photo by: Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas guard Melvin Council Jr. and forward Flory Bidunga contest a shot by Jaden Bradley during the game against Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz.

TUCSON, Ariz. — The Kansas men’s basketball team didn’t have Darryn Peterson when it beat Arizona in Lawrence, and on Saturday Peterson supplied 24 points to the cause as the Jayhawks battled the Wildcats again at the McKale Center.

The problem this time for KU was how the rest of the game went.

Melvin Council Jr. supplied an efficient 13, and Tre White got to the same total on 10 shots, with most of his scoring late in the second half. Everyone else in blue went 4-for-24.

Those struggles laid the groundwork for a wonky game in which KU allowed 19 straight points early, cut its deficit to two in the second half and then conceded 16 straight again for good measure.

“He got us back to the point where we were close,” KU coach Bill Self said of Peterson, “and then we kind of went brain dead after that.”

The ultimate result was a decisive 84-61 win for the second-ranked Wildcats.

“I thought they physically dominated us inside, obviously,” Self said, “as was evident to anybody watching, and then our shot selection was so poor, and we didn’t share the ball during that period of time, and we had the wrong guys taking guarded shots, where you got to play your strengths, and we didn’t do that whatsoever.”

All five Arizona starters reached double-figure scoring, led by double-doubles from guard Brayden Burries (20 points, 12 rebounds) and center Motiejus Krivas (13 and 10). The Wildcats outrebounded KU 48-26 and shot 34 free throws, including 26 in the second half, to KU’s 11.

“Foul problems don’t help, but still, though, we played soft,” Self said. “When we played them at our place, obviously home courts make a big difference, but when we played them at our place, we made them not play great and we kind of uglied the game up. And there was nothing that uglied it up tonight.”

KU will no longer have a shot at the Big 12 regular-season title and will instead have to compete for a top-four seed in the league tournament in order to secure a double bye. (The Jayhawks can obtain a tiebreaker over Iowa State, which has the same conference record, for the last double bye if the Cyclones lose to Arizona on Monday.)

The excitement of Peterson’s game-opening step-back 3-pointer subsided quickly as he missed his next three shots, Bryson Tiller committed two early fouls, and Arizona quickly took advantage of mismatches in the post to score 19 straight points, including three dunks and two layups, and go up 21-5. Self had to use two early timeouts along the way, and Paul Mbiya entered after just five minutes of game time.

Peterson ended the Jayhawks’ drought with a three-point play at 12:57 and served as KU’s primary source of offense for much of the half. After Mbiya was not especially effective, Tiller returned despite the foul trouble, but then committed his third on an illegal screen. When KU went to the under-eight timeout down 31-16, Arizona was doubling KU on rebounds, 16-8, with the Jayhawks 5-for-20 from the field.

KU didn’t immediately improve those numbers much, but drew some fouls and turnovers to at least disrupt the Wildcats’ rhythm. The Jayhawks had a chance to gain some ground with the ball down 31-19, but a couple of turnovers and bad misses by White facilitated a quick run of six straight by Arizona, capped off when Burries rammed his way through a series of KU defenders for a tough layup.

Jayden Dawson came off the bench and knocked down a corner 3 to cut KU’s deficit to 37-24, but he had a second attempt rattle out in transition moments later after a steal by Council.

Peterson, who attempted 11 shots in the first half (no other player for either team took more than six), managed to bounce in an off-balance attempt in the paint in the final seconds of the first half to cut the margin down to 39-28, the closest KU had been since 16-5.

The Jayhawks held Arizona to 0-for-5 shooting in the final 3:52, as the Wildcats’ only points in that stretch were a pair of free throws by Burries.

KU got its deficit to seven points on a left-wing 3 by Peterson early in the second half, the closest it had been since midway through the Wildcats’ early run. But Council missed a layup that could have made it 40-35, and Koa Peat scored through Flory Bidunga at the other end.

A second-chance 3-pointer by Anthony Dell’Orso gave Arizona a much-needed boost, but KU got a response from Council not long afterward. After a pair of free throws by Jaden Bradley, Peterson connected from long range and then set up Bidunga for his first points of the day, prompting applause from Self and a timeout from Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd.

Awaka was off the mark on a fadeaway jumper, and Council rattled in a floater, but Ivan Kharchenkov got a friendly roll of his own on a left-wing 3 to restore a five-point lead for the Wildcats at the under-12 timeout. The Jayhawks then conceded three offensive rebounds on a possession that led to two free throws by Burries.

“We showed some resiliency and toughness in coming back to make it, I guess, a one-possession game,” Self said, “but then after that when you really got to hunker down, when you play from behind it takes more energy and then you got to really grind, and they didn’t play as well when we were playing well. And then Kharchenkov, if I’m not mistaken, made that frickin’ long 3 that hit every part of the rim, it was exactly what we wanted him to do, and then after that it was lights out.”

Bradley added two more, stretching Arizona’s run to 9-0 and reclaiming the Wildcats’ 11-point margin from halftime. He then stepped back for a deep 2 at the shot-clock buzzer for good measure.

“They just caught on fire,” Council said. “Home-court advantage, when the crowd (gets) into it. But shoutout to Arizona for playing so well today.”

Jamari McDowell then got called for a flagrant foul that generated another three-point possession for the Wildcats.

Peterson predictably halted the Wildcats’ run, as he had the first-half surge, with a jumper from the elbow.

White’s dunk with 6:28 to go made him just the third Jayhawk, after Peterson and Council, to make more than one shot on the day.

KU ended up putting 12 scholarship players on the floor on Saturday: “When the game was out of reach, it was time to start thinking about resting guys for Tuesday, to be honest with you,” Self said.

The Jayhawks, who fell to 21-8 and 11-5 in league play, will remain in the state of Arizona to battle Arizona State at Desert Financial Arena on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Central time.

“It’s OK,” Council said of sticking around after the loss. “Just like Vegas, we was in Vegas for a while (for the Players Era). We love basketball, so we’ll do whatever it takes.”

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