Kansas guard Darryn Peterson officially out for Champions Classic
Kansas star freshman Darryn Peterson is out for tonight’s matchup against No. 5 Duke in the Champions Classic, source told The Field of 68.
Peterson is still recovering from a hamstring strain that he’s been dealing with since the start of the season.
In a pregame interview before Duke, Self had the following to say:
“Of course we wish we had him. But folks, god dang, he’s got a slight hamstring strain that’s tight and it feels like it could be injured. And he’s made great progress in the last few days. But I’m not going to put him out there. Put it on me. I’m not going to put him out there to try and win a game in November and risk losing him for a little bit of an extended period of time. So he’ll be back, and when he comes back, he’ll come back with a fury and we’ll all be happy with that. But right now, we just need to play without him a little bit. And it could be the best thing for our team.”
After the Duke game, Self said Peterson’s tightness/cramping issue is caused by a “spot hamstring strain.”
“Until that subsides, he’s going to not be confident to play on it, push off and those sorts of things, which has been going on for a fairly significant amount of time,” Self said. “The cramping could create some strain or slight whatever problems there are. But the cramping has subsided as of now, so he’s just dealing with tightness.”
The injury first flared up in the Louisville exhibition game, where Peterson played limited second half minutes. Peterson sat out the following exhibition game vs. Fort Hays State.
On opening night, Peterson returned to the floor vs. Green Bay, but the guard was once again limited in the second half because he felt the issue “coming on,” Self said then. Peterson played his first full regular season game against North Carolina, scoring 23 points and dishing out three dimes in 28 minutes.
Peterson has not played since that North Carolina game on Friday, Nov. 7. The guard is averaging 21.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 60% from the floor in the two games he’s recorded minutes.
Kansas’ next game after the 78-66 loss to Duke will be in Vegas at the Players Era against Notre Dame on Monday, Nov. 24.
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