Darryn Peterson plays 18 minutes in KU’s win at OSU. Cramping issue ‘a concern’
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- KU beat Oklahoma State 81-69; Peterson scored 20 before cramping out
- Bill Self called Peterson’s recurring cramping a concern heading into the Tournament
- Jackson, Tiller and Tre White stepped up to help secure the Jayhawks' win
Kansas Jayhawks freshman men’s basketball sensation Darryn Peterson swished his sixth 3-pointer of the game, one that stretched a rapidly dwindling KU lead to 13 points.
Then he pointed to Jayhawks coach Bill Self, asking out of what became an 81-69 victory over Oklahoma State on Wednesday night at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Peterson — he hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 points in the game’s first five minutes — wound up playing just 18 minutes. He played 15 in the initial half and the first three of the second as the Jayhawks, who led by as many as 23 points before the intermission, improved to 20-6 (10-3 Big 12). OSU fell to 16-10 (4-9).
“Well, we’ve had it (happen) more than a couple of times, and I didn’t anticipate that tonight at all,” Self said of Peterson leaving the game early because of cramps.
Peterson, who is expected to be a top-three pick in this year’s NBA Draft, departed this one with 17 minutes, 23 seconds left and KU up by 13 points, 46-33.
“I thought he was good to go, but obviously we only got 18 minutes out of him,” Self said. “And, you know, that’s disappointing, because he could have had a really big night. I didn’t know that he’d be done, but obviously he was cramping.”
Peterson, the 6-foot-6 Canton, Ohio native, hit 7 of 12 shots, including 6 of 10 from 3-point range. He was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line and had 20 points in the initial half as KU opened a 43-29 lead.
“One thing about it,” Self said, “is it (cramping) has happened enough that our guys have learned to play without him, even though that’s not the way we want to play. But that’s certainly something we’re not unaccustomed to right now.”
Self said that he had sent guard Elmarko Jackson to the scorer’s table shortly before Peterson hit the 3 that stretched KU’s lead to 13 before the first TV timeout of the second half.
“He was going to come out, I think, before he made the 3 (at the 17:23 mark),” Self said. “And then he makes the 3 and says, ‘Get me.’”
Peterson at one point walked behind the KU bench, ostensibly to try to stretch, but for the majority of the second half he sat with a wrap on his thigh.
Self conceded that Peterson’s regular cramping problem “is a concern” as the season winds down and tournament time nears.
“I thought we were past it, but obviously we’re not,” Self said. “But it’s certainly a concern. You get into the NCAA Tournament and you are playing a team that’s just as good as you, you need to have all your best players available, so to speak.
“So yes, all it takes is for one day like that to derail not only a game, but a season. So yes, it’s concerning, but I do think we’re making progress.”
Several players stepped up in Peterson’s second-half absence Wednesday.
Freshman Bryson Tiller came close to a triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists — plus two blocks — in 31 minutes.
Jackson, who played 28 minutes, scored 14 points on 3-of-6 shooting (2-of-4 from deep, 6-of-6 from the line). And Melvin Council Jr. had seven assists to go with seven points, three rebounds and two steals in 36 minutes.
Tre White, who hit huge back-to-back 3s in the second half, finished with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting. He also had five rebounds while going 2-of-5 beyond the arc and 2-of-2 at the line.
“We ran the first play to try to get him a basket early to try to get the lid off,” Self said of White’s 3-pointer with 14:11 left, a shot that gave KU a 56-38 lead.
White’s 3-pointer at the 12:59 mark made it 59-38 KU.
“Tre’s a good player,” Self said. “He’s had a great year, but he hadn’t been very good by his standards the last couple of weeks, and so it was important that he see a couple go down. And he did. Those were big shots, too.”
Jayhawks big man Flory Bidunga contributed 11 rebounds and eight points with four blocks in 32 minutes, while Kohl Rosario hit his first 3-pointer of the Big 12 season to give KU a 70-54 lead with 7:35 to go.
“I thought Elmarko was the best player we had tonight over 40 minutes,” Self said.
It was Jackson’s fourth double-digit scoring effort of the season.
“I would say this was definitely a learning experience, trying to take each game for what it is.” Jackson said. “A lot of games, we come out slow first half or second half. And tonight, we kind of did at the end of the game (KU was outscored 40-38 the final half).
“But I’m glad we got the win. We can definitely learn from it. Where we are trying to go later, we’ve got to clean that up. So I’m glad to kind of see that earlier rather than later.”
Of Peterson’s fantastic start and abbreviated night, Jackson said: “His first-half play … he does it with such ease, and we’ve been seeing it since summertime.
“So as crazy it is for you guys to see it, for us, it’s kind of normal — but it’s really not normal. But you know, I’m not going to talk about that (cramping issue). He had a really good first half. So I’m not going to talk about it.”
Of playing without Peterson for most of the second half, White said: “We were just trying to keep the energy up. He did a good job (in the) first half of putting us in a good space to keep it going, even when the other team went on a couple runs.
“We were up enough to where we could kind of take that impact and just try to play harder in the second half and finish the game.
KU will next meet Cincinnati at 12 p.m., Saturday, at Allen Fieldhouse.
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 11:46 PM with the headline "Darryn Peterson plays 18 minutes in KU’s win at OSU. Cramping issue ‘a concern’."
