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By Megan Armstrong
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Kansas Jayhawks star Darryn Peterson was available for every game of the Big 12 Tournament and the men's NCAA Tournament. That, by itself, was a win for the freshman guard, even if the Jayhawks lost to St. John's in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on a heartbreaking buzzer-beater by Dylan Darling.
Peterson missed 11 games this season due to various illnesses and injuries. After the Jayhawks' 69-47 loss to Houston in the Big 12 Tournament semifinal, The Kansas City Star's Shreyas Laddha reported that Peterson's cramping was so severe at one point that he went to the hospital for two bags of IV fluids. Peterson called the "full-body," "super serious" body-wide cramp "a traumatic experience."
There's even more to what Peterson went through over the past year.
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"I was hurt for the majority of it," Peterson said of his freshman year, according to Front Office Sports. "Not hurt, but there was just some mind stuff. I wasn’t really myself really until the end of the year. I guess whatever people see in these last games is kind of me."
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It's expected to be Peterson's last game at KU before he declares for the 2026 NBA Draft, though he expressed uncertainty about his future after the loss. If it was his last game in a Jayhawks uniform, Peterson went out with 21 points on 5-of-15 shooting (3-of-8 from three), four rebounds, and four blocks.
Overall, Peterson averaged 20.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.4 steals in 29 minutes across 24 games (23 starts).
Criticism hit its apex during Kansas' 81-69 win over Oklahoma State on Feb. 18. Peterson had 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 6-of-10 from three, in 18 minutes. Then Peterson pulled himself from the game early in the second half, a move head coach Bill Self called "disappointing."
Yahoo! Sports senior NBA analyst Kevin O'Connor took a fine comb through Peterson's rocky freshman season and concluded, "The better Peterson’s competition, the more his efficiency erodes."
"The 2026 NBA draft class is deep enough that every question mark matters," O'Connor wrote. "Peterson has as much upside as anyone. But Sunday was a reminder that the gap between belonging in the top-three conversation and leading it is still real too. He’ll get to answer the questions this spring, in workouts, in interviews, and in medical exams. The talent has never been in doubt. The answers are what the next few months are for."
All season long, Peterson has been widely projected as a top-3 pick in this summer's 2026 NBA Draft, alongside BYU's AJ Dybantsa and Duke's Cameron Boozer.
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