The game was over, the crowd celebrated, and yet Bill Self had something bigger on his mind. What stuck with him was the criticism aimed at his freshman Darryn Peterson. And that was true even on a night when Kansas owned the city, leading by eight at the break, dropping 47 in the second half, and rolling to an 80–60 victory.

“I think it frustrates him. That’s the world we live in today, and it’s BS. That kid is getting four treatments a day, 45 minutes every treatment. He spends more time shooting on his own than anyone else I’ve ever coached. He wants to be out there so bad,” Self said in the post-game press conference.

Peterson just returned for the first time since his injury, after missing the past seven games. He finished 6-for-14 from the floor after missing a few shots that people expected him to make. And that criticism became loud enough that Bill Self stepped in to shut things down.

“When I say it’s day-to-day, that’s exactly what it has been. But there’s always a reason for someone to say something negative. If he had a compound fracture, nobody would say anything because you can see it. This, you can’t see. Fortunately, it wasn’t bad enough to keep him totally out—he practiced—but it wasn’t good enough for him to play the way he needs to,” Self added.

Peterson had played only two games this season before going down with what was first called cramping. He opened the season with 21 points in 22 minutes against Green Bay, then dropped 22 points in 28 minutes in a losing effort at North Carolina. Later, doctors ruled it was a hamstring injury. Since then, Kansas has been focused on getting him back on the court.

“I am just grinding right now, no practice, no games, nothing. Just RDLs and just tons of hamstring workouts, stretch, and flexibility stuff. Probably harder to do rehab than it was to practice and play games,” Peterson said in a YouTube video recently.

Finally, though, he returned and delivered. He scored 17 points in 23 minutes against Missouri, while battling flu-like symptoms that developed earlier in the week. He had spent the previous day on the trainer’s table, dealing with both the injury and the illness. He wasn’t available to speak after the game because he had simply been going through too much physically.

“I thought he did fine. I didn’t think he pushed it,” Self said. “But that’s not because of his hammy. It’s because he was sick. I was nervous he wasn’t going to play, then I was going to have to tell you again that something came up.”

Still, he gave Kansas what he could. He played 17 minutes in the first half and only six in the second, once the Jayhawks built a comfortable lead. He finished with just one assist and was clearly limited by the hamstring. He settled for jumpers rather than driving and drawing fouls. So while it wasn’t an ideal performance from a player of his caliber, projected to go No.1 in the NBA draft, it was more than understandable.

So, even Kansas forward Tre White jumped to his defense.

“Man, you could see, even though he was limited in minutes, he was super efficient,” said White, who led the way with 20 points and 13 rebounds against the Tigers. “I had a bunch of wide-open shots I haven’t normally had. He just makes the game so much easier. He attracts a lot of bodies when he’s playing, and that makes it easier for us.”

So, the criticism can keep coming, but even his first returning game suggests something dangerous for other teams, if KU keeps its toes stretched.

Only one formula would work for the Jayhawks going forward

The first half of the game showed a telling picture.

When Peterson played, KU’s offense often froze. Four guys stood around, watching him, waiting for a rescue instead of running the offense. That early stretch at T-Mobile Center showed how costly that mindset can be.

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For the first ten minutes, Missouri simply outworked Kansas. The Tigers crashed the boards, pulling down eight offensive rebounds on their first 13 misses, and beat KU to every loose ball. On defense, they zeroed in on Peterson, and the rest of the Jayhawks looked just as mesmerized as the crowd, standing around as if waiting for him to create something from nothing.

“I thought we stood,” Bill Self said afterward. “There wasn’t any ball and body movement. The way they guarded the ball screens (with) the hard hedge — we didn’t play behind it and take advantage of it. I didn’t think we played great.”

Things eventually shifted, though. Right before halftime and into the opening minutes of the second half, Kansas flipped the game on its head. Over roughly eight minutes of basketball, KU ripped off a 23–3 run, and Peterson scored only two of those baskets.

This was the version of Kansas that looked genuinely dangerous. Tre White was everywhere. Flory Bidunga showed he can be a real interior weapon. Tiller finally used his size. The defense suffocated Missouri, and those stops let Melvin Council get out and run, a problem no opponent enjoys solving.