KU players’ wild celebration after victory over TCU deemed second best of season
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- Kansas rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat TCU 104-100 in overtime.
- Darryn Peterson scored 32 points; Melvin Council delivered clutch overtime play.
- Bill Self called the celebration bested only by Tennessee win that earned $300,000.
Bill Self stood just outside the northwest tunnel of Allen Fieldhouse, near the end of the Kansas bench, and congratulated each of his Jayhawks basketball players as they jogged to the locker room after Tuesday’s 104-100 come-from-behind victory over TCU.
A joyous reaction to the win ensued behind closed doors — captured on KU basketball’s social media X account — as the Jayhawks rejoiced after erasing a 15-point deficit in the final 4:20 and prevailing in overtime.
Self, KU’s 23rd-year men’s basketball coach, was asked in a late-night meeting with reporters if it was the most joyous postgame locker room celebration his squad has experienced this season With the win KU, improved to 11-4 (1-1 Big 12), having defeated the likes of Missouri, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Tennessee.
“I actually think there was one that topped it, because I think this was a celebratory locker room, but I think it was an exhausted locker room,” Self said after Tuesday’s game, in which four Jayhawks played 32 or more minutes (Flory Bidunga 41; Melvin Council Jr. 41; Tre White 38 and Darryn Peterson 32).
“The one that topped it was Tennessee,” Self added with a smile, “in large part because the guys got $300,000 for winning that game.”
That comeback victory over Tennessee, a game in which KU rallied from a 12-point deficit, came in the third-place game of the Players Era tourney in Las Vegas. The winner of the third-place game was guaranteed an additional $300,000 in prize money, which was directed to the players in NIL money.
All the teams in that tournament were guaranteed $1 million just for competing.
“Our guys haven’t got it (money) yet,” Self said, “but that’s what that game was played for. So I would still give that one the advantage probably for reasons beyond my control.”
KU on Tuesday was led by Peterson’s 32 points and six rebounds in 32 minutes. Council scored nine pivotal points in overtime and finished with 18 points, eight assists and six rebounds. He went 5-for-7 from the free-throw line in overtime and 7-of-10 overall.
Peterson hit 13 free throws in 15 tries as KU as a team was 30-for-40 from the line; TCU went 15-of-24.
Council said getting to play in such a loud atmosphere down the stretch of regulation, and in overtime, is what he envisioned in transferring from mid-major St. Bonaventure to KU for his final season of college hoops.
“Playing at the highest level. Why not? You know, I want to go to the pros, so why not play at Kansas?” Council said.
Sophomore forward Bidunga, who considered transferring after his freshman season before electing to remain a Jayhawk said: “This is Kansas. I feel like we have to get ready for anybody. Because when people come here, they feel they want to beat us, so we get the best shot from everybody.
“And then we just have to embrace it. I feel like that was one of those games we were down but we kept fighting through, and we ended up winning the game. So that’s a big accomplishment.”
Of Council’s play, Bidunga said: “I feel like Melvin has a big personality. He’s a big energy giver. We definitely need that from him.”
Peterson might have been KU’s leading scorer, but he was unable to play in overtime because of the onset of cramps. Entering overtime, Council said he told himself, “I’ve got to take over.”
Council referenced Kansas’ recent game against UCF in explaining why: His foul on a breakaway layup gave the Knights a bucket and free throw — and four-point lead — in the final 10 seconds on Saturday in Florida.
“You know, I cost us the UCF game,” he said. “I should have taken over that game, but we can’t get that game back. I’ve just got to move on. But I had to take over and win it (Tuesday).”
Of his teammates, Council said, “They get me going. I love those guys that they get me going. They see if I’m not smiling on the court, they tell me, ‘We need you. You are a factor to our defense. Let’s go.’’’
The Jayhawks’ late comeback Tuesday helped them avoid an 0-2 start in conference play. Last time KU went 0-2 to open conference was in 1982-83.
“We need to be tougher, play harder, faster and we weren’t any of those things tonight until the very end,” Self said. “I thought that our team was collectively really poor, and I don’t think Flory was very good. But somehow the script flipped, and he was great in overtime. He didn’t jump for balls tonight and then in overtime he’s playing both hands above everybody else’s.”
Bidunga had four points, a steal and two rebounds in OT, helping save the day.
“But that was a poor effort that we got away with just,” Self said, “because the guys were able to somehow flip the switch there at the end. We can get better. We’ve got to get better.”
“We didn’t try (in getting outrebouned 43-38). I mean, they whipped us,” the coach added. “So these things all have to be corrected. I mean we go from being a good team defensively three weeks ago to a soft team. But we weren’t soft at game point. So that’s positive, that we have the potential not to be that.”
The Jayhawks’ late-game rally from a 15-point deficit came on a night the program honored the memory of former academic adviser Scott “Scooter” Ward, who died Saturday at age 59. A “Scooter No. 1” jersey was draped over a vacant chair in the north end of the arena during Tuesday’s game.
And a moment of silence was held for Ward shortly before tipoff.
“Do it for Scooter, man. Scooter was with us today,” Council said in the KU video on X, one in which he pointed to the “SW” patch on his jersey. Peterson, Kohl Rosario and Wilder Evers also pointed to the patch in the video filmed in the locker room.
Self hugged Ward’s wife, Robin, in the locker room area.
“Do you think your man was there tonight?” Self asked her.
“I think so,” she replied. “Great job. That was awesome.”
Tipoff for Saturday’s KU-West Virginia game is 11 a.m. Central Time in Morgantown, West Virginia.
This story was originally published January 7, 2026 at 3:27 PM.
