Hoops Notes: Overtimes For Everyone

A wild couple nights of basketball that included three extra periods to resolve two games. Because of that, a rare mash-up of college and high school notes.

Jayhawk Talk

From the verge of a disastrous 0–2 Big 12 start to an exhilarating win that didn’t really answer the questions thanks to a pretty amazing three minutes Tuesday night.

KU’s defense completely fell apart in the second half, giving TCU layups and wide open 3’s, which the Frogs refused to miss. From a nice halftime lead to looking at a 10-point deficit in a stretch of about 10 minutes. Eventually TCU’s lead got up to 16. KU seemed lifeless and stupid. I turned the TV off. I had a quick memory, though, of West Virginia games past. I quickly pulled the game up on my laptop, not seeing just one missed free throw. I was getting constant texts from other Jayhawks fans and might as well have the game on while we were bitching to each other.

The momentum shifted. TCU missed a free throw. KU started making shots. TCU stopped playing with the same intent and suddenly seemed frightened of blowing it. Then it was a three-point game and KU had the ball with about five seconds left.

Enter Darryn Peterson.

I had jinxed the phenom moments earlier, noting that while we might be about to lose, at least he played nearly the entire game. Only to see him check out and strap pads onto his legs.

Down three, needing a 3, he checked back in, got fouled behind the arc, and hit all three free throws. The Frogs then made their second horrific turnover of their collapse and Peterson was checking back in for a last shot. He got one off, but forced a 3 that clanked badly.

Overtime!

KU took control early and weathered a late flurry of TCU 3’s to escape with a miraculous victory.

Again, so reminiscent of those three epic comebacks against West Virginia in the 2010s. This one was different, though. Those WVU teams were all very good, this TCU one is nice but not a Final Four contender. And those KU teams were also Final Four good, where this one? I’m not sure even the most optimistic of KU fans thinks it has the qualities needed to win four games in March.

That made Tuesday’s win more remarkable than those WVU ones. There was no Frank Mason or Devonte Graham to bail the team out. Peterson is more talented than those two legends. But he’s also younger and dealing with whatever he’s dealing with that keeps him from playing. He scored 32 points in 32 minutes Tuesday, none bigger than the free throws that sent the game to overtime. However, other than the last 10 seconds, he didn’t play at all in the final seven minutes of the game.

What was most concerning about Tuesday’s game, and the previous Saturday’s loss to UCF, was how terrible the KU D looked. This was a top 5 defense coming into those games, and they got torched. Both UCF and TCU were hot from behind the arc, but not like epically hot. It was more they hunted mismatches and then punished them. Worse, the switch-everything defense has taken away what is best about Flory Bidunga’s defensive game: blocking shots and grabbing rebounds. Too often he was guarding someone out on the arc when a shot went up. Bryson Tiller seems totally lost on defense, switching late or sometimes just forgetting to switch. Tuesday he had nine points and seven rebounds in just 20 minutes, but was so bad defensively Bill Self had to get him off the court. If he could get to just mediocre on D he could have a real impact.

Being able to switch five is great, but if you can’t rebound and a couple players constantly get burned, it might be time to re-think that strategy.

Now for the Peterson Problem.

I have no idea what’s going on with DP. I believe he has a legit ailment. For it to stretch on this long and barely respond to treatment is very weird. There’s a lot of oddness about the situation that, since it is 2025, has turned into sometimes ugly and unfair speculation. I’m certainly frustrated. I don’t think he would go off the way he has in the minutes he played if he was faking something. I’m beginning to have concerns that something much more serious is going on with his body.

The remarkable thing is how freaking good he is, playing limited minutes at less than 100% health. KU has never had a player with his scoring ability. He is fearless, sometimes dangerously so. You see why he arrived with so much hype.

That said, he’s messing up this team. Not intentionally. But sitting out most of the first two months of the season has everyone standing around passively when he is on the court. He hasn’t learned to trust his teammates yet, thus is basically playing elevated AAU ball. That he is so good allows him to get away with it.

I continue to be hopeful that he can stay on the court. Time is truly running out, though, for him and his teammates to learn to play together so they can make some kind of noise in March and this doesn’t seem like a wasted season for everyone involved.

HS Hoops

Wednesday the Irish put their eight-game winning streak on the line against NHS, a suburban school that is traditionally very good but came into the game really struggling thanks to a brutal stretch of injuries. They won the state championship four years ago on the back of a player who is now at UConn. Their best player from last year, when they beat us by 22, is now at Miami (FL). They beat us up pretty good in the June summer league. The computer pegged us as nine-point favorites, which seemed high to me.

NHS hit a couple 3’s early and jumped out to a 10–2 lead. We fought back and trailed 12–10 at the end of the first quarter. For the rest of the night, neither team led by more than four points. The game was tied at halftime. We were up one after three. After one of L’s former travel teammates tossed in a short jumper just before the final buzzer, the teams were again tied after regulation.

In the extra period, we trailed by a basket and were inbounding under our own hoop with two seconds left. We threw a lob to our best leaper who caught and shot in one motion, the ball dropping in as the horn sounded. Good for her, as she had missed at least three shots right at the rim earlier. Double overtime! Our girls went crazy and for a moment I was worried they didn’t realize we had just tied the game, not won it.

In the second overtime, we again trailed, this time by one, as the clock was running out. NHS had the ball and for some reason we weren’t trying to foul. Also for some reason their point guard, who destroyed us in the extra periods, decided to pass to no one with about 10 seconds left. One of our sophomores grabbed the loose ball, raced up court, and hit a twisting layup with 3.9 seconds left. After a timeout NHS missed a desperation heave and we escaped with a 69–68 win.

What a battle! M and C came to the game and C said that was as locked in as she’s ever been for a game. L played about six minutes. She missed a breakaway layup in the first half because NHS’ toughest defender was chasing and I think made L take her eyes off the rim.[1] In the second half she clearly got fouled on the perimeter and was pissed when nothing was called, so drove into traffic and earned a harder foul. She was perfect on both free throws. Moments later she had a tough turnover by over-dribbling against their trapping defense. To be fair to her, we had about 1000 turnovers so hers didn’t really stand out.

Another close win that, hopefully, pays dividends in the upcoming tournaments.