Kansas guard Darryn Peterson (22) battles for position against California Baptist guard Jayden Jackson (3) during the first half on Friday, March 20, 2026 at Viejas Arena in San Diego. Photo by Nick Krug

SAN DIEGO — The fourth-seeded Kansas men’s basketball team escaped No. 13 seed Cal Baptist in the Lancers’ NCAA Tournament debut, as the Jayhawks earned a 68-60 win at Viejas Arena to advance to the Round of 32.

“They say survive and advance,” KU coach Bill Self said. “And that’s what we did. I actually thought we were pretty darn good for about 25 minutes, and then went stale for about eight and then (it) was really poor the last seven. We just played not to lose and weren’t very aggressive.”

KU will now face No. 5 seed St. John’s at 4:15 p.m. Central time on Sunday after the Red Storm blew out Northern Iowa, 79-53. The game will be televised on CBS.

Cal Baptist’s Dominique Daniels Jr., who finished with 25 points, willed the Lancers all the way back to 66-60 after KU had led by as many as 26, but CBU ran out of time.

“We knew it was March Madness, so everybody’s going to come out swinging, everybody’s going to come back,” KU guard Melvin Council Jr. said. “That’s what the game plan was. We know we had to stay poised.”

KU guard Darryn Peterson led all players with 28 points and Tre White added 12 in an uneven offensive showing for the Jayhawks.

“I missed a lot early,” Peterson said, “so I’m just glad I started to see some go through.”

A jittery start saw neither team make a field goal for the first two and a half minutes before Bryson Tiller put back White’s miss. Four early turnovers by the Lancers put them in an early hole as KU led 8-3 at the first media timeout.

Both teams continued to struggle mightily to finish around the rim. White’s six early free throws served as the Jayhawks’ primary source of offense.

KU found its groove as the half approached its midway point as consecutive buckets by Peterson and a dunk by reserve forward Paul Mbiya put the Jayhawks ahead 23-8 and forced a timeout from Cal Baptist.

The Lancers doubled their point total in less than three minutes as part of an 8-2 run. But KU had another surge left before the halftime break, scoring nine straight points — featuring seven from Peterson, including a fadeaway 3 at the buzzer — to take a 38-18 lead at halftime. It was the first made 3-pointer by either team.

“At the time, going up 38-18, you’d think that wasn’t that big a shot,” Self said. “But the way the game ended, obviously it was probably a pretty important play.”

Peterson shook off a hit to the nose early in the second half and continued his fast scoring pace. The Jayhawks led 50-25 when Daniels stepped back for CBU’s first 3-pointer with 14:29 to go. A three-point play by Martel Williams allowed the Lancers to chip into the lead a bit more.

Daniels hit consecutive shots, but Peterson answered each in short order with 3s.

“It kind of took me back to high school, like when me and AJ (Dybantsa) played each other,” Peterson said. “It’s kind of like a back-and-forth for a moment. It was just a fun part of the game, I enjoyed it.”

Later, Daniels pulled up for a deep 3 to cut CBU’s deficit all the way down to 12 at 64-52.

“They were on a run,” KU forward Flory Bidunga said. “We expected it. Great team. I feel like we just needed to stay solid, and then I think we did, but it was pretty stressful because we didn’t make any shots the second half, but we stayed composed and then we got the job done.”

Indeed, the Lancers trailed by six but ran out of steam in the final minute as a dunk by White concluded KU’s five-and-a-half-minute drought and sealed the game.

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