Kansas coach Bill Self made a lineup decision with his sights set on the No. 8 Jayhawks’ game against Oklahoma State on Wednesday in Stillwater, Okla.
In a 74-56 loss on Saturday at then-No. 5 Iowa State, the veteran coach pulled leading scorer Darryn Peterson (19.8 points per game) from the lineup with the Jayhawks (19-6, 9-3 Big 12) chasing a big deficit.
The decision adds to the saga of Peterson, the enigmatic star freshman guard who has battled myriad leg and ankle issues. Kansas handed then-No. 1 Arizona its first loss of the season, 82-78 on Feb. 9, while Peterson was out due to flu-like symptoms. It was the 11th game he missed this season.
Peterson returned for 24 relatively listless minutes against Iowa State, making 3 of 10 field-goal attempts, 2 of 6 3-point attempts and scoring 10 points. With a win in the contest seemingly out of reach, Self made a decision to save Peterson for the game at Oklahoma State, where Kansas will look to improve upon its 4-4 road mark.
“It was probably game flow and conditioning because he was sick,” Self said. “When he came out at the end it was probably me thinking, ‘What can we do to give us the best chance to have success on Wednesday?’ That was me making that decision. I didn’t think he was great, but he hadn’t practiced much. He wasn’t bad, but he hadn’t practiced much.”
As for the Iowa State game, in which Melvin Council Jr. paced the Jayhawks with 15 points, it was a result that was almost the complete reverse of a Jan. 13 game that saw Kansas cruise to an 84-63 home win over the Cyclones.
In Big 12 road games, Self said teams have to have “toughness, take away (3-point shots), take care of the basketball” and avoid “live-ball turnovers.”
“This league is good, especially away from home,” Self said. “When you play conference games away from home, there’s a good chance that even the best teams leave unhappy. We can’t let one (loss) become two.”
Because they are 13-3 at home, the Cowboys (16-9, 4-8) will hope some home cooking helps them snap their three-game losing streak.
For a team that is No. 72 in the NCAA NET rankings and is listed by several outlets in the “Next Four Out” category regarding the NCAA Tournament, it’s been too long between wins. The last time Oklahoma State won was on Feb. 4 in a 99-92 upset of then-No. 16 BYU.
Oklahoma State went 0-2 on an Arizona road trip, falling 84-47 at then-No. 1 Arizona and losing 85-76 to Arizona State, before dropping a 95-92 overtime decision to fellow NCAA Tournament bubble squad TCU on Saturday in Stillwater, Okla.
Parsa Fallah racked up a game-high 27 points against the Horned Frogs to lead five Oklahoma State players who scored in double figures. Even with the clock ticking on the Cowboys’ postseason dreams, Fallah said he has faith in the team’s ability to bounce back.
“It’s hard to lose games like (the one against TCU) that we really need to win,” Fallah said. “But I refuse to give up on this team and all the coaches, all the players. We cannot give up now. We understand some fans might be mad and they have the right to be mad. But we have a game Wednesday, we have (six) more games and the Big 12 tournament.
“We’ve got a good team. We are right there. We are just a step short. We are not going to give up, but it’s tough.”
