Saturday evening will mark one of the most anticipated matchups that college basketball will see all season long as the No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks will be playing host to the No. 13 BYU Cougars. While of course the game will be decided by much more than potential top picks Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa, seeing which player will come out on top will be prime-time television.
NBA reveals Peterson is leading
With such a massive clash waiting in the wings, ESPN’s “College Gameday” parked itself inside of Allen Fieldhouse, where Pete Thamel revealed some exclusive details about the NBA’s thoughts on both Dybantsa and Peterson.
“We polled 20 scouts and executives this week to find the answer [on who will be the top pick in the upcoming draft]. The crowd in Lawrence will be pleased with the result. Darryn Peterson got 12 votes. A.J. Dybantsa got eight.”
So far this season, each player has shown special moments on why they each should be hearing their name first come June.
Peterson’s elite shotmaking
So far this season, the freshman has notched an average of 21.6 points over just 27.2 minutes per game. The guard has labored with hamstring and cramping issues, and when things just looked to have been getting settled with the Prolific Prep alum, Peterson sprained his ankle in Kansas’ 75-69 win over Colorado earlier this month and entirely missed out on the Jayhawks’ dominant 86-62 win against Kansas State in the first edition of the Sunflower Showdown.
Peterson’s best performance of the season had to have come against the Baylor Bears. It wasn’t in his 26 points that wowed the nation, but rather his 11-13 mark from the field, which encapsulates his ability to take over any game.
Dybantsa’s dominance
Dybantsa currently ranks second in the nation with 23.6 points per game, and has shown an elite ability to get his own points with a stellar 43-point outing in BYU’s last win, a 91-78 takedown of the Utah Utes.
Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. CT with streaming available on ESPN.
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