Kansas’ Darryn Peterson stole the show in his much-awaited return. Then it got weird

The Darryn Peterson experience at Kansas continues to be … weird.

Kansas lost 81-75 at UCF on Saturday despite Peterson, the potential No. 1 pick in June’s NBA Draft, playing to the hype in the first half, scoring 23 of his 26 points before halftime in his first game since Dec. 13. Everything seemed normal. It felt as if he might go for 40, and then the second half came.

After playing the opening four minutes, Peterson checked out at the first media timeout, sat for 4 1/2 minutes, then returned to the game to make a corner 3-pointer. He was whistled for a foul on the other end, and then sat out the final 10 minutes, 55 seconds as the No. 17 Jayhawks (10-4) lost a close Big 12 opener to the unranked Knights (12-1).

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Peterson, who had missed nine of KU’s previous 11 games because of various leg injuries, was seen stretching out his legs as if he might return, and he eventually moved to the end of the bench and used a massage gun, but he never tried to check back in. It also never appeared that he hurt himself during the game. Kansas coach Bill Self carefully chose his words afterward.

“I wanted him — we, doctors, everybody — wanted him to be on a minutes restriction the first half, and it was hard to do when (Melvin Council’s) got fouls and Elmarko (Jackson)’s knee’s hurt and we didn’t really have anybody to put in there,” Self told reporters. “… The second half, I thought he started out fine, and then it started bothering him, obviously, but the thing about it is is we knew, we expected something like that to happen, but we were hoping that it’d be a situation in which I could control it a little bit better by minimizing his minutes the first half.”

It was the latest concerning moment in an in-again, out-again season for Peterson, who remains the projected top pick and whom Self called the “most talented” freshman he has signed.

Peterson played the first two games of the season and couldn’t finish the second game against North Carolina because of what was thought to be cramps, then missed seven games with what was defined as a hamstring injury. He returned Dec. 7 against Missouri and wasn’t able to finish that game — again, receiving treatment at the end of the bench. He played 31 minutes in an overtime win at NC State on Dec. 13, but he did not finish that game because of what was later defined as quad tightness.

Peterson missed the last two nonconference games and made his return Saturday, but of the five games he’s played, he’s been unable to finish four.

“He hasn’t played nine games, so obviously it’s concerning, but it’s going to be how he feels and everything,” Self said. “I thought he did great. He was definitely there for a stretch in the first half, a different Darryn than what we’ve seen even the last couple of weeks. It was certainly understandable, you know, the reason why he hadn’t played because he hasn’t been that explosive and he’s a little rusty, but I thought he actually looked pretty darn good.

“The second half, that’s been a concern that his legs feel differently the second half, and a lot of that I think today was based on if I could have played him less in the first half, would he have been more available in the second half? And I think the answer is probably yes.”

Self, rightfully so, blamed the loss on his team’s defense. KU’s big men, in particular, struggled in switches onto UCF’s guards. It was a bad game for power forward Bryson Tiller, who scored 2 points and had four rebounds in 27 minutes. KU made it a game late because of the play of Council, who scored all 20 of his points after halftime.

This is the second straight season KU has lost its conference opener after a 33-year run of opening conference play with a win. But a road loss against a team that might be good — UCF’s only loss is to undefeated Vanderbilt — is not overly concerning.

Everything right now with the Jayhawks revolves around the status of Peterson.

Council has emerged as one of the Big 12’s best guards without Peterson, so there is hope that KU can be a pretty good team if those two can ever play together — Council played only 10 minutes in the first half because he had two fouls.

Now we wait to see if Peterson will play Tuesday against TCU in KU’s conference home opener. Self did not say anything to indicate that Peterson would not play. He did say the Jayhawks need to learn to play with him and he with his teammates. That’ll obviously get easier once Peterson is playing without any restrictions.