Kansas Jayhawks guard Darryn Peterson did not finish strong despite his outstanding outing in his team’s opening NCAA Tournament game, which he admitted to after. On Saturday, March 21, Peterson and the rest of Bill Self‘s 2025-26 Jayhawks team went against Rick Croy’s California Baptist Lancers in the first round of the East Region of the 2026 March Madness at Viejas Arena in San Diego, California.
For the game, Peterson led his team with 28 points. However, the freshman struggled to get open in the final minutes of the game due to the Lancers’ pesky defense to deny him the ball, which could be attributed to his season-long fitness issues.
In a video uploaded by sports reporter Shreyas Laddha on X/Twitter, Peterson was asked about this during a post-game interview, where he said he is aware of how his teammates might feel about it.
“ Yeah, we won, so it didn’t really affect us too much. But, I think all the guys know that I probably should have had it moving forward. But, I got to do better getting open then,” Peterson shared. (0:04)
Despite the struggle to get it going late against California Baptist, Peterson still spearheaded the Jayhawks to an eight-point victory, 68-60, to eliminate coach Croy and Co. from the national tournament and advance into the second round.
With the victory, Peterson and the rest of the Kansas-based program moves on to face Rick Pitino and No. 5 seed St. John’s.
Darryn Peterson Dropped The Most Points By A Freshman Under Coach Bill Self During March Madness
It seems as though Darryn Peterson did not need the totality of the game against the California Baptist Lancers to be effective as he tallied a game-high 28 points, one rebound, one assist and two steals in around 37 minutes of playing time.
In a post then by @kuhoops on Instagram, it was confirmed that Peterson’s 28 points is actually the most by a Kansas freshman during an NCAA tournament game under the tutelage of Coach Self.
