LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball will be without Darryn Peterson for one of the more anticipated matchups of the college season, Monday, Feb. 9 at home against Arizona.
Peterson, No. 9 KU’s star freshman guard, is unavailable with what a KU official described as flu-like symptoms. That means the Jayhawks (18-5, 8-2 in Big 12) will have to beat No. 1 Arizona (23-0, 10-0) without him. Although the team has shown an ability to win without Peterson at times this season, when he’s been unavailable with injury, it has yet to face a test like this.
Peterson has been averaging 20.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game for Kansas, across the 13 starts he’s been able to make this season. Without him, there’ll be more onus on senior guard Melvin Council Jr. to step up in the backcourt and sophomore forward Flory Bidunga to be a force in the front court. It’ll also mean redshirt sophomore guards Jamari McDowell and Elmarko Jackson will need to step up as well.
Kansas’ game against Arizona is set to tip off at 8 p.m. (CT). KU has only lost once at home this season, against now-No. 5 UConn. However, the road to another win inside Allen Fieldhouse just got tougher.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball star freshman Darryn Peterson to miss Arizona game