Kansas basketball stuns TCU with late comeback, overtime win: Five takeaways
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas overcame a 16-point second-half deficit, forced OT and won 104-100.
- Freshman Darryn Peterson scored 32 points, hit clutch free throws despite cramping.
- TCU dominated rebounds and second-chance points; KU bent defensively in second half.
In 15 years, Kansas fans will still be bragging about where they were Tuesday night.
That’s how good of a game was played at Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks trailed TCU by as many as 16 points in the second half. They trailed by 15 with less than five minutes left. They trailed by nine with 1:14 to play.
And yet, Kansas rallied to force overtime. And late-game heroics? There were plenty, including from star freshman Darryn Peterson. He made three clutch free throws to send the game to overtime.
His teammates took it from there. Kansas survived a Big 12 thriller 104-100.
“I’ll leave here very, very thankful,” coach Bill Self said postgame, “knowing that we caught a break tonight.”
Peterson, whose cramping was an issue again and asked to come out of the game in the final minutes, returned with five seconds left in regulation. He drew a foul on a 3-pointer, making the free throws to tie the score and, after another TCU turnover, fired up a 3 that would’ve won the game had it gone.
The No. 22 Jayhawks were led by Peterson’s 32 points in 32 minutes, improving to 11-4 this season, 1-1 in Big 12 play. Tre White added 22 points and five rebounds.
Melvin Council led the Jayhawks with nine points in overtime.
Up next for KU: The Jayhawks head on the road to face West Virginia on Saturday.
Until then, here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s game:
Overtime was a battle
TCU didn’t go down without a fight.
The Jayhawks took a six-point lead in overtime, but the Horned Frogs fought back. TCU cut KU’s lead to two points after a Brock Harding 3-pointer with 34 seconds left. Council made a free throw and Elmarko Jackson stole the ensuing inbounds pass. Two more foul shots later, it was 102-97.
And still not over.
This time, TCU’s Jayden Pierre hit a 3-pointer to cut KU’s lead to two.
But KU’s Jamari McDowell then iced the game, making two free throws with nine seconds left for a four-point lead, the game’s final margin.
Crazy regulation ending
The end to regulation was nothing short of cinematic.
The game seemed over in the final minute. With 13 seconds left, TCU’s Lelevicius Liutauras sank two free throws to put TCU up 87-82. The Jayhawks rallied, but it appeared they would come up short.
Even after big man Flory Bidunga tipped in a shot to cut TCU’s lead to three points, TCU had possession with five seconds left. But the Jayhawks forced TCU into a turnover on the inbounds — the play was challenged and upheld — and Peterson, who had sat since the 2:22 mark in the second half, returned.
“I didn’t ask him if he wanted to (return),” Self said of Peterson. “He had to.”
Bidunga caught the inbounds pass and handed off to Peterson, who immediately looked to shoot and was fouled. He made all three free throws to tie the score at 87-all.
TCU attempted to throw it long on the following inbounds pass, but the ball went out of bounds, giving the Jayhawks possession under their own basket with 1.7 seconds to play. The game went to overtime after Peterson’s final shot missed.
Darryn Peterson’s career night
Peterson didn’t have his best shooting performance. And he started slow, shooting 3-for-10 in the first half.
Still, the freshman superstar had 14 points in the period. How? He was a foul-drawing magnet and shot 7-for-9 from the line. He also played a key role in KU’s run late in the first half, as the Jayhawks took a 41-36 lead into the locker room.
While Peterson continues to manage his cramping issues, he did play big minutes in the second half. He even returned when KU needed him most with seconds left in the regulation.
Peterson logged 16-and-a-half first-half minutes and 15-and-a-half more in the second half.
TCU hurt Kansas on the glass
One of the Jayhawks’ biggest issues Tuesday night was lackadaisical rebounding. At least that was how it looked at times.
“It sucked,” Self said, asked about the team’s defensive rebounding. “We didn’t try. I mean, they whipped us.”
TCU dominated the Jayhawks on the glass for periods of the game. There were times when the Jayhawks were caught ball-watching, only to have their opponents swoop in for the rebound.
TCU not only had more total rebounds (43 to KU’s 38), but the Horned Frogs had a significant advantage on the offensive glass. TCU finished with 16 offensive rebounds to KU’s nine.
The Horned Frogs turned those offensive rebounds into 20 second-chance points.
“These things all have to be corrected,” Self said.
The Jayhawks’ defense struggled again
One game after Self ripped his team’s defense, the players seemed to heed his words ... for a half.
KU held TCU to 31.6% shooting, including 30% on 3-pointers, in the first period.
What followed in the second half was a surprise.
It felt like TCU couldn’t miss against the Jayhawks, and much of it was due to poor rotations and issues defending after switching. TCU shot 63.3% in the second half and made 66.7% of its shots from 3.
While rebounding kept the Horned Frogs in the game early, the offense finally picked up until the mistakes piled up down the stretch.
“We go from being a good team defensively, three weeks ago, to a soft team,” Self said. “But we weren’t soft at game point. So that’s positive — that we have the potential not to be that.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2026 at 11:31 PM.
