The vision of all KU could be with Darryn Peterson still hasn’t matched reality
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas suffered a 69-47 loss to Houston and missed 17 straight shots.
- Jayhawks enter the NCAA tournament lacking sustained momentum after Peterson's return.
- Coaching staff and fans face a disconnect between potential with Peterson and results.
Bill Self walked off the floor and through the tunnel inside the T-Mobile Center, popping his head up to deliver a one-word recap.
“Ugly,” he said.
Oh, that was the day before.
Kansas followed the ugly with the downright ghastly, a 69-47 loss Friday night to Houston during which the Jayhawks missed 17 straight shots in the Big 12 tournament semifinals.
Next up: The NCAA tournament.
What timing, huh?
Look, there is little to no correlation between a team’s performance in the conference tournament and its follow-up in the NCAA Tournament. That’s been studied.
Maybe Kansas shouldn’t be concerned that it laid an egg in Kansas City — but it should be concerned it still hasn’t hatched any momentum since its star returned.
The Jayhawks are headed to March Madness, and still the imagination of what this team could be with Darryn Peterson has been better than the reality.
That’s not all on him.
That’s on all parties involved.
KU has lost five of nine, and all nine included Peterson in the starting lineup. The final seven included him finishing the fight. (The Jayhawks are 3-4 in those seven.) This team teased its ceiling without Peterson, but it will watch the bracket release on Sunday yet to reach it with him over the last month.
It’s maddening, because there have been moments — more frequent moments, anyway — when he’s looked about as healthy as he has in weeks. He said as much a day ago — that his body is at last cooperating.
But KU isn’t.
Just shy of 11 p.m. Friday, the Jayhawks ran out of something they desperately need: time to put it all together before it’s win-or-go-home season.
On the other end, the biggest mystery left in Lawrence isn’t what seed or draw awaits the Jayhawks — it’s whether they can push imagination into existence with zero margin for error remaining. It’s not that they’re incapable. But they’re leaving much to inspiration.
For weeks, we’ve wondered what KU might look like if it could add one of the top NBA prospects in the country, one of the top prospects in decades for a storied program. Unsatisfied, we then kicked that proverbial can down the road — OK, but let’s just wait until he’s healthy.
What now?
Wait until the games really matter?
That’s the glimmer of hope to which they must cling — the idea that, as Self put it, this loss will “inspire” KU to reach back and find something more.
“The one thing about the game tonight,” the coach said, “it didn’t camouflage our deficiencies — it exposed them.
“So maybe it will be easier for us to understand that and understand why.”
Which is the point — there’s a lot left to understand and so very little time left to try to understand it. It’s now days, not weeks, and those days include only practice time, not game time.
Kansas more than held its head above water without Peterson. The Jayhawks beat the No. 1 team in the nation.
Finally offered a string of nine games with him on the floor — and seven straight without us asking why he exited a game earlier — why hasn’t KU figured out how to play with its star?
That’s illuminated in more than the record.
Peterson is 41 of 113 (36.2%) in his last 7 games. But it’s more than his numbers, too.
KU big man Flory Bidunga scored five points in nearly 32 minutes Friday. It’s the 10th time this season he’s been held to 10 points or fewer in a game. An astounding nine of those have come with Peterson on the floor.
KU drew up its opening play for him Friday and then just whiffed on throwing it to him for an open layup.
The presence of Darryn Peterson cannot altogether subtract the impact of Flory Bidunga.
Teamate Melvin Council Jr. averages roughly 3 points per game fewer with Peterson. That falls into the ballpark of reasonably expected — the ball is in his hands less often. But his refusal to play with the same intent to get downhill and to the basket does not. That’s the player KU still needs, and we never saw him in KC.
Rather than viewing Peterson as additive to a good mix — even integrating him as the primary weapon in that mix — the Jayhawks have watched him serve as a replacement for what they already had.
They frequently are content to let Peterson play one-on-one. They stand and wait for him to save the day.
They’ve forgotten the most important thing before his return: They didn’t need a savior.
This story was originally published March 14, 2026 at 6:00 AM.