The No. 11 Kansas Jayhawks struggled to find consistency all night against the No. 13 Texas Tech Red Raiders. Bill Self’s squad trailed by as many as 10 points with 8:25 to play and a 57-47 deficit facing them away in noisy Lubbock, Texas.
At that point, Kansas could have dropped its head, and it wouldn’t be a surprise. The United Supermarkets Arena has already seen the Red Raiders take down No. 11 BYU and No. 6 Houston.
Yet the Jayhawks simply hung in there. All the way to the point that with 2:12 to play, thanks to stifling defense, Flory Bidunga’s dunk drew the game to just three points with Kansas trailing 64-61.
However, it was just before Bidunga’s dunk that the biggest statement of the night was made to Darryn Peterson during a KU timeout: “go make a play,” Self said, according to Peterson postgame.
Peterson takes over late
With the score still separated by three following Bidunga’s flush, a loose turnover by Texas Tech’s Lejuan Watts gifted the Jayhawks the opportunity to tie the game, meaning the ball was ever going to really go to one person.
Thanks to a quick screen set by Bidunga, Peterson was able to drift to the right corner and, with limited room, Peterson popped a quick three, which sank and tied the game at 61-61 with 1:20 to play.
With two Tech turnovers sandwiching a missed shot from Bryson Tiller, it was once again Peterson’s chance to take the game by the throat and seal it.
Peterson again received help from a Bidunga screen, which pushed Donovan Atwell away from Peterson, giving the freshman just a second to get his quickfire beyond the arc release off, which once again found the bottom of the net and ended up being the game-winning basket with 44 seconds to play, and a 64-61 advantage.
Darryn Peterson. Clutch. 🥶🥶
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) February 3, 2026
So good we had to package it up for ya’ll. pic.twitter.com/PpMKDAjbLC
Not a highlight day from the former five-star
The world knows when the guard is feeling himself because it is all the collegiate basketball sphere can talk about, yet on Monday night, Peterson was unusually off.
The Prolific Prep graduate notched just 19 points on 5-14 shooting with a 3-7 mark from three and six points from the stripe.
Throughout the whole game, Peterson never looked fully settled. In part thanks to elite defense from Tech, but there also looked to be a tendency to lean into his shots, something all KU players did, in order to look for a foul to send them to the line.
While Monday will not be the best game in his Kansas career, it will go down as one of the most memorable thanks to two jaw-dropping buckets, which just propelled the Jayhawks to a 17-5 and 7-2 Big 12 record.
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