Darryn Peterson teases why he’s the projected top 2026 NBA Draft pick originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Kansas spent most of the night chasing the game inside United Supermarkets Arena. Shots were uneven. The deficit lingered. With six minutes left, the Jayhawks trailed by nine in front of 14,953, and the building was fully engaged.
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That was when Darryn Peterson changed everything.
Peterson buried two late three-pointers, including the go-ahead shot in the final minute, swinging momentum and delivering a 64-61 Kansas road win. Afterward, he pointed to a brief timeout that reset his mindset.
“[Coach Bill Self] told me to go make a play,” Peterson said.
The moment did not come during a smooth night. Peterson acknowledged the struggle and where his confidence came from when it mattered most.
“[Happy] with the work I put in and my teammates and coaches,” Peterson said. “I had a bad game. [Shots] weren’t going strong. They guarded me kind of well. I just trusted the work so I feel like I should make [the game-winning shots].”
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For Peterson, the final minutes were less about the noise and more about finishing something he had been chasing all season.
From the bench, belief in him never wavered. Flory Bidunga, a sophomore forward who scored 14 points in the win, saw the confidence firsthand.
“Yeah, man. You know, um, coach every time I talk to Darren, say, ‘Hey, man, go make a play.’ And then, you know, he hit us two cushion threes, man. That was crazy.”
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For Peterson, the night carried meaning beyond the shots.
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“This is the first game I got through until the end…I’ve been trying to all year. It’s fun to be able to do it. It’s blessing.”
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