Arizona junior center Motiejus Krivas and Kansas sophomore forward Flory Bidunga are among the top 10 midseason candidates for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, the Basketball Hall of Fame announced on Thursday, ahead of a prime time Big 12 matchup between their teams on Monday at Allen Fieldhouse.
First, No. 1 Arizona (22-0, 9-0 Big 12) hosts Oklahoma State, fresh off a big-time win over No. 16 BYU on Saturday afternoon; No. 11 Kansas (17-5, 7-2 Big 12) hosts Utah in another midday matchup on Saturday.
Two of the league’s best rebounders, Krivas and Bidunga have lended quite a hand to their respective sides this season and create arguably the week’s best matchup in the paint with 14 combined feet between them.
Bidunga sees about 7.6 more minutes per game than Krivas, and is scoring at a higher clip (67.7%); Krivas sees the free-throw line more often and is 80.9% at the stripe. Arizona, too, has another big, veteran body, Tobe Awaka, they can throw at Bidunga for 20-plus minutes on Monday night.
Krivas, a native of Lithuania, is in his third season under the wing of Tommy Lloyd. Bidunga was briefly in the transfer portal this offseason, but withdrew his entry to return to Kansas for his sophomore season.
It’s the first of two regular-season matchups Arizona and Kansas will play this season; The Jayhawks travel to Tuscon later this month on Saturday, Feb. 28.
