Kansas Jayhawks star Darryn Peterson missed 11 games and frequently left some games early due to cramping, hamstring, illness and other reasons last season. During the regular season game against AJ Dybantsa’s BYU Cougars, Peterson left after only playing 20 minutes due to severe cramping.
During his interview with ESPN this week, the projected NBA draft lottery pick revealed the reason behind those recurring cramps. He underwent testing and found that high doses of creatine supplements triggered the severe cramping episodes last season. Creatine is used to power muscle strength and growth.
Peterson said he had never taken creatine before arriving in Kansas.
“I’d never taken it before [going to college],” Peterson said. “But after the season I took two weeks off and they did tests which showed my baseline level was already high. So, they said when I dosed [a process of increasing a dose over time to create maximum benefit at the beginning of taking a supplement], it must’ve made the levels unsafe.”
Peterson also revealed a scary episode during Jayhawks head coach Bill Self’s annual weeklong boot camp in September that ended with him in the hospital because of a full-body cramp.
“I made it to the training room and just started begging them to call 911,” he said. “They were trying to get a vein to get me the IV, get me back hydrated. But I was cramping so hard they couldn’t get a vein. I thought I was going to die on the training table that day.”
In the ER, doctors treated him by administering fluids into his system for several hours to compensate for his severe dehydration.
Darryn Peterson’s Scary Cramping Episode Leaves Him Afraid of Happening That Again
During the season, Darryn Peterson’s continuous absence made it a matter of concern for not only Kansas but also NBA scouts who were looking at him as the potential first overall pick in the 2026 NBA draft. He also had an in-season interview, where he spoke about how badly he wants to play the game, but his health won’t allow him.
After the latest revelation, we now finally have the idea of why Darryn Peterson frequently left games early. Peterson was afraid that the scary cramping episode might return. So, he decided that whenever he feels, he would stop.
“Whenever I felt anything like that come on, my initial thought was that it might get to that again,” Peterson said. “And I can’t let that happen and be embarrassed and have that on TV and all that.
“It kind of put me in a tizzy because I didn’t know what was causing it. Nothing has ever been wrong with me before. Basketball is my life. What I love to do. But something was going on and I couldn’t figure it out. My biggest thing was I’m going to keep trying because we don’t know what’s wrong and we can’t say something’s wrong. So, I’m going to go out there and when it happens, I’m going to ask to come out. I don’t know if that was a right or wrong move.”
As the season progressed, Peterson committed to Bill Self that he would try to be available for the team as much as possible. Peterson managed to stay on the court for extended periods as he played over 30 minutes in eight of the Jayhawks final nine regular-season games.
It remains to be seen how NBA teams would now view drafting Peterson inside the first five picks.
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