{"id":614507,"date":"2026-02-20T21:57:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T21:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/614507\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T21:57:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T21:57:24","slug":"bill-self-calls-out-hurtful-darryn-peterson-narratives-from-national-media-after-leaving-oklahoma-state-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/614507\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Self calls out ‘hurtful’ Darryn Peterson narratives from national media after leaving Oklahoma State game"},"content":{"rendered":"

The season-long Darryn Peterson<\/a> saga at Kansas<\/a> has been one of the defining stories of the 2025-26 college basketball campaign.<\/p>\n

When he plays, Peterson has proven himself as the best player in the sport. In 15 games this season, the likely No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft is averaging 20.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. He, however, has missed 11 games this year due to various ailments.<\/p>\n

He has also been noticeably absent from some games he has played in due to cramping issues, which keep him on the bench for long periods of time. This has garnered Peterson a bit of an unfair reputation as someone who \u2018doesn\u2019t love basketball\u2019.<\/p>\n

Kansas head coach Bill Self<\/a> called out this narrative during a Friday press conference, one day prior to the Jayhawks\u2019 matchup against Cincinnati<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a distraction as much for me, as it would be for him,\u201d Self said<\/a>. \u201cFor Darryn, obviously it would be, because I\u2019ve heard some of the things that were said. The things that are said nationally, from the perspective in which they say it\u2026 is it fair or is a lot of the things they\u2019ve actually said true? He hasn\u2019t finished games. The reasons why they say he hasn\u2019t finished games is 100% false.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the narrative being put out there, but the bottom line is that there is a way to change the narrative. Play. Finish. If his body allows him to, fantastic. If his body doesn\u2019t allow him to, they\u2019ll say something again the next game. But that\u2019s the way to get people to stop talking.<\/p>\n

Darryn Peterson has dealt with plethora of critics following missed games\/long absences<\/p>\n

In Kansas\u2018 last game against Oklahoma State<\/a> (81-69 win), Peterson scored 20 of his 23 points in the first half. After scoring his 23rd point of the game with 17:40 remaining in the second half, Peterson subbed out and did not sub back in. ESPN\u2019s Stephen A. Smith has been one of Peterson\u2019s biggest critics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no team in hell that should grab Darryn Peterson No. 1. You cannot do it. The first ability is availability,\u201d\u00a0Smith said.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cMy brother, Darryn Peterson, I hope you are watching, because I\u2019m talking directly to him, whoever, his family members, his inner circle, whatever, whoever they are \u2014 what the hell is going on?<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 This guy is a sensational player. Talent-wise, I understand why everybody\u2019s looking at Darryn Peterson and saying that brother is something special. He could be [the No. 1 pick]. This is business. I can\u2019t trust him. I cannot. I\u2019m looking at him on the camera. You cannot be trusted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peterson should be good to go for Saturday\u2019s game against Cincinnati, which would mark his 16th game of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The season-long Darryn Peterson saga at Kansas has been one of the defining stories of the 2025-26 college…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,4695,52411,6,12],"class_list":["post-614507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba-draft","tag-basketball","tag-bill-self","tag-darryn-peterson-25-prolific-prep","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116105199320176380","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}