LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson missed Tuesday night’s 77-46 loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi after injuring his hamstring in a shootout earlier in the day, but coach Bill Self doesn’t believe the injury will keep the potential NBA lottery pick out of the starting lineup for long.
The No. 25 Jayhawks, coming off a loss at North Carolina, rolled even without Peterson, who many considered the No. 1 overall recruit coming out of high school. They led the Islanders 38-18 at halftime before cruising through the second half.
Advertisement
“I actually told the guys, ‘I’m excited to see you play because (Peterson) isn’t going to be there,’” Self said. “There’s going to be games where he commits four fouls and he’s not there, and how do we play? I thought it was good that he wasn’t there, to see those things – even though it wasn’t good that he wasn’t there.”
Kohl Rosario replaced Peterson, scoring 16 points to lead the Jayhawks against Corpus Christi. Flory Bidunga scored 12 points and Tre White and Bryson Tiller scored 11 each as Kansas built a strong advantage in the paint.
Peterson scored 21 points in 22 minutes in his college debut against Green Bay, and he had 22 against the Tar Heels. But he was also hampered by cramping issues early in the season, which limited him to half of an exhibition against Louisville and kept him from playing entirely in another exhibition game against Fort Hays State.
I said the cramps weren’t the problem this time. It was the hamstrings that contracted.
Advertisement
“It was as much a doctor’s thing as anything: ‘If this bothers him, we shouldn’t put him out,'” Self said. “Yeah, if it’s up to him, he still plays, but when you can visibly tell at the end of the shootaround today that maybe he was just jumping and not trying to get to the hole – ‘Are you tight?’ “Yeah, I’m tight.” It was enough.
Still, the Jayhawks will need Peterson on the field in the coming weeks.
They will play at Princeton on Saturday before traveling to New York to face No. 4 Duke in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden. That matchup is followed by a trip to Las Vegas, where Kansas is guaranteed to play Notre Dame and Syracuse in the Players Era Festival. The team’s next game at Allen Fieldhouse is against No. 3 UConn on December 2.
“We think he’ll be fine and everything,” Self said of his prized rookie, “but it’s a long season guys, and he’s too valuable to go out there and create a situation out of something that shouldn’t be a situation.”
Advertisement
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Subscribe here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
