Kansas standout freshman Darryn Peterson played only his second full game of the season Monday night. And despite a mostly underwhelming second half, the potential No. 1 pick in the next NBA Draft came in clutch with a pair of game-winning buckets in the final minutes, sparking a 64-61 comeback win for the No. 11 Jayhawks over No. 13 Texas Tech.
Down 3 on the road in the final 90 seconds, Peterson drilled a pair of 3-pointers — his only field goals of the second half — to lift Kansas to victory. The five-star freshman finished with 19 points (5-14 FG, 3-7 3FG) to lead the Jayhawks, who finished the game on a 14-2 run, erasing a 9-point deficit with less than six minutes remaining. Tech made only one of its last 12 shot attempts from the field.
The late-game flourish from Peterson came just two days after he scored 18 in a stellar first half against BYU but then sat for much of a scoreless second half with cramps. It’s been part of a perplexing trend this season for Peterson, who has missed 10 full games and notable portions of 10 others with nagging injuries. His 35 minutes Monday night in Lubbock were a season high and helped to deliver a sixth consecutive win for the surging Jayhawks (17-5, 7-2) and their second straight over a top-15 opponent.
Peterson led Kansas with 11 points in the first half on 3-of-10 shooting, with Texas Tech making him work for every one of them, led by strong defense from Donovan Atwell. It continued for much of the second half, with Peterson limited to a pair of early free throws and kept off rhythm.
But as Kansas made a late push, Peterson hit a triple in the corner off a flare screen to knot the score at 61. On the next possession, he drilled a pull-up on the other side of the arc with under a minute remaining to give the Jayhawks a decisive lead, their first advantage since the 16-minute mark of the second half.
Darryn Peterson. Clutch. 🥶🥶
So good we had to package it up for ya’ll. pic.twitter.com/PpMKDAjbLC
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) February 3, 2026
“The work I put in and then my teammates and coaches,” Peterson said when asked where he summoned the confidence for those final baskets. “I had a bad game. Shots weren’t really going in — they were guarding me kinda well. But I just trusted the work. Those are shots I feel like I should make.”
It was a gut punch to Texas Tech (16-6, 6-3), which played without star guard Christian Anderson due to illness and was fresh off a road loss to UCF on Saturday. JT Toppin was also limited to just 2 points and 11 minutes in Monday’s first half due to foul trouble, but the Red Raiders turned a 3-point halftime deficit into a double-digit lead thanks to a hot start out of the break. LeJuan Watts led the way with 19 points and 12 rebounds, Atwell scored 12 and Toppin finished with 10 points and six boards, but they couldn’t finish it. Or overcome a couple of incredible shots from Peterson.
Melvin Council Jr. added 16 points and seven rebounds for Kansas, and Flory Bidunga chipped in 14 points, nine boards and some crucial post defense down the stretch. The Jayhawks are now 6-5 in Quad 1 games and have proved they can hit another gear when Peterson is on the floor and at his best. The key will be seeing more of it over the final month of the regular season.
With Monday’s win, Kansas moves into a tie for third in the Big 12 standings alongside Iowa State, and another Big Monday showdown looms next week at home against No. 1 Arizona at Allen Fieldhouse.