Falling out of the national rankings might have been the fuel struggling Kansas needed.
The Jayhawks responded with their most impressive victory of the season and look to ride the momentum when they face Baylor in Big 12 play Friday night at Lawrence, Kan.
Kansas (12-5, 2-2 Big 12) delivered an 84-63 whipping of No. 2 Iowa State on Tuesday in a home win that signals the Jayhawks can still be dangerous.
“This is more what I had envisioned,” Kansas coach Bill Self said after handing Iowa State its first loss. “… If you play turned up, you look twice as athletic as you do as when you don’t. And we looked athletic.”
Tre White buried a career-high five 3-pointers and recorded 19 points and 10 rebounds, but Darryn Peterson’s 16 points in 27 minutes also were a factor in the wire-to-wire victory.
Peterson, the prized freshman, was playing in just his eighth game due to cramping issues plus hamstring and quadriceps injuries.
Peterson requested that Self substitute for him with 5:52 remaining and Kansas leading by 23.
“He told me I can go if you really need me, which tells me no,” Self said. “… So it wasn’t a bad, ‘I’m cramping, I’ve got to come out.’ It was more like, ‘I’m not quite whole right now.'”
The 16 points were Peterson’s lowest scoring output of the season. He averages 21.8 per game.
Baylor (11-5, 1-3) is coming off a 94-79 road victory over Oklahoma State to end a three-game slide.
Dan Skillings Jr. (11.3 ppg) missed the victory after sustaining a leg injury during Saturday’s 77-55 home loss to then-No. 7 Houston. It remains unknown if he will play against Kansas.
Tounde Yessoufou scored 23 points on 11-of-17 shooting to lead a group of five Baylor players who scored 14 or more points.
The short-handed Bears shot 59.3% while using just seven players. One of those was big man James Nnaji, who had one rebound and three fouls in six minutes.
Nnaji is the former NBA draft pick who joined the Bears midseason and set off a wave of controversy. The 7-footer is averaging just 2.5 points and 4.3 rebounds and told ESPN he is receiving a flood of critical messages on social media.
“Let’s be human first before the sport,” Nnaji said. “Let’s be human. But at the end of the day, the controversy doesn’t bother me because I’m here to do my job, to help the team as much as I can, and to get better.”
Cameron Carr leads the Bears with 20.3 ppg.
Baylor is just 1-21 when visiting Kansas. The Bears notched a 67-55 win in Lawrence on Jan. 11, 2020.
–Field Level Media
