Kansas predictably fell short vs. Duke, but good news: Bill Self says Darryn Peterson could be back next week

NEW YORK — No high-major team needs a player more than Kansas needs Darryn Peterson. 

The Jayhawks' star freshman missed his third game in a row due to a hamstring issue that, following Tuesday night's 78-66 loss to No. 5 Duke, coach Bill Self said is improving and added he doesn't "think it will be long" before Peterson can play again. 

For Kansas' sake, it better not be. The Jayhawks played admirably but were ultimately and predictably overmatched in the nightcap against the Blue Devils at Madison Square Garden. (Give Kansas this: At least they played much better than Kentucky, which is in crisis mode after being whooped by Michigan State.)

The positives: KU got 22 points and nine rebounds from Illinois transfer Tre White, 15 points and six rebounds from St. Bonaventure transfer Melvin Council Jr., and 14 points and six rebounds from sophomore big Flory Bidunga. But the Jayhawks were obviously limited and stripped of their danger in not having Peterson out there.

"We're a makeshift team right now," Self said.

Without Peterson to get into the paint and force Duke into some more honest defense, it was only a matter of time before the Blue Devils found separation, which materialized in the final 4:40 when Jon Scheyer's team outscored Kansas 11-2.

Unfortunately for college basketball fans, that meant Peterson and Cameron Boozer, maybe the top two NBA picks of 2026, didn't share the floor. Boozer was again productive for Duke: 18 points, 10 rebounds, five assists. The game comes so naturally to him. 

Duke's win leveled it with Kansas: Both teams are 9-6 in the 15-year history of the Champions Classic. Tuesday night marked the end of KU's five-game winning streak in the event as well. Had Peterson been available, Kansas clearly could have taken it. But there's no value in chancing a delicate injury less than three weeks into the season. Peterson may well be the No. 1 pick in next year's draft, but KU's coaching staff and the doctors monitoring his recovery are going to make sure not to jeopardize that. A tweaked hamstring can become a long-term injury if re-aggravated before proper recovery, so Kansas will have to wait just a bit longer.

Self went into a little more detail about the nature of Peterson's problem.

"He's had hamstring tightness, which is caused by a slight hamstring strain, so until that subsides, he's not going to be confirmed to play on it, push off and those sorts of things, which has been going on a fairly significant amount of time," Self said. "We actually feel good about what we're doing, they feel good about what we're doing and we don't think it will be long."

Kansas won't play again until Monday, when the team is in Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival. Notre Dame is first, then Syracuse the next day. Its Wednesday opponent will be determined based on the composite results of the first two days. In talking to Self on the walk back to the locker room, I got the sense there's optimism that Peterson's return to the floor will come next week.

"He'll be evaluated again Thursday or Friday," Self told CBS Sports, adding there's no chance Peterson could or would play three games in Vegas, even if he is cleared to play in time for next week. That makes sense, of course. If Peterson's hamstring can be cleared for competition, asking him to play full throttle for three consecutive days would be begging for more trouble. 

"I'm hopeful," Self told CBS Sports about Peterson's prospects to play next week, "but the back-to-back-to-back is going to be hard."

Peterson or no Peterson, Kansas will need to take at least two of three in Vegas to feel good about its standing in the sport. Because of Tuesday's loss, Kansas is likely going to fall out of the AP rankings. The Jayhawks are off to a 3-2 start for the first time since 2011 and just began a run of what will be seven straight games against high-major opponents, including the likes of Connecticut and NC State. It's the longest stretch of its kind in college basketball this season — and among the longest we've seen in nonconference play in the past decade. 

That kind of gauntlet can't be reasonably managed without Peterson. Kansas' hopes for this season almost entirely rely on No. 22. For the Jayhawks' sake, hopefully Sin City can bring some good luck and a turn in fortune.