The 2025-26 Kansas Jayhawks never really got going.
Of course, there were flashes of highs, like an eight-game Big 12 winning streak, and no, it doesn’t all have to do with the several absences of Darryn Peterson, but Peterson’s continued chop-and-change through the team certainly didn’t help, what turned into a 24-11 season that was capped off by a gut-wrenching 67-65 loss at the hands of St. John’s in the round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament.
This week, legendary head coach Bill Self appeared on Jon Rothstein’s “Inside College Basketball Now,” where he discussed planning a team with and without Peterson.
“Well, the thing about it, I will say this, our best chance to be great was with Darryn Peterson. Right. I mean, there was no doubt about that,” opened the two-time national title-winning Self.
Peterson had several moments where he showed his legendary potential and his 20.2 points on a 43.8% rate from the field alluded to that, especially when considering it was across an average of 29 minutes per game. However, Peterson’s injury issues, which mainly comprised of cramps, kept him off the court for 11 of Kansas’ 35 games.
Peterson also dealt with hamstring tightness, flu-like symptoms and a sprained ankle, each rearing its ugly head at one point or another.
Peterson’s overall record when he played was 15-9, however, Peterson missed out on high-profile games against Duke, UConn, Tennessee and Arizona (H),
“The team that we had without Darryn was competitive, could play with anybody. Could you win four games in the NCAA tournament? That would be really, really difficult to do.”
Without Peterson, the Jayhawks notched a 9-2 record. Peterson missed out in games against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (W), Princeton (W), Duke (L), Notre Dame (W), Syracuse (W), Tennessee (W), UConn (L), Towson (W), Davidson (W), Kansas State (A) (W), Arizona (H) (W),
“The team with Darryn, if everything fell right, we could. So that was the direction we were going all along…It's like having your best player get two fouls in the 1st two minutes of both halves and you're just kind of playing handcuffed the whole time…”
Last season, Kansas ranked as one of the nation’s worst offensive teams, compiling just 75.1 points per game, which ranked 161st in the nation, all while shooting 45.1% from the field, 149th-best in the nation.
On the defensive end is where the Jayhawks looked as if they could genuinely compete with any team. Despite playing the rigors of a gauntlet Big 12, the Jayhawks allowed 69.1 points per game, 47th-best in the nation. While that number won’t jump off the charts, the fact that KU only allowed a 38.6% field goal rate ranked No. 2 in the country.
However, when the season came down to the wire, it wasn’t Kansas’ defense that faltered in their loss against St. John’s. Instead, it was an offense that gave the ball away 16 times, the final nail in the coffin for a stalling offense.
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