The Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Tennessee Volunteers 81–76 in the third-place championship game of the Players Era Festival. However, their star guard Darryn Peterson remains sidelined with a lingering hamstring issue, but when he returns, head coach Bill Self has made his expectations for him crystal clear.

In an exclusive conversation with Jeff Goodman on The Field of 68: After Dark, Self opened up about what really matters moving forward. He said, “Even when Darren comes back, you got to learn how to win ugly. You got to learn how to make other people play bad. We’re not going to win games because he comes back and scores a lot of points. We’ll win games if we defend and rebound and take care of the ball and do the right things.”

Peterson hasn’t played with his team since Kansas’ win over North Carolina. But as per the latest update, he is all set to be re-evaluated on Friday, before the Jayhawks’ big game on Tuesday, Dec. 2, against UConn.

While with him out, everyone expected the Jayhawks’ empire to crumble, but the team has leaned on depth, defensive grit, and controlled tempo to fight. In their most recent game against the Tennessee Volunteers, the Jayhawks secured an 81–76 victory. And to give credit where it’s due, the most impressive performance came from Freshman Nate Ament, who led Tennessee with 20 points.

But in the end, the Jayhawks’ strong defence forced the Vols’ top scorer, Flory Bidung, into a 5-of-15 shooting night, giving the team an edge to deliver the Vols’ first loss in the season. But Coach Self is still excited and can’t wait to see his player back on court, doing only one thing, which Self taught him: dominate! This has the coach eager as he can’t wait to see his team back together.

“And then hopefully if (Peterson) takes 15 shots, he can make seven or eight, and then he’s averaging 20, and the next thing you know, your team looks totally different. So I like where we’re going,” he said in the interview.

Bill Self is optimistic about Darryn Peterson’s return

In the 2025-26 NCAA season, Peterson played in only two of Kansas’ eight games, but his performances in those games made the freshman’s fans very hopeful. Peterson played for 22 minutes in his first college basketball game of the regular season. He scored 21 points and grabbed 4 rebounds. Many people might attribute his achievement to chance. During the second game, Peterson managed to score 22 points against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Despite the uncertainty surrounding his return after he missed six games, Coach Self expresses guarded optimism about his comeback.

I’m expecting him to come back quickly. He is becoming more productive daily. He’s training in this place. He is running, cutting, and otherwise occupied. He’s just got to test out of some things, which we’ll test him again when we get back. So week to week, maybe too long. It’s more of every three or four days, we’ll re-evaluate and see where he’s at,” he said as per On3.

The Jayhawks have been very careful with his recovery, especially since soft-tissue injuries can be unpredictable, but there’s no denying that fans have been eager to see the former five-star guard back in action, and hopefully they will.