Future KU Jayhawks guard Darryn Peterson celebrates title victory Sunday in Lawrence
Darryl Peterson, a double-digit scorer during his four-year college basketball career at Akron and currently an assistant coach for California powerhouse Prolific Prep, can appreciate why his son Darryn was named player of the game Sunday in The Grind Session World Championship at Haskell Indian Nationals University.
“I thought he figured it out and played well. It was a rough couple days as far as making shots, but he figured out ways to affect the game offensively and defensively, get guys involved,” Darryl said of future Kansas playmaker Darryn, who scored 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting (1-of-5 from 3-point range) in a 77-50 victory over event runner-up Fort Erie.
Darryn Peterson, a 6-foot-5, 190-pound senior point guard from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and the 2025 Naismith High School Player of the Year, on Saturday had 21 points on 4-of-12 shooting in a 78-72 semifinal victory over Florida DME Academy.
The Grind Session MVP hit 13-of-28 shots for 46.4% in the two games at Haskell.
Darryn Peterson, who is ranked No. 2 in the class of 2025 by ESPN.com — future BYU player AJ Dybantsa is No. 1; his Utah Prep team lost in the semis thus didn’t play Prolific Prep in the final — had several spectacular drives to the hoop.
He ran Prolific Prep’s offense efficiently, too: The team had few turnovers while scoring freely from both inside and out. He also was active on defense.
“Bill Self (KU coach) said yesterday that once he gets a head of steam, not many people can stop him,” Darryl Peterson said of his son.
“He does have a different gear,” said Self, on hand for Prolific Prep’s games Saturday and Sunday.
Peterson didn’t light up the scoreboard in his two games in Lawrence (he averaged 32.5 points per game in the regular season), but he did accomplish a goal — winning a national title for Prolific Prep in The Grind Session.
His Prolific Prep team now will take a 34-3 record into the upcoming Chipotle Nationals on April 2-5 in Fishers, Indiana.
“I’d rather they get the win,” dad Darryl said of his son attaining victories over eye-popping stats. “We came (to Prolific Prep one year) for national player of the year. We got that. We came for the Grind Championship. We got that. At this point there’s nothing else to do but win. I told him at this point I’d rather have him average 12 points and win these next three games (at Chipotle tourney).”
Darryn Peterson has been advertised as a player who values winning above all else on the court.
“Most importantly he’s a good, high-character kid,” Darryl Peterson said Sunday. “Disciplined, hard working, consistent, coachable and just a winner at the end of the day.”
KU head coach Self, assistant coach Kurtis Townsend (lead recruiter for Peterson) and several Jayhawks players, including Flory Bidunga and Rylan Griffen, showed up at Haskell to see Prolific Prep play.
“This was like a homecoming for him,” Darryl said of his son, who chose KU in recruiting over Ohio State, USC and Kansas State. “He feels like he’s ready to get on campus already, so he’s excited about the prospects.
“At this point now, he’s like, ‘I’m ready to go win a national championship on the college level.’ He’s been getting a lot of messages on Instagram and social media, (people) saying they are excited about him coming to Kansas and they are ready to go win a national championship on the college level.”
Peterson’s mom, Natatia, raved about the great reception her son received over the weekend. There were good crowds at Haskell, with her son receiving loud applause during the pre-game introductions.
“He loves it, loves the energy,” Natatia, told The Star, referring to KU and Lawrence. “He was happy to be back at home (in Lawrence) and get a feel for what’s coming.”
She said her son’s decision to attend Prolific Prep for his final year of high school turned out “wonderful. He’s checking off all the boxes (player of year, McDonald’s All-America, national title). We are excited about Kansas. We love the support, that it’s a family.”
Peterson, a participant in the McDonald’s Game on April 1 in Brooklyn, New York, played his first two years of high school basketball at Cuyahoga Falls High in Cuyahoga, Ohio. He then transferred to Huntington Prep in West Virginia in 2023-24 before moving on to Prolific Prep.
In 2023, Peterson won a gold medal with USA Basketball at the FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. At the championship, Peterson averaged 16.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.3 steals in earning all-tournament honors.
“This is one of the best recruiting moments that Kansas basketball has had in decades,” Self said after signing Peterson last November. “Darryn is an all-around guard that scores at all levels and is also a terrific facilitator and defender. He has been well drilled and has a toughness about him being raised in a family where his brother is a successful football player at Wisconsin.
“Darryn was as important as any recruit we have recruited in recent memory. Coach (Kurtis) Townsend did a great job as the lead recruiter. Darryn can be a catalyst to also draw other players to our program.”
On signing day, Peterson had said of KU: “I just feel it aligned perfectly with my academic and athletic goals. Kansas has a strong history of development and success which were huge things for me during this process. It’s somewhere I can go develop as a player and have success while doing it and winning.
“Coach Self and coach KT (Townsend), they’ve done a great job recruiting me. They’ve been recruiting me since my freshman year. The relationship has been there. He (Self) tells me how he’ll use me in the offense and utilize my talents and what he sees from me. I saw the same things he’s seeing so … (he picked KU),” he continued.”
Peterson especially enjoyed the postgame celebration Sunday at Haskell. He clipped the net with his teammates, posed for a bunch of pictures and briefly accepted congratulations from both Self and Townsend.
“It was super fun to be able to come here. I know I’m coming here next year,” Peterson said after Saturday’s win. “A lot of people hit me up, saying they were waiting for me to get here and expected me to play well. So I’m glad I could come out and break the ice today.”
He described himself as “a player that’s ready to learn and work his butt off. A player that can play multiple positions, work super hard and win.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2025 at 9:54 AM with the headline "Future KU Jayhawks guard Darryn Peterson celebrates title victory Sunday in Lawrence."
