Kansas’ Darryn Peterson will have his hamstring re-evaluated after missing the game against Duke

NEW YORK – After Kansas’ Champions Classic loss to Duke on Tuesday, Jayhawks coach Bill Self said he didn’t think it would be long before freshman guard Darryn Peterson was playing again.

Peterson — a top-three national recruit and the frontrunner to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft — has missed three straight games, including Tuesday, with a lingering hamstring problem. He will be reevaluated later this week, Self said, before Kansas travels to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival.

“He has hamstring issues caused by a mild hamstring strain,” Self said. “So until that subsides, he’s not going to feel confident playing on it, pushing off, things like that — which has (been going on) for a pretty significant amount of time.”

Peterson also dealt with cramp issues earlier this season, though Self said Tuesday night that they have since subsided.

When asked if he expected Peterson to play in Kansas’ next game — the Players Era opener against Notre Dame on Monday — Self said “we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Without Peterson, No. 24 Kansas couldn’t muster enough offense late in Madison Square Garden to upset No. 5 Duke, ultimately falling 78-66. With Tuesday’s loss, the Jayhawks are now 3-2 on the season, with losses to both major opponents they have faced. (Kansas previously lost 87-74 at North Carolina in the first week of the season.) Peterson was averaging 21.5 points per game before the injury.

Said Self: “We are a makeshift team right now.”