Darryn Peterson advertised KU’s sky-high potential. CBU advertised the response
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- Darryn Peterson led KU with 28 points and decisive scoring bursts Friday night.
- Cal Baptist cut KU's 26-point lead to six by denying KU’s star the ball late.
- Kansas must find secondary scorers or risk similar shutdowns in the tourney.
The Kansas locker room felt jovial here in San Diego — more a reflection of the initial 32 minutes than the final eight of the just-find-a-way-to-hold-on win against California Baptist — but a booming voice still pierced through the noise.
“One down,” the voice shouted from outside the walls.
Inside, Jamari McDowell and Darryn Peterson, sitting in front of their lockers, turned to each other.
“Wait,” Peterson said, “was that Coach?”
In the small entryway, a few seconds later, Bill Self stuck his head inside the room and smiled.
“And one to go,” he added.
In literal terms — you know, the most important terms this time of year — Kansas survived Friday with a 68-60 win against Cal Baptist in a game they led by 26.
The Jayhawks will face St. John’s on Sunday in San Diego. To the winner awaits a reward the Jayhawks haven’t experienced in four years: a second week of play in the NCAA Tournament.
The contextual terms require a bit longer explanation. It’s not that Cal Baptist, the 106th-best team in college basketball by the KenPom ratings, gave Kansas a scare when it trimmed a 26-point deficit to just six points — and held KU to just one bucket over a span of eight minutes, 43 seconds.
It’s how.
It’s why.
Cal Baptist removed the reason for the 26-point gap. And rather than reply with a secondary option, the Jayhawks hoped the clock would take care of the rest.
The highlights Friday night belonged to Darryn Peterson in his NCAA Tournament debut — he was the reason for that lead. He finished with 28 points.
But the scouting report — the notes St. John’s coaches almost certainly took back to their hotel late Friday — belonged in those final eight minutes.
Peterson was simply terrific for stretches short and long Friday. In the final four minutes of the first half, he took over the game, and he looked capable of taking KU about as far as it would allow.
He ignored a screen set for him at the 3-point line and broke a defender’s stride for an easy bucket at the hoop. He hit a baseline fadeaway. Sensing the streak, Self called out a one-word play from the bench.
Iso!
All by his lonesome in the mid-range, Peterson drilled another. The first-half buzzer forced a heat check, and Peterson stepped back to take a covered 3.
Good, of course. The lead sat at 20.
When it began to get interesting after halftime, Peterson responded with back-to-back 3s. A pro-CBU crowd gasped at the second, and Peterson turned toward them, and this is about the most you’ll get out of him:
“Come on!” he said.
That should’ve been the lasting image from a tournament win that KU still need not apologize for securing. It’s not easy to win in the postseason. They have earned at least one more game.
But there’s another image that defined the scare: Peterson being face-guarded 60 feet from the basketball, and Melvin Council, one of the fastest players in the sport, walking the ball up the court, sneaking past the mid-court line with one second to spare.
The first picture could’ve been the sole focus of this conversation. Peterson was at his best. This stage, it would appear, suits him.
But Cal Baptist closed that curtain and dared someone else — anyone else — to score a bucket. And no one could.
Well, Tre White put an exclamation-point dunk through the hoop with 13 seconds left. It was the only KU basket not scored by Darryn Peterson in the final 9:55.
Melvin Council had four points. Flory Bidunga had six points and has been held to that amount or fewer in four of his last seven outings. Outside of Peterson, the rest of the roster took nine 3-pointers and missed them all.
Maybe they grew bored. Maybe they were complacent. Maybe they got some jitters out of their system in a win — what’s better than that? Or maybe they were put into an uncomfortable position they just might see again in 48 hours.
The irony is that Kansas has answered the question at the heart of the CBU comeback — if not Peterson, then who? — multiple times this season. KU beat the No. 1 team in the country without him. It won three straight in Las Vegas without him. This team is more than capable.
But it’s sure been hard to flip that switch in-game. Peterson left Cal Baptist no other choice but to try. After missing his initial six shots, he made seven of his next nine. KU struggled to score it early, but then Peterson was good enough to cover the flaws. That’s the job of the best player on the court, right?
He’s more than that. Kansas has the best talent in the entire tournament. It almost seemed as though his teammates forgot that late in the game, bypassing the rare opportunity to put the ball in his hands when CBU couldn’t deny it. Self said before the dance that Peterson is good enough to carry a team for a few weeks. Well, Peterson just advertised it.
Then California Baptist did KU a favor: It advertised the anticipated return punch — deny him the ball at all costs. CBU trailed by too many to deliver an unlikely knockout blow.
But it’s the same swing Kansas should anticipate the rest of their time in this tournament.
This story was originally published March 21, 2026 at 6:15 AM with the headline "Darryn Peterson advertised KU’s sky-high potential. CBU advertised the response."