Kansas' Darryn Peterson stole the show in his much-awaited return. Then it got weird
Peterson sat the final 10:55 as KU lost to UCF. Bill Self attributed it to a minutes restriction and Peterson's legs feeling differently.
The Darryn Peterson experience at Kansas continues to be … weird.
Kansas lost 81-75 at UCF on Saturday despite Peterson, the potential No. 1 pick in June’s NBA Draft, playing to the hype in the first half, scoring 23 of his 26 points before halftime in his first game since Dec. 13. Everything seemed normal. It felt as if he might go for 40, and then the second half came.
After playing the opening four minutes, Peterson checked out at the first media timeout, sat for 4 1/2 minutes, then returned to the game to make a corner 3-pointer. He was whistled for a foul on the other end, and then sat out the final 10 minutes, 55 seconds as the No. 17 Jayhawks (10-4) lost a close Big 12 opener to the unranked Knights (12-1).
Bang. Mari → DP pic.twitter.com/Ze7aul382W
— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) January 3, 2026
Peterson, who had missed nine of KU’s previous 11 games because of various leg injuries, was seen stretching out his legs as if he might return, and he eventually moved to the end of the bench and used a massage gun, but he never tried to check back in. It also never appeared that he hurt himself during the game. Kansas coach Bill Self carefully chose his words afterward.
“I wanted him — we, doctors, everybody — wanted him to be on a minutes restriction the first half, and it was hard to do when (Melvin Council’s) got fouls and Elmarko (Jackson)’s knee’s hurt and we didn’t really have anybody to put in there,” Self told reporters. “… The second half, I thought he started out fine, and then it started bothering him, obviously, but the thing about it is is we knew, we expected something like that to happen, but we were hoping that it’d be a situation in which I could control it a little bit better by minimizing his minutes the first half.”
It was the latest concerning moment in an in-again, out-again season for Peterson, who remains the projected top pick and whom Self called the “most talented” freshman he has signed.
Peterson played the first two games of the season and couldn’t finish the second game against North Carolina because of what was thought to be cramps, then missed seven games with what was defined as a hamstring injury. He returned Dec. 7 against Missouri and wasn’t able to finish that game — again, receiving treatment at the end of the bench. He played 31 minutes in an overtime win at NC State on Dec. 13, but he did not finish that game because of what was later defined as quad tightness.