Kansas guard Darryn Peterson (22) floats in for a bucket against Kansas center Paul Mbiya (34) during Late Night in the Phog on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas City, Mo. — Kansas coach Bill Self is fond of saying that freshman guard Darryn Peterson is able to see the game in slow motion. It’s an attribute Self usually associates with veteran players, but one that Peterson has cultivated at a young age.

“To be 18 and be able to slow the game down like that and be so cerebral and take everything in without being fazed, we try to just push him in practice to make us better,” senior forward Tre White added.

Indeed, ahead of Peterson’s collegiate debut — an unofficial one at the KFC Yum! Center against Louisville on Friday at 6:30 p.m., and an official one coming up Nov. 3 at Allen Fieldhouse — the responsibility for speeding him up, as it were, has fallen exclusively on his teammates over the course of months of offseason practices.

Peterson’s fellow Jayhawks know that he will have quite a lot to say about how far they go during the 2025-26 season, and they are intent on getting the best version of him possible — maybe even better than the version that has already made him a top recruit in the 2025 class and a potential No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

“I want to see everybody around me win,” fifth-year senior guard Melvin Council Jr. said. “And I want to see him get to the highest level. And I believe that he should go first pick, because I see the work. I see everything in him. I just want to push him, and I know he got it.”

Pushing Peterson can in some cases mean “fouling or holding and grabbing or trying to get in my head,” as Peterson describes it. It can also entail his teammates teaching him what they’ve learned during their (in some cases quite extensive) college careers.

“I know what I got to bring to the table with him,” said Council, who also called Peterson his “little brother,” “because he (needs) help, and I’m glad I’m here to teach him the game, because I’ve been in it so long.”

Peterson has previously told reporters he considers Nginyu Ngala, the 26-year-old Canadian point guard who was KU’s final addition of the offseason, the most irritating defender he’s gone up against. That’s a good sign considering that Self has said Ngala’s primary value to the team will be in helping other players develop during practices.

“He’s like a generational talent,” Ngala said of Peterson. “Sometimes at practice it’s unbelievable how much knowledge and feel of the game at an early age — I’ve never seen that before. So young and just knows how to play, knows how to get the contact. He knows ins and outs of the game that you really don’t see at his age, so it’s pretty impressive. I have never seen that.”

Peterson said he understands why his teammates make things hard on him: “It’s all out of love,” he said.

“It’s new for me being in college, so I know there’s certain stuff that they do that they know,” Peterson said. “My team’s all older guys, so they all are experienced, so they know certain fouls and certain tactics that they can get away with. And I think I got to adjust, and they’re helping me.”

Council said Peterson has done well dealing with the fact that “a lot of bodies go at him” — something Council believes can help prepare the younger guard for what he’ll have to deal with during the season ahead.

The Louisville Cardinals will be the first college team outside of Lawrence to see exactly what Peterson is about. They’ll be exposed to what his teammates have witnessed firsthand over the course of a long offseason.

One thing the Jayhawks have seen is that whatever they might do to make his life difficult, it doesn’t necessarily work.

“It’s been going very good, but it’s DP,” Council said. “Can’t stop him, you know? It’s DP. He (is) going to get to his spots, make tough shots.”