For a majority of Kansas’ season, for lack of a better term, the Kansas offense looked “stagnant.” The Jayhawks struggled to find consistent buckets without Darryn Peterson, and they quickly earned their record off of a strong defense, which currently sits 34th in the nation as they allow just 67.8 points per game.
While Kansas had ground its way to an 11-4 record, most games against power-conference opposition had their moments where doubt would creep its way into the hearts of Kansas fans as time after time, the Kansas defense would have to step up.
All that came to a boil when Kansas took on the West Virginia Mountaineers last Saturday. Despite having led by eight points, Kansas ultimately allowed a 47-point second half and found itself under .500 in Big 12 play in an 86-75 loss.
That loss had dropped Kansas out of the AP Top 25 for the second time this season and began to really form doubts over the Jayhawks’ caliber.
Prior to when Kansas took the court against the No. 2 Iowa State Cyclones, guard Tre White revealed that the team had held a players-only meeting after the loss to the Mountaineers.
Kansas would ultimately dismantle the Cyclones, as White scored 19 points, Melvin Council Jr. notched 15, Darryn Peterson found a strong 16, and Flory Bidunga totaled 10, doing all this against an Iowa State team, which, as of writing, held teams to just 64.2 points per game, which sits 10th-best in the nation.
You know, Darryn [Peterson] is such a great player and his magnitude on the court is crazy; he can attract two, three players sometimes,” quoted White late Tuesday night.
Whether it's fair or not, the former five-star Peterson was handed the mantle to be the Jayhawks’ scoring leader heading into the season. At times this season, the potential top pick has looked so fluent on the ball as nearly all of his shots ooze class, but injuries have hindered his career significantly and have only seen Peterson play in eight of Kansas’ 17 games, interrupting the cohesion between Peterson and the squad, which has led to Kansas only scoring an average of 77.9 points per game, which ranks 126th in the country.
“So, in the meeting, we definitely made it a point to be more aggressive to make it easier on him. I feel like tonight we did a good job of that, and we could definitely do a better job, when he’s off-ball, getting him open and stuff like that, 'cause he's so good with the ball in his hand, so definitely doing our parts to make his job easier was one of those [points], for sure.”
Fans hope Kansas’ win over the Cyclones can propel the Jayhawks into a strong conference stretch as they are next set to face the 11-5 Baylor Bears, who are currently 1-3 in Big 12 play. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT, Friday, with streaming available on FOX.
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