MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Heralded freshman Darryn Peterson struggled to hit shots down the stretch and No. 22 Kansas couldn’t overcome a double-digit deficit on the road.
The Jayhawks dropped to 1-3 in road games this season, losing for the second time in a week when falling 86-75 at West Virginia on Saturday.
“Usually the best road teams are always the ones that can either outscore you or the ones who can make you play poorly, and we're not doing either one,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “We need to be able to grind and we haven't been able to do that yet. And I say yet because I think we're capable of getting there.”
Kansas (11-5, 1-2 Big 12) is in jeopardy of falling out of the AP Top 25 poll for the second time this season.
Against West Virginia, Kansas shot just 31% from the floor after halftime and was outrebounded by the Mountaineers 38-32. The Jayhawks were cruising along with an eight-point lead before the Mountaineers scored 16 unanswered points to go ahead for good.
“It’s the Big 12. It’s the best conference in college basketball,” Kansas guard Elmarko Jackson said. “We’re not playing up to par as we should be. As players, we’ve just got to lock in.”
Kansas isn't the only ranked team to struggle on the road. No. 14 Texas Tech, No. 19 Iowa, No. 20 Louisville, No. 21 Tennessee and No. 24 SMU all had losing road records entering Saturday.
Peterson played in just his seventh game this season and third straight. He missed seven games in November with a hamstring injury, then played in four games before missing two more with cramps.
West Virginia guard Honor Huff said limiting Peterson’s opportunities were a priority. Peterson finished with 23 points, shooting 6 of 17 from the floor. But he made just one field goal in the second half.
“That’s going to be everybody’s plan,” Huff said. “He’s a projected No. 1 pick. He has a lot of savvy to his game.”
Huff credited teammate Jasper Floyd for hounding Peterson on defense and being “very disruptive.”
“Shout out to Jasper, that was his assignment,” Huff said. “I think he did a good job, especially in the second half of being where he needed to be early in the gap and getting out to him and causing havoc on his game plan and what he wanted to do.”
In their previous road game a week ago, Peterson sat out the final 10 minutes at UCF, where the Jayhawks were outscored 9-3 in the final minute and lost 81-75. Kansas won at N.C. State in overtime on Dec. 13 and lost at No. 17 North Carolina on Nov. 7.
Kansas isn't exactly playing well at home, either. On Tuesday the Jayhawks erased a double-digit deficit to beat TCU in overtime.
The recent stretch of lackluster performances has been a wake-up call.
“I don't want to say like I'm glad we lost. But I'm glad we got kind of a slap in the face early,” Kansas guard Tre White said. “You don't want to play your best ball in January, so we're trying to peak at the right time. But we do have some issues that we want to address. I still feel like we're one of the best defenders in the country. So we've got to come together on all cylinders.”
