Nov 27, 2025
3 min read
Kansas Enters the playoffs with a 3-2 record and a long list of question marks.But after Wednesday is close to Not.17.50
Las Vegas - Kansas came into the championship game with a 3-2 record and a long list of question marks.1 Pick Run Peterson, who was even older when Senior Jayden Dawson injured his hand in Monday's game.
The Jayhawks also came in as an unranked team and found themselves outside the AP Top 25 in November for the first time in 20 years.
After outscoring Kansas State 81-7666 in Wednesday's win over No. 17 Tennessee State, Kansas has a good win on the desert and it's all about potential. He returns full of renewed hope.
"I think they came here doubting how good we could be," he said."We really made a noise today. I thought we followed through on what we were trying to do. I thought we had somebody die. I thought we really should have fired shots, shots. That's what I'm encouraged about."
Tennessee appeared to be in command for most of the first 25 minutes, giving up a 12-point lead and making life difficult for Kansas on the offensive end.Powerful effects when Tre White, who had his best performance in the first half, took the fourth quarter with 16:52 left and then with more than eight minutes.
But as has been the case all week, Kansas got a bump in production from a surprising source.Sophomore guard Elmarco Jackson and senior wing Melvin Council Jr.
Jackson finished with a career-high 17 points;he hadn't scored in double figures since January 2024 and hadn't scored more than six points all season.Meanwhile, Council reached double figures for the fourth consecutive game after averaging 7.0 points in its first four games after its transfer from St.
That's in addition to White and Fleury Bidunga, who have stepped in to be reliable allies and focal points of offense in Peterson's absence.That's in addition to Bryson Tiller, who moved into the starting lineup five games ago and averaged 11.3 points and 8.3 rebounds in three Player Era games.
Suddenly, a team that lacked offensive weapons even when Peterson was healthy will be more balanced on offense — and will benefit from the return of its star.
"We're not mobile enough on offense to win games like that and expect guys to just come off the bench and get 17 or something," Self said."But what it should do is give us confidence when we're in goal, if we can learn to play together, to be able to defend and rebound well enough to actually be pretty good."
Self said earlier this week that Peterson, who has missed the past six games with a hamstring injury, is working out in Las Vegas and that he is "hopeful" Peterson will be back soon.Self told CBS Sports after Wednesday's game that Peterson will be reevaluated Friday to see if he can suit up next Tuesday against UConn.
While Peterson objectively makes Kansas a better team, he showed this week in Las Vegas that the Jayhawks can be competitive at a high level without their star man.They came up short against Duke in the Champions Classic last week, but another week of development and cohesion seems to have changed the mentality and momentum of this year's team.
"It's very important," Jackson said after the game. "I feel like going through these games without some key players, the best thing about this team is as good as the one we have, we have to have a better attitude and look like we can go toe-to-toe with any team in the NCAA."
Kansas' Streak in November is a team week that doesn't end in November, Peterson and Peterson's Return is better coordinated with ucoArevs than ucouson.
“I'm going into Thanksgiving very optimistic,” Self said.
