The health of Kansas guard Darryn Peterson has long divided the nation. Ever since Peterson exited Kansas’ opening exhibition against Louisville with cramps, a large cloud has been hovering over Allen Fieldhouse. Peterson has seen action in just four games this season, and while his 19.3 points per game, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.8 assists on an efficient 52.8% has made his remarkable ability look effortless, his injury history has made him consistently inconsistent.
Following Kansas’ 90-61 win over the Davidson Wildcats, Kansas head coach Bill Self spoke on Peterson’s status. Following calling Peterson’s status “day-to-day,” Self relayed some of the biggest influences in Peterson’s decision-making.
“His family, the thing about it is, we talked about this. We're in agreement with the family that he should not play until he feels good. We're in agreement. I mean, I'm not inside his head or his body, that I can determine if he feels good enough or not. That's up to him, but he wants to be out there. He's just not quite ready.”
Kansas fans continue to be worried about Darryn Peterson and his injury
Peterson last saw the court in Kansas’ 77-76 overtime win against NC State on Dec. 13. Against the Wolfpack, after a shaky first half, Peterson notched a strong 12 points on 5-8 shooting and finished with 17 points in total. However, Peterson was subbed off late in the nail-biting win with quad cramping, according to Self.
This season, Peterson has missed games against Texas A&M- CorpusChristi (W 77-46), Princeton (W 76-57), No. 5 Duke (L 78-66), Notre Dame (W 71-61), Syracuse (W 71-60), Tennessee (W 81-76), and No. 5 UConn (L 61-56), all before making his comeback against the Missouri Tigers, which ended in an 80-60 win over Mizzou, where Peterson totaled 17 points.
The next chance for Peterson to possibly see the court would be against the UCF Golden Knights, in what will be the conference opener, which will take place on Jan. 3, ahead of what is a daunting Big 12 schedule. As of this writing, six teams rank inside the AP Top 25, including Arizona (No. 1), Iowa State (No. 3), Houston (No. 8), BYU (No. 10), Texas Tech (No. 15), and the Jayhawks.