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Myron MedcalfDec 6, 2025, 11:26 AM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Myron Medcalf covers college basketball for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2011.<\/p>\n Darryn Peterson<\/a>, ESPN’s projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA draft, “should” be available for Kansas’<\/a> matchup against rival Missouri on Sunday in Kansas City, Bill Self said on Thursday.<\/p>\n But he also cautioned that a pregame hitch could change that status.<\/p>\n “He has practiced the last two days, so he should be available, unless he has a setback between now and gametime,” Self said. “But we’re approaching it like he’s available.”<\/p>\n Peterson has missed seven consecutive games<\/a> due to a hamstring injury. In his two games this season, he averaged 21.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals. He also made 50 percent of his 3-point attempts during those matchups against Green Bay and North Carolina.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks The 6-foot-6 wing is a pivotal player for a program that’s managed to finish 5-2 without him by playing through big men Flory Bidunga<\/a> and Bryson Tiller<\/a>. After his team recorded a 3-0 record during the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas last week, Self praised the five-star freshman and said Kansas doesn’t “know how to play without him.”<\/p>\n The Jayhawks were ranked 88th in adjusted offensive efficiency nationally in their seven games without Peterson, according to barttorvik.com, but the team also registered a top-10 mark in adjusted defensive efficiency in his absence.<\/p>\n Sunday’s game will extend the Border War rivalry between Missouri and Kansas that was rekindled during the 2021-22 season following a decadelong hiatus. Kansas won the first three games of the renewed series before Missouri won last season’s game in Columbia.<\/p>\n Both teams are coming off tough losses. Kansas lost 61-56 to UConn at Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday, while Missouri suffered a 76-71 loss at Notre Dame on the same night.<\/p>\n Self said he’s looking forward to coaching Peterson. He also said Peterson has gone to treatment for his hamstring four times per day to accelerate his return.<\/p>\n “We wouldn’t put him out there unless he was full speed,” Self said.<\/p>\n He added: “He’s great. And he’s tried his ass off to get back sooner.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Myron MedcalfDec 6, 2025, 11:26 AM CloseMyron Medcalf covers college basketball for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2011.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-330469","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/r1566555_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center.jpeg\")
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