KU’s Darryn Peterson showed why he’s special. And he did it on an off night
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- Darryn Peterson drove to the rim, drew fouls and tied score late in regulation.
- He scored 32 points in 32 minutes, converting 13 points from free throws.
- Coach Self credited downhill attacks over jump shots as key to Peterson’s burst.
Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson has an innate ability to make things look easy on the basketball court.
It’s the hallmark of a superstar.
So then, it was no surprise that when Peterson was struggling to score Tuesday night, he went into his bag of tricks for something else: He began driving and drawing fouls in KU’s thrilling comeback victory over TCU, 104-100.
He put his head down and got to the rim. He took nine foul shots in the first half and made seven. His biggest free throws were still to come.
“The best thing he did tonight was get downhill,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “He hasn’t done that because he’s (had cramps). People can question whatever they are going to question. Everybody can be an armchair quarterback ... but the bottom line is you saw what his legs look like when he can get downhill as opposed to just settling for jump shots.”
On the night, Peterson finished with 32 points in 32 minutes. He also grabbed six rebounds. Thirteen of his points came from the free-throw line. He ended the night shooting 8-for-18 (44%) from the floor.
Self noted that Peterson had primarily relied on jump shots so far this season, saying it was good to see him have the burst to attack the rim.
“Hopefully, we became a team, and we saw Darryn play through stuff and look healthy,” Self said. “He didn’t get through the game, but got through the vast majority of it.”
Despite Peterson dealing with cramping issues, he played 15-plus minutes in the second half. That included five pivotal seconds at the end of regulation.
After Peterson exited the game with 2:22 left, his night looked to be over. Instead, he came back in with the Jayhawks trailing by three points, 87-84. It had been a 15-point game with under five minutes to play.
Self said that Peterson didn’t necessarily ask to go back in the game, but that the Jayhawks needed their star guard.
He made the most of his five seconds.
Peterson was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 1.7 seconds left. He made all three free throws to tie the score and force overtime.
“There was nothing to say to him. He got it,” teammate Melvin Council responded when asked if he said anything to Peterson before the foul shots. “He’s ice cold, cold blooded.”
Peterson didn’t play in overtime, but the Jayhawks managed to escape with the win.
“He started to cramp (late in regulation), or he felt it coming on, so that was his decision to come out,” Self said. “He wouldn’t have come out, obviously, unless he had to, but I think for five seconds he can suck it up. … Even after he made the free throws, he said, ’OK, get me out.’”
Peterson wasn’t fully healthy — as has been the case the vast majority of the season — but he managed to carry the team for most of the night before Council and company took over in overtime.
It was the defining performance, thus far, of his KU basketball season. But Self believes there’s another gear he can get to.
Ditto for the team.
“He’s a special talent, but we don’t know how to play with him yet,” Self said. “He doesn’t know how to play with the others yet. So there’s a lot of things we need to be until we become that, and that is tougher, harder and faster. We weren’t any of those things tonight until the very end.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2026 at 7:00 AM.
