photo by: AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, center, drives the lane between Colorado guard Isaiah Johnson, left, and center Elijah Malone in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Boulder, Colo.

Freshman guard Darryn Peterson will not play in Saturday night’s Sunflower Showdown matchup at Bramlage Coliseum, the Kansas men’s basketball team announced in a post on X.

“Coach (Bill) Self has confirmed that DP won’t play tonight,” read the post, which came about 15 minutes after a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel to the same effect. “He tested his ankle at shoot around today, but couldn’t get loose.”

It will be the 10th game this season that Peterson has missed, but whereas he was previously dealing with a hamstring injury early in the season and issues with cramps late in nonconference play, he is now battling what Self described as a “severe” sprained ankle.

Peterson, who is averaging 21.6 points per game in largely limited minutes, turned the ankle in the second half of Tuesday’s road win at Colorado while playing defense away from the ball. He played through the pain until the end of the game — something he had not often been able to do as a result of the cramps — and even banked in a key 3-pointer late to help seal the victory for the Jayhawks. But Self had said he was having trouble getting around when KU returned from Colorado.

On Friday night, Peterson had been listed as questionable on the Jayhawks’ initial availability report.

Now, his next chance to play will be on Saturday, Jan. 31, for a much-anticipated showdown with BYU and his fellow highly touted freshman AJ Dybantsa. That game will play host to ESPN’s “College GameDay,” the network announced on Saturday.

In Peterson’s absence against Kansas State, Jamari McDowell will likely slide back into the starting lineup for his sixth start of the season.