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Kansas guard Darryn Peterson (22) and Kansas guard Jayden Dawson (1) flash smiles as they leave the court following the Jayhawks\u2019 104-100 overtime win against TCU on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026 at Allen Fieldhouse. Peterson hit three free throws with seconds remaining to push the game into overtime. Photo by Nick Krug<\/p>\n
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Kansas was down 15 points with less than five minutes remaining in regulation against TCU on Tuesday, but what felt like the emotional low point of KU\u2019s second-half near-disaster occurred when the margin was just nine.<\/p>\n
With the Jayhawks attempting to push the ball up the floor and just over two minutes remaining, Elmarko Jackson tossed it down the court to Darryn Peterson. But Peterson, who was starting to turn toward the sideline, missed the pass altogether as it sailed out of bounds for a turnover; then, making matters worse, Peterson beckoned to the bench, asking for a substitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe started the cramping, or he felt it coming on,\u201d KU coach Bill Self said. \u201cSo that was his decision to come out, and he wouldn\u2019t have come out, obviously, unless he had to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The star freshman had to that point dealt with his leg cramps about as well as in any game all season, having played 31 minutes and scored what was already a career best, 29 points. But when he asked to come out, it could have spelled the end for the Jayhawks.<\/p>\n
Instead, in his absence over the course of the next two minutes and 17 seconds, KU somehow got itself into a position where it was down three points and had the ball with five seconds to go. (In short: Tre White and Jamari McDowell made big 3s, TCU committed inexplicable turnovers and Melvin Council Jr. came through in the clutch.) <\/p>\n
And then, Self ordained, it was Peterson time: \u201cI didn\u2019t ask him if he wanted to (come in),\u201d Self said. \u201cHe had to. That was where that was, right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The beleaguered guard entered for Elmarko Jackson and in his fleeting moments on the floor, with KU trailing 87-84, made perhaps the biggest play of the 45-minute thriller. <\/p>\n
The play KU called with 5.4 seconds remaining was \u201cline three,\u201d Council and Bidunga said afterward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t execute it great, but didn\u2019t execute it bad,\u201d Self said.<\/p>\n
After McDowell lobbed the inbounds pass all the way across the court to Flory Bidunga, Peterson was able to find just enough space from Jace Posey to receive a bounce pass, then drew contact from Posey as he flung up a 3-point shot that had no chance at hitting the rim.<\/p>\n
The result: a foul call.<\/p>\n
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Kansas guard Darryn Peterson (22) is fouled on a three point attempt by TCU forward Jace Posey (00) with seconds remaining in regulation on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026 at Allen Fieldhouse. Peterson went on to hit all three free throws pushing the game into overtime. The Jayhawks defeated the Horned Frogs, 104-100. Photo by Nick Krug<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking for three since we\u2019re down, and ended up DP (caught) the ball, and everything worked out perfectly,\u201d Bidunga said.<\/p>\n
Then came three free throws, all of which Peterson made \u2014 \u201cAmazing,\u201d Council called it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s big time for sure,\u201d Bidunga said.<\/p>\n
Council said he didn\u2019t say anything to his teammate before he went to the free-throw line: \u201cHe\u2019s ice-cold-blooded. He got it, he got it. But I was pretty mad when he missed the 3 in the corner to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, Peterson was actually in for one more play, even though Self said he had asked to come back out after shooting the free throws. So he had subbed out for Jackson on defense. But then, in TCU guard Brock Harding\u2019s effort to hurl the ball down the court to set up his teammates for a potential game-winning shot, he missed them altogether. That gave KU possession with 1.7 seconds to go, and another chance for Peterson to return.<\/p>\n
He rounded a screen from White and fielded the inbounds pass from Council in the corner, but his leaning shot was off the mark, as Council referenced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if he could do that again, I think he would have tried to lift (the defender Posey) and bounce it rather than try to shoot it, because there was time to do that,\u201d Self said.<\/p>\n
In fact, it\u2019s hard to believe given his 32 points in the final box score, but Peterson didn\u2019t quite have his shot most of the night \u2014 he finished 8-for-18 from the field. Where he excelled to a remarkable extent was in getting to the rim and earning fouls. He drew nine fouls from Frogs and went 13-for-15 at the free-throw line (KU was 30-for-40 as a team). He had previously attempted 19 free throws on the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe shot it poor, so the best thing he did tonight was get downhill, and he hasn\u2019t done that,\u201d Self said. \u201cPeople can question whatever they\u2019re going to question and everybody can be an armchair quarterback, so to speak, in a lot of different areas, but the bottom line is, you saw what his legs look like when he can get downhill as opposed to just settling for jump shots \u2014 which, that\u2019s all he\u2019s done up until tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, the most important free throws of all came as a result of a play quite far away from the hoop. And TCU, by the way, with a three-point lead, could potentially have fouled Bidunga during the two seconds he had the ball trying to pass it to Peterson. David Punch was right there guarding him. TCU coach Jamie Dixon was asked postgame about his instructions to his team for the possession and said, \u201cWe just didn\u2019t get it done. We didn\u2019t do what we wanted to do. That\u2019s on me. If it doesn\u2019t get done, it\u2019s on me \u2026 Games change on how they call those things, and it\u2019s a challenge. And it was not what we wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
In any case, both teams still had their chances to win in overtime, but the Peterson-less Jayhawks pulled it off, with Council scoring nine of their 17 points, and nine of his total 18, in the extra period.<\/p>\n
That gets at the heart of a key takeaway from Tuesday\u2019s game, one that had perhaps already been apparent back on Saturday against UCF when Council scored virtually all of his points with Peterson on the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a special talent, but we don\u2019t know how to play with him yet and he doesn\u2019t know how to play with the others yet,\u201d Self said. \u201cSo there\u2019s a lot of things that we need to be until we become that, and that is tougher, harder, faster, and we weren\u2019t any of those things tonight until the very end.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next chance for KU to play that way is Saturday at West Virginia.<\/p>\n
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