Moments That Popped: No. 1 Kansas 78, Oakland 57

The top-ranked Kansas men’s basketball team welcomed a talented and established program into Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday evening for their second home game of the season.

And the Jayhawks were pretty rude hosts.

Despite Oakland’s continuity under 41-year head coach Greg Kampe and the fact that a handful of these players were on the team last year when the Grizzlies knocked off Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament, they never stood a chance inside Allen Fieldhouse.

KU (4-0) jumped all over them — in different ways and with different players — from the jump and never looked back, leading 46-24 at halftime and winning 78-57.

KU saw 4 different players reach double figures. AJ Storr scored 16 to lead the Jayhawks, and KU had turned it over just 4 times as late as the 5-minute mark in the second half while finishing with 6 for the game.

Next up: KU will take on UNC-Wilmington inside Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday.

Tipoff for that one is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

Here’s a look back at some of Saturday’s action.

LIKES

• Shak sighting – It wasn’t a huge day and he didn’t play a ton of minutes, but it was good to see Mississippi State transfer Shak Moore out there all the same. You can see a lot of things to like in his game and he looked pretty comfortable for a first game inside Allen Fieldhouse, while his teammates have all had a 3-5 game head start on him this season. He checked in for Dajuan Harris Jr. midway through the first half and played 4:45 as the primary ball handler in KU’s attack. As advertised, he looked strong, quick, tough and tenacious.

• All hail Zeke – After showcasing his shooting and ability to fill up a stat sheet when the shot’s not falling earlier this season, Mayo brought out his wow bag on Saturday night. He’s so smooth and effortless in almost everything he does and continues to make winning plays time and time again. But he also has a fair amount of flash to him and he brought a little of that out in this one. Some of it on the same play even. After catching an outlet pass to start a fastbreak, an Oakland defender jumped him, trying to force the travel. Instead, Mayo calmly put the ball behind his back and kept running at top speed. From there, he kept his head up, attacked the rim, raced past a defender on one side of the rim, dipped under it and laid the ball in effortlessly on the other side for a finish that had people in the crowd wincing and oohing and ahhing in appreciation.

• Storr’s best yet – Speaking of nice games, KU guard AJ Storr turned in one on Saturday, showing the perfect balance between attacking and playing downhill and not forcing things too much in the process. Storr played 19 minutes off the bench and finished with a pretty full stat line while looking incredibly relaxed and under control during most of the Jayhawks’ possessions with him on the floor.

• Coit clicks – After a scorching hot start, Diggy Coit was a little quiet for a couple of games. But he got back into the flow in this one almost immediately after checking in. He knocked down a 3, dished an assist and scrapped on defense the way you saw him battle earlier this season.

• Bidunga’s short memory – After getting yanked in the first half following a couple of aggressive but unnecessary fouls (more on that in the next section), KU big man Flory Bidunga got another shot in the first half and made it count. Forget that he made a couple of plays and dunked the ever-living-life out of the ball whenever he could. The thing I liked most was that he did not turn timid on defense. Most players, after being pulled for fouling, would be much more passive when they got back out there for fear of getting yanked again. Not Flory. He continued to seek out blocks and challenge shots and made a couple of plays for his team in the process. This Kansas team is deep enough and talented enough for him to play every possession the way it needs to be played, regardless of how many fouls he does or doesn’t have, and this kid seems to get that with great clarity.

DISLIKES

• Points in the paint – We’re nit-picking a little bit here, but you can bet it caught the KU coaching staff’s attention, so we’ll go with it. Despite never really being in the game, Oakland scored 32 points in the paint in this one, while grabbing 10 offensive rebounds at the same time. Bidunga will come along in that area and Hunter Dickinson will find his spots. But the Jayhawks are going to need better defense at the rim as the season goes along.

• Flory’s post D – Shortly after checking into the game for the first time on Saturday, freshman big man Flory Bidunga picked up a pair of fouls and probably got away with a third one as Oakland attacked the paint, not necessarily to attack him but to try to loosen things up inside. It just happened to work out that Bidunga was a little too physical, putting the Grizzlies on the free throw line a couple of times and giving up a bucket at the rim on another. A clear sign that Bidunga is still young and just needs to work on his feet, positioning and strength to avoid some of these types of fouls. Hunter Dickinson checked back in for him after his second foul.

WHAT THE?

• There’s a new banner in AFH – This one only falls into this category because of the look on KU coach Bill Self’s face as he walked out to an absolute roar from the crowd, which had just witnessed the unveiling of a new banner at the south end of Allen Fieldhouse. Hanging below the retired jerseys — twice as wide as any one of them — is a white banner with blue trim and blue letters that reads: Bill Self Kansas Basketball All-Time Winningest Coach. Self achieved that feat, of course, last Tuesday, with the win over Michigan State at the Champions Classic. That night, he moved past the legendary Phog Allen with 591 wins… and counting. Self has never been one to make things about him or allow people to make too much of a fuss over him. Hence the look when he walked out. But you know that someday, whether it’s in 10 days or 10 years — or perhaps both — Self is going to look back at this achievement and absolutely shake his head over what he’s been able to accomplish as the head coach of the Jayhawks. Cool moment. The banner is permanent. And there’s no number on it because there’s no telling how many wins Self will rack up before he’s finished. Earlier this week, he was asked about how much longer he might coach. He said he’d like to do it a while longer but noted that he knows he’s on the Back 9. “I don’t know if I’m on 13 or 16, but I know I’m not on 18,” he said.