Kansas star freshman Darryn Peterson achieved something he had yet to do this season. After missing 10 of the first 20 games of the season due to injuries with the Jayhawks, Peterson couldn't give a full game on the court. As of late, Peterson has been able to get past the injuries, and against Texas Tech, he hit a big milestone.
Peterson was able to give the Jayhawks 35 minutes, a season-high, against the Red Raiders, and it certainly made a big difference. Peterson was only able to play for 20 minutes against BYU due to cramps in the second half, but luckily, the Jayhawks built a big enough lead early that they were able to hold on late.
College basketball analyst Jon Rothstein spoke about Peterson on his CBS Sports College Basketball show on Monday before the Jayhawks took on the Red Raiders. The main focus was on the fact that Kansas, at times, has been two teams, one with Peterson and one without Peterson.
Even when Peterson has been on the court, there have been many games where he wasn't able to play the full game, and it ended up costing Kansas. When Peterson is on the court, he is the most dominant player in college basketball and elevates the Jayhawks immensely. However, when he is off the court, the Jayhawks are an entirely different team.
Rothstein questioned whether or not the injury problems are overshadowing Peterson's talent, and whether he can truly consistently stay on the court for the whole game.
Darryn Peterson's inability to stay on the court is overshadowing his incredible talent.https://t.co/c9JLel3odd (Apple) https://t.co/EsZxIkcHSA (Spotify)https://t.co/V19c42sOIN (YouTube) pic.twitter.com/TwnE5nXGyd
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) February 3, 2026
Peterson, literally later that day, completely proved Rothstein wrong and showed that he can get through a whole game by playing 35 minutes for Kansas. The fact that Peterson didn't have to come out late because of the cramps was huge because without him, he doesn't hit the two clutch 3-pointers and Kansas potentially loses that game.
Instead, he stayed in, hit the shots, and Kansas beat a ranked opponent in back-to-back games. The Jayhawks seem to be hitting their stride right now, and Peterson has been the difference-maker. Either he is hitting the shots, or he is pulling the defense to him and allowing others to be open.
There are still some heavy hitters left on the schedule, including No. 8 Houston and No. 1 Arizona twice, and those will be the biggest tests for the Jayhawks. If they can go on the road and do what they did at Texas Tech, March could be a very exciting time for Kansas.