Curious Case of Darryn Peterson Continues When He Goes Missing in March Madness Moment

SAN DIEGO — With four minutes and 18 seconds left in the No. 13-seeded California Baptist v. No. 4 Kansas NCAA men’s tournament game Friday night, Darryn Peterson took his last shot of the night. At the time, the Jayhawks led 66–52.

What happened the rest of the way was another enigmatic chapter in Peterson’s one-and-done season at Kansas. The massive underdog Lancers kept chipping away at a lead that had been as high as 25 points, sending Viejas Arena into a frenzy. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks’ offense stagnated—and Peterson, the most unstoppable offensive player in the nation, stopped getting the ball.

It was quite odd.

From that 4:18 mark, here were Kansas’s next five possessions: a turnover on a bad pass by big man Flory Bidunga; a missed three-pointer by Tre White; another missed three by White; a missed three by Melvin Council Jr.; and yet another missed three by White. Peterson, who scored 28 points on the night, was a complete nonfactor.

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After those five possessions, California Baptist cut the deficit all the way to six and had possession with a chance to make it a one-score game with 45 seconds left. It was still a long shot, but the 13-seed had the chance for an unprecedented upset—usually, Cinderella gets a lead and holds on, not mounts a preposterous comeback.

But Dominique Daniels Jr., the sub-6' scoring machine who keyed the comeback for California Baptist, missed two shots. White got free for a dunk for Kansas at the end, making the final score 68–60. The only thing that truly matters is that the Jayhawks survived and advanced, but once again there were Peterson-related questions in the aftermath.

The surest way to squelch a comeback was for Kansas to run plays for the guy who might be the first pick in the NBA draft, an incredibly gifted scorer with a nearly unlimited repertoire of ways to put the ball in the basket. And yet he became a spectator for five straight possessions as the game became progressively more tight.

So I asked Peterson in the postgame news conference what was going on in those final four minutes.

“Just playing,” he said. “I happened to not touch [the ball]. It’s fine, though. I’m glad we won.”

Kansas coach Bill Self, who might be the best in-game, X’s and O’s coach of his generation, took a turn at trying to explain why his best player wasn’t involved as a win-or-go-home game turned dramatic.

“Out of a timeout, we got a couple plays to get the ball to Darryn and we throw it to somebody else,” Self said. “And they’re face-guarding, but we didn’t get it back. So I thought our offense the last four or five minutes was brutal.”

Certainly, California Baptist did not want Peterson to get the ball and played accordingly. But the Jayhawks seemed to willingly comply, with Peterson just standing on the wing and his teammates not looking for him. By omission or commission, he was essentially iced out.

“When he doesn’t have it, teams aren’t going to let him catch it easy,” Self said. “So take advantage of the times that he does have it.”

This was another curious chapter in a Peterson saga that keeps adding them.

For months, one of the pressing questions in college basketball is why Peterson was frequently out of the lineup. He missed six straight games in November, then two more in December, then another one in January and a 10th in February. He also asked to be taken out early in the second half of a game against Oklahoma State on Feb. 18, which seemed to perplex Self.

Some of those absences were attributed to a tweaked ankle and flu-like symptoms. But in recent days, an overarching explanation has been offered—Peterson was locked up by full-body cramps in the preseason that necessitated a trip to the hospital and IV treatment. Apparently that episode took a long-term toll, physically and/or mentally.

“It was a traumatic experience,” Peterson told The Athletic.

After asking out of the Oklahoma State game became an issue, Peterson did his best to put it to bed by playing in seven straight games, at least 28 minutes in each. The durability questions subsided. It was on to the Big Dance.

Then Friday night happened. Peterson was a glorious offensive machine and an assertive presence, taking a game-high 24 shots and playing a team-high 35 minutes. He scored seven points in the final 1:04 of the first half, capped by a stepback three, that gave Kansas a 20-point lead.

Everything seemed perfectly fine in Jayhawk World. A routine victory over a No. 13 seed was close to being in hand, then it would be on to a highly anticipated second-round game against St. John’s.

Until California Baptist came back, chopping a 22-point deficit to six in a span of 7 ½ wild minutes. And as that was occurring, Peterson receded into a more passive role.

The challenge that comes with having overwhelming talent is that people expect to see it all the time. That can be a lot for a young player to deal with.

But in this instance, when a situation looms that threatens to end the season, the best player on the team—and maybe in the country—needs to assert himself. And his teammates need to recognize that and involve him. Force the issue.

As Self said, plays were called for Peterson and then simply failed to materialize. The good news for Kansas is that the offensive breakdown at the end didn’t cost them a game it had in hand. The bad news is that the Jayhawks will have to play dramatically better against the Red Storm to keep advancing.

That can happen. But it probably will require a fully engaged Darryn Peterson for the entire game, and a group of teammates who make sure he’s involved at all times.

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