot of plays. I barely did anything in the first half. They did all the work and I was just following behind them. They made it easy for me.”