Tonight, the No. 21 Kansas Jayhawks will take center stage against the No. 5 UConn Huskies. While it is ultimately UConn who will have the pressure of playing at a hostile Allen Fieldhouse, it will be the Jayhawks who are under the most pressure, as once again, Kansas will be without Darryn Peterson.
A statement from Coach Self on Darryn's availability tonight: pic.twitter.com/zNkocv7IkL
— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) December 2, 2025
While this news was reported earlier today, yesterday, Kansas head coach Bill Self spoke with the media while Peterson’s availability was still unknown. When speaking with the media for a lengthy period, Self discussed how Peterson’s absence could be spun.
“Our guys are doing great. So I'm not going to in any way, shape or form, take away from how hard they're trying and what they're trying to do,” quoted Self.
“… I've said all along, it could be a blessing that we forced other guys to be aggressive. And now, when he comes back, now maybe we'll be more apt to play off of him and play with him from an aggressive standpoint as opposed to passing, watching him, go make the plays. So it could be a silver lining.”
Without Peterson at the Player Era Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Jayhawks strung together three superb wins, and while the focus of the team will always be on the inevitable top-pick Peterson, despite early-season struggles in losses to No. 16 UNC and to the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils, the Jayhawks showed resilience especially in the third-place match against the No. 13 Tennessee Volunteers in an 81-76 comeback win, which saw Kansas trail by as many as 12 points.
This season, excluding Peterson, the Jayhawks have three players who average at least 10 points in forward Flory Bidunga (15.8), transfer guard Tre White (14.4), and fellow transfer Melvin Council Jr. (10.8).
Battle of the Fast & Fearless: Kansas Jayhawks vs UConn Huskies matchup significance
The Jayhawks have struggled to find consistent scoring this season, as the Jayhawks rank 151st in the nation with just 76.3 points per game. However, it is worth noting that so far this season, Kansas currently sits at the 22nd-hardest strength of schedule in the nation, meaning that while maybe the points per game are falling behind some of the nation’s elite teams, Kansas’ schedule does prove as one of the country’s hardest.
That schedule is only going to get harder as the UConn Huskies present a wily test that will push a Peterson-less team to its absolute max, just like the Jayhawks were last week with a highly-touted Volunteers side taking the opposite side of the hardwood.
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