Still in contention for Big 12 title, KU basketball gears for games vs. BYU, Tech
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- KU stands 5-2 in Big 12 and pursues the regular-season conference title.
- KU faces BYU on Saturday, Texas Tech on Monday with “GameDay” spotlight on Allen.
- Freshmen Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa emerge as top 2026 NBA prospects.
After opening conference play with a 5-2 record, Kansas considers itself a contender for the Big 12 men’s basketball title.
“We’re just working, continuing to work toward a common goal of trying to push and fight to win the regular season Big 12 championship,” sophomore guard Elmarko Jackson said after scoring a career-high 19 points in Saturday’s 86-62 victory over Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
“We’re just taking it day by day. It just feels like all the work, the teamwork is paying off,” Jackson added.
On Sunday, KU’s 5-2 start placed the Jayhawks in a tie for fifth in the league standings with Iowa State. Arizona stood first at 7-0 heading into a Big Monday game against Texas Tech (6-1). BYU and Houston enter the week 5-1. Iowa State and KU are 5-2, followed by UCF and West Virginia (4-3). TCU is 3-4. Nobody else has more than two wins.
Things can change in a hurry with KU taking on BYU on Saturday in a 3:30 p.m. tip at Allen Fieldhouse followed by a Big Monday game against Texas Tech set for an 8 p.m. start in Lubbock, Texas.
“Big game, biggest game so far probably,” freshman forward Bryson Tiller said of the BYU game. “We’ve got to lock into the scout, be aggressive, have a tight huddle, hold on. It’ll be really good.”
The BYU game is so big … ESPN will be bringing its “GameDay” crew to Lawrence. Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Seth Greenberg, Jay Williams and Andraya Carter will host an hour-long show at 10 a.m. Saturday in the fieldhouse in advance of the 3:30 start, also to appear on ESPN.
ESPN obviously is interested in the matchup between KU’s Darryn Peterson and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, who are two players vying for the top spot in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Dybantsa, a 6-9 freshman from Brockton, Massachusetts, has played in all 19 games for the Cougars. He averages 23.6 points (on 55.4% shooting) and 6.8 rebounds per game. He has 67 assists to 53 turnovers with 25 steals and nine blocks on the season.
Peterson, a 6-6 freshman from Canton, Ohio, has played in 10 of 20 games for the Jayhawks, who take a 15-5 overall mark into the game against BYU (17-2). Peterson has averaged 21.6 points a game on 49.3% shooting. He’s averaged 4.6 rebounds per contest with 19 assists against 16 turnovers. He has 10 steals and seven blocks overall while playing 27.2 minutes per game.
Peterson did not play against Kansas State on Saturday. He sprained an ankle Tuesday at Colorado.
“I think he’ll play. I don’t know for a fact. I’m not a doctor, but I think he’ll play,” Self said Saturday night. “That game will obviously mean a lot to a lot of people, and they’re terrific and ‘GameDay’ will make it extra hype. So I don’t see any reason that he couldn’t play. If he played today, he would have been ineffective because he couldn’t have pushed off today.”
On Saturday, 6-4 senior Melvin Council Jr. drew the defensive assignment on one of the best players in the Big 12: KSU’s P.J. Haggerty, a 6-4 junior who had 18 of his 23 points in the second half. He hit 6 of 17 shots (1-for-2 from 3 and 10-of-12 from line). Council countered with 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting (1-for-4 from 3; 2-for-3 from the line) with 12 assists and seven rebounds.
“I don’t know that I expected it, but I expected him to shoot 12 free throws,” Self said of Haggerty’s volume of shots. “The thing about him, I actually told our team, I said, ‘He’s going to get 20 shots and he’s going to shoot 10 free throws. And if he shoots it well, he’s going to have 30. We’ve just got to limit his good looks.’ And I think for the most part we did. He’s a natural scorer, though. We don’t have many of those that we play against that’s just a natural scorer.”
Self outlined KU’s schedule for the week.
“We’ll practice Monday and Tuesday. We’ll take Wednesday off and practice Thursday and Friday. Because if you don’t take Wednesday off, now you’re looking at many consecutive days with Texas Tech on Monday.”
