Kansas Coach Bill Self on Latest Darryn Peterson Exit: ‘It’s a Concern’

Kansas Jayhawks star Darryn Peterson went off in the team’s Wednesday night road victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The problem? He only lasted 18 minutes. During the second half, Peterson pointed to the Kansas bench to be taken out of the game with 17:42 remaining in the second half due to cramping, ending the freshman’s night. Jayhawks coach Bill Self spoke on the matter after the game. “We’ve had it happen [Peterson get hurt] more than a couple of times. I didn’t anticipate that tonight at all,” Self said in his postgame press conference about Peterson leaving the Jayhawks’ 81-69 win over the Cowboys. “I thought he was good to go, but, obviously, we only got 18 minutes out of him. That’s disappointing because he could’ve had a really big night, but one thing about it is it’s happened often enough that our guys have learned to play without him, even though that’s not the way we want to play. But that’s certainly something that we’re not unaccustomed to right now.” Peterson has missed 11 games this season due to a combination of hamstring, quad, ankle and cramping issues, while also missing time due to illness. Wednesday night was one of multiple instances where Peterson has checked himself out of a game. “It’s a concern,” Self said about Peterson, per ESPN. “I thought we were past it, but obviously we’re not. It’s certainly a concern. “You get into the NCAA tournament, you’re playing a team just as good as you and you need to have all your best players available, so to speak. All it takes is for one day like that to derail not only a game, but a season. “It’s concerning, but I do think we’re making progress with it.” When Peterson has been on the floor, he has dazzled. Despite his night ending early, Peterson still finished Wednesday with a game-high 23 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the field, 6 of 10 shooting from behind the arc and 3 of 4 shooting from the charity stripe. Across the 15 games that he has appeared in this season, Peterson, a potential top-five pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, is averaging 20.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.2 steals in 26.9 minutes per game, while shooting 48.5/43.1/79.5. The No. 8-ranked Jayhawks are 20-6 overall and 10-3 in Big 12 play, good for fourth in the conference.