Kansas’ Darryn Peterson missed his third consecutive game because of a hamstring injury Tuesday. Bob Donnan / Imagn Images
NEW YORK — After Kansas’ Champions Classic loss to Duke on Tuesday, Jayhawks coach Bill Self said he didn’t think it would be long until star freshman guard Darryn Peterson is back playing.
Peterson — a top-three national recruit and the front-runner to go No. 1 in the 2026 NBA Draft — has missed three straight games, including Tuesday’s, with a lingering hamstring issue. He is set to be re-evaluated later this week, Self said, before Kansas travels to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival.
“He’s had hamstring tightness, which is caused by a slight hamstring strain,” Self said. “So until that subsides, he’s not going to be confident to play on it, push off, those sorts of things — which has been going on (for) a fairly significant amount of time.”
Peterson was also dealing with cramping issues earlier this season, although Self said Tuesday night those have since subsided.
Asked if he expected Peterson to play in Kansas’ next game — its Players Era opener against Notre Dame on Monday — Self said “we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Without Peterson, No. 24 Kansas couldn’t muster enough offense late at Madison Square Garden to upset No. 5 Duke, ultimately falling 78-66. With Tuesday’s loss, the Jayhawks are now 3-2 this season, with defeats to both high-major opponents they’ve faced. (Kansas previously lost 87-74 at North Carolina in the first week of the season.) Peterson was averaging 21.5 points per game before the injury.
Said Self: “We’re a makeshift team right now.”