Darryn Peterson on cramping issue: 'I'm getting better every day'
About five minutes into Kansas’ statement 84-63 win over No. 2 Iowa State in Allen Fieldhouse, star guard Darryn Peterson did something we haven’t seen from him in a while.
The freshman drove baseline and skied for a two-handed dunk and missed it. Then, later in the second half, Peterson rose again for a one-handed slam, rimming that one out as well. Neither play an ideal result, but all season long, as the guard’s battled a lingering cramping issue, that kind of lift and confidence simply hasn’t been there.
“I probably wasn’t capable [of dunking] some of the other games,” Peterson said speaking to the media for the first time since October. “But yeah, I think that’s a good sign for me.”
Since Big 12 play began back on Jan. 3, Peterson has started every game, and he’s been playing through the cramping issue that caused him to miss time earlier in the year. He’s finally starting to look like himself again.
“It was definitely frustrating [missing time] because I want to be out there with my guys,” Peterson said. “I want to be out there for coach and also for myself at the end of the day. But it is what it is. I just kind of got to keep going forward. I’m getting better every day so that’s all I can ask for.
“I’m feeling better. It’s coming back slowly to me. I was out for a while but every game I feel like I’m feeling better.”
On Tuesday, Peterson had his most inefficient game of the season, scoring 16 points on 15 shots while playing 27 minutes. He previously had 158 points in 190 minutes coming in. He wasn’t at his best.
But most importantly, for the first time this season, the Jayhawks looked like a team playing with Peterson. They didn’t defer. Everyone was aggressive, and it showed with all of Kansas’ top seven scoring eight plus points.
The result? Leading wire-to-wire and completely dominating an Iowa State team that had yet to lose this season and had looked like true national title contenders.
The scary thing is, Peterson probably played his C game. He’s still getting fully back into the swing of things, saying postgame he even felt better during the overtime win against TCU. For Kansas to have its largest win over a top five opponent in Allen Fieldhouse history with his inefficiencies says a lot about what this team could be.
“We were aggressive with Darryn in the game and that’s the first time that’s happened this year,” head coach Bill Self said postgame. “We needed to see something good happen with all of our players out there playing together because we haven’t had that yet. So I thought that was really important.
“Our other guys are good players. We don’t need to defer just to [Peterson]. But we also need to take advantage of him and I don’t think we’ve found that balance yet. Tonight was the closest thing to it.”
The next challenge for Peterson? Finishing a game. Even though he played 27 minutes on Tuesday, and he’s played 30+ in each of the last two Big 12 games prior, Peterson has still not made it to the final buzzer. He was subbed out against Iowa State at the 5:45-mark second half and did not return.
“He was closer tonight,” Self said.
But could he have finished the game?
“He told me I can go if you really need me, which tells me no,” Self said. “But was it bad? No. It wasn’t bad. He was like, ‘If you don’t need me out there, I’m not moving as good as I was earlier. Let somebody else finish it off.’ So it wasn’t a bad ‘I’m cramping, I’ve got to come out.’ It was more like, ‘I’m not quite whole right now.'”
For Peterson, the extended cramping issue is unfamiliar territory. He said he’s never experienced cramping over a prolonged stretch like this, and he’s still not fully past it yet. Still, his goal is to give it everything he’s got when he’s on the floor.
“And then if I need to come out, I ask for a sub because I don’t want to be a sore thumb out there,” Peterson said. “So when I need to come out I ask for it. But when I’m out there I’m trying to help the team.”
Peterson isn’t all the way back yet. But as Kansas showed, it doesn’t need him to be to play its best basketball. That’s a scary sign for the rest of the country moving forward, and perhaps the Jayhawks can use Tuesday’s momentum to propel themselves back into the Big 12 race, and ultimately, the national title picture come March.
There’s still so much time, and when you’ll have the best player on the court in every game, anything can happen.
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