Kansas coach Bill Self led the unranked Jayhawks to an 81-76 win over the No. 17 Tennessee Volunteers at the Players Era Festival on Wednesday. The win capped off a flawless 3-0 showing by the Jayhawks in the tournament without their star player, Darryn Peterson, who has been dealing with a hamstring injury.
Bill Self Surprised by Kansas Performance Without Darryn Peterson
The Jayhawks arrived at the Players Era Festival with a 3-2 record after a pair of tough losses against ranked opposition. For the first time in 20 years, Kansas fell out of the rankings in November, and in addition to Peterson’s injury, they also lost Jayden Dawson to a wrist injury before the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Monday.
During a postgame interview with “Field of 68” analyst Jeff Goodman, Self admitted to being frustrated with all the factors seemingly against his team this season, compounded by the absence of Peterson.
“We’re not gonna win games because he (Peterson) comes back and scores a lot of points, we’ll win games if we defend and rebound and take care of the ball and do the right things,” Self said.
“Hopefully, we get a guy that if he takes 15 shots, he can make seven or eight. Then he’s averaging 20.0 and next thing you know, your team looks totally different.
“I like where we’re going, because, going into this week, I’ll be honest with you. I was worried, I was mad, I was frustrated. I didn’t like them, they didn’t like me, which is pretty much par for the course when things aren’t going smooth. I think we’re all feeling a bit better about each other right now.”
The Volunteers led by up to 12 points in the game before Melvin Council Jr. and Elmarko Jackson erupted for 23 combined points to give the Jayhawks their first lead of the game, which they closed out to win the game.
Self Optimistic About Jayhawks After Players’ Era Festival
After the doom and gloom about the Jayhawks’ start to the season and Peterson’s injury struggles, Kansas’ performance against the Volunteers on Wednesday in the Players’ Era Festival gave Self a jolt of optimism for the rest of the season.
“I’m going into Thanksgiving very optimistic. I think that we came here doubting how good we could be,” Self said. “Today, I actually thought we played sound. I actually thought we followed what we’re trying to do.
“I actually thought we screened somebody. I actually thought the shots we gave up were the shots we were supposed to give up. So that’s encouraging.”
The Jayhawks’ newfound optimism will be tested in the coming weeks when they face the No. 5 UConn Huskies, Missouri Tigers, and No. 23 NC State Wolfpack.