Kansas star freshman Darryn Peterson seems to be in some hot water simply for being sick and missing the game against No. 1 Arizona. The projected No. 1 NBA Draft pick took part in warmups with the team, but was a late scratch against the top-ranked team in the country; his team was still able to get the upset win.
There have been rumors going around that Peterson was told to either play at 100% for Kansas by head coach Bill Self or not play at all, and the freshman chose not to play. These rumors come from a fan taking snapshots of someone texting from the scorer's table about the situation.
Kansas' Senior Associate AD of Strategic Communications, Daniel Berk, made quick work of debunking the rumors. In a post on social media, Berk told everyone that the person texting at the scorer's table is not an employee of Kansas Athletics, but a contracted crew worker who is brought in to assist with official stats.
Berk made sure to tell everyone that the worker was simply speculating and had no internal information on the matter.
The person texting in this video is a contracted crew worker who handles official stats during the game for ESPN. He does not work for KU and is not affiliated with the athletic department in any way. He has no inside information and was speculating. We are handling internally. https://t.co/lF2vB5A6CE
— Daniel Berk (@DSBerk) February 10, 2026
Bill Self admits Kansas knew it was 50/50 chance Darryn Peterson played against No. 1 Arizona
Self spoke to the media after the 82-78 upset win over No. 1 Arizona, and of course, one of the first questions asked was about Peterson's illness. Self went more into detail about how the coaching staff was unsure if Peterson would even be a go when they practiced on Sunday.
Peterson was already feeling sick on Sunday during practice, and Self said it was 50/50 even then on whether Peterson would play or not. Even with those odds, though, Self truly thought he would be a go against No. 1 Arizona, and that was why he was not on the availability report.
It wasn't until shoot around that Peterson truly did not look well enough to play, and Self heard about 30 minutes before tipoff that he would be unavailable during the game. In the end, Kansas was able to fend off Arizona with stellar defensive play and clutch shot making in the end.