Kansas’ Darryn Peterson OUT Tonight vs. Duke

Kansas will be without freshman standout Darryn Peterson tonight when the Jayhawks face Duke, and it’s a significant blow heading into one of the biggest non-conference games on the schedule. Bill Self confirmed the decision Tuesday, saying Peterson won’t suit up as he continues to recover from a nagging hamstring injury.

This is the second straight game Peterson has missed. He sat out against Princeton last weekend, and while Kansas still pulled off the win, they didn’t look particularly sharp doing it. The gap Peterson leaves is massive on Kansas’ roster. He’s not just another guard; he’s the presumed No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick in an outstanding class. He was brought in to be a key piece in a national title push, and the early signs before the injury backed that up.

Kansas now heads into Madison Square Garden without its most electric scorer. That’s not ideal when you’re playing a Duke team that’s long, athletic, and built to expose weaknesses. This was supposed to be a primetime showcase for Peterson vs. Cam Boozer, another potential option at No. 1 overall. Instead, he’ll be watching from the sideline, and Kansas will need to lean on the rest of the rotation to fill the gap.

The Jayhawks haven’t had any consistent perimeter play outside of Peterson, and without his shot creation and defensive energy, the burden shifts to guys who haven’t carried it before. This is where we’ll find out if Kansas has real depth or if Peterson has been covering up more cracks than we thought.

There’s still enough talent on the roster to compete, but there’s no getting around what this means. Kansas is down a star against one of the best teams in the country, and everyone else just got bumped up a chair.

We’ll learn something about the Jayhawks tonight. And maybe something about how far they can go if Peterson isn’t back anytime soon.