Bill Self will take one (small) silver lining from KU Jayhawks’ loss at Iowa State
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Darryn Peterson and Tre White combined for 12 points in 74-56 loss.
- Self cited illness, White’s oral surgery and limited practice as contributing factors.
- KU basketball’s Big 12 odds get tougher after setback in Ames, Iowa.
Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson scored a season-low 10 points off 3-of-10 shooting with no assists against three turnovers in 24 minutes.
Senior Tre White, meanwhile, also had his worst offensive game of the 2025-26 campaign, cashing just two points — 0-for-3 from the field and 2-of-2 from the line — while toiling 15 minutes the first half, just eight the second stanza.
It all added to 12 points — 22 below their combined averages — in the No. 9-ranked Jayhawks’ 74-56 blowout loss to No. 5 Iowa State on Saturday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
KU’s other three starters — Bryson Tiller, Flory Bidunga and Melvin Council Jr. — finished with 34 points on 13-of-26 shooting as the Jayhawks suffered their third double-digit loss to the Cyclones in the Jayhawks’ current four-game losing streak in Ames.
“It wasn’t good. But it’s not the worst thing that’s ever happened,” KU coach Bill Self said after the Cyclones shredded KU’s defense for 11 3-point baskets to KU’s six.
“Sometimes it’s better to have things ridiculously magnified to you so nobody can say, ‘Well, we almost did this’ or ‘We did this well,’” Self added. “Let’s just leave out of here knowing we’ve got to be a (bleep)-ton better than that moving forward.”
He discussed the off scoring nights of Peterson and White. Peterson, who is recovering from a recent bout of flu-like symptoms that preventing him from playing in Monday’s win over No. 1-ranked Arizona, did not play the last seven minutes against the Cyclones. He left for good with KU down 68-50.
“I think it was just probably game flow and conditioning” Self said. “I mean, I tried to sub him because, guys, he’s been sick. So when he needed to come out there at the end, I was thinking, ‘What do we do to give us the best chance to have success on Wednesday (at Oklahoma State)?’ So yes, that was just me making that decision (about Peterson playing time).”
Of Peterson’s play, Self said: “I didn’t think he was great, but he hadn’t practiced much. So I don’t think he was bad. I just don’t think anybody was great today, except for maybe Elmarko (Jackson, eight points, 23 minutes). He played well.
“But I think lack of court time had a lot to do with that. And they did a good job defending him, too,” Self added of Peterson.
White did not play the last eight minutes. KU trailed 65-47 when he exited for good.
White it turns out practiced just one day since the Arizona game.
“He had oral surgery on Wednesday … from an infected root canal that they had to cut him open and go do,” Self said. “You got another guy coming off a sickness. Tre practiced yesterday from a non-live standpoint (Peterson also practiced Friday). It was great we had (White). I’m glad we did. But we’ve got to get everybody practicing and playing together so we know what we’re dealing with every day.”
Self said he probably would not have inserted White and Peterson down the stretch had KU gotten the deficit under double figures.
“Well, to be honest with you, if we’re playing better without him, I probably wouldn’t have (re-inserted Peterson late),” Self said. “If we were able to come back (from 24-point deficit with 12:04 left), I probably would have kept the guys in there that brought us back. I thought Elmarko was by far the best player we had today.”
Self said he thought “Melvin (Council Jr.) tried hard, but I also thought he did some uncharacteristic things. I mean, he threw one ball that, I think in the NFL, they say, ‘If you get outside the pocket, you can throw it in the 15th row.’ He definitely did that. He was outside the pocket and threw one way away.”
Council, who had 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting in 34 minutes (six points the second half), indeed fired a cross-court pass high over a teammate’s head out of bounds in the second stanza.
KU, which lost for the first time in nine outings, saw its record drop to 19-6 overall and 9-3 in the league. ISU is 22-3, 9-3.
Asked how he thinks the team will react to its first loss in nine games, Self said: “Gosh, I hope we react like men. Because in February, when you play conference games and you play away from home, there’s a great chance even the best teams leave unhappy. So we just can’t let one become two.
“But we’ve got to practice. We’ve got to get together and practice. Obviously, we’ve got to get everybody healthy and playing where we’re playing and simulating, actually, what it’s going to be like to play against teams that really know how to compete like Iowa State did today.”
KU defeated Iowa State by 21 points in Lawrence on Jan. 13. ISU won by 18 in Ames.
“Well, they were a lot better today than they were against us the first time,” Self said. “The thing about it is, TJ (Otzelberger, ISU coach) and I have actually talked about this: The season’s long. We caught them when they weren’t very good. They had a terrible seven to 10 days, whatever it was, the worst seven to 10 they’ve had this season. We were the same way. We were coming off having that stretch. And we bowed our neck that game, and they bowed their neck this game, even after coming off the game in Fort Worth (ISU lost to TCU on Tuesday in Fort Worth, Texas).
“So it’s a long season. It’s ebbs and flows. It’s disappointing that we left out of here not putting game pressure on them. Because you can come up here and play great and not win, but certainly we didn’t put any game pressure on them,” Self added.
