Bill Self Clarifies Darryn Peterson's Injury Status After Saturday's Loss vs. UCF

Peterson sat out most of the second half against the Knights.

Kansas star Darryn Peterson left early in Saturday's loss at UCF. / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

Saturday was a rough one for Bill Self's Kansas Jayhawks.

The 17th-ranked Jayhawks were upset 81-75 on the road at UCF, and star guard Darryn Peterson, who has battled injuries all season long, was forced to leave the game early due to injury.

Peterson scored 26 points, 23 of which came in the first half. Peterson left the game with just under 11 minutes to go with the score tied 59–59. He didn't return to the contest.

Peterson had missed the last two games with cramps, and sat out the previous seven games with a hamstring strain. Self was asked after the game if Peterson reaggravated a prior injury, or if he was on a minutes restriction.

The answer? Well, both.

"Darryn—who I wanted to put on a minutes restriction, that's what we had talked about...I really couldn't do it in the first half and we paid for it in the second half because obviously his legs started bothering him again," Self said, per Michael Swain. "So that was disappointing. We were going to do the minutes restriction around 24 minutes and he ended up playing about that but he played way too many in the first half. We were playing so poorly and he kept us in there."

Self added that it was "a bad day. Everything that seemed like it could go wrong went wrong."

The Jayhawks are a much better team when Peterson is on the court. Despite going 7-2 in his absence the previous nine games, his dynamic scoring ability raises the program's ceiling.

Kansas is back on the floor at home on Tuesday against TCU. Peterson's status will be one to monitor heading into the contest.

---

More College Basketball on Sports Illustrated

feed