Moments That Popped: No. 21 Kansas 80, Missouri 60

Kansas City, Missouri — It was billed by the man himself as "The Comeback" and it was effectively that.

Star freshman Darryn Peterson was in fact in uniform for the Jayhawks on Sunday. He started in his usual spot. And finished the day with 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting in 23 minutes.

It's those 23 minutes that were the problem, as Peterson left the game midway through the second half and did not return, sparking questions about how his hamstring held up, if the cramps had returned, if KU coach Bill Self's pregame talk about an illness had got him or if it was something else entirely.

Ugh.

All of that said, Peterson and his Kansas teammates, who had become very used to playing without him, took care of business in the latest installment of the Border War with rival Missouri, winning the neutral-site game, 80-60.

The Tigers, who suffered their first loss of the season, fought and actually out-played the Jayhawks for portions of the first half. But a late first-half run by Kansas (7-3) put KU up by 8 at the break and then bumped KU's lead comfortably into double digits early in the second half.

The run was 23-3 at one point and Mizzou never recovered.

KU forward Tre White led Kansas with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Flory Bidunga added a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Here's a look back and some of Sunday's action from T-Mobile Center on a sleepy Sunday afternoon.

LIKES

• Peterson plays — The much anticipated return of KU's top player did in fact happen. But it almost didn't. KU coach Bill Self said after the win that he was sitting there on Saturday worried that he was going to have to tell everyone that Peterson can't go, this time because Peterson was sick. It didn't keep him down, though, and he was able to get out there for the first time since Nov. 7 at North Carolina. Peterson was good. KU was mostly good with him. But Self noted that Peterson wasn't nearly as aggressive as he can be and as he's shown himself to be mostly because the conversation the two had before the game was about letting things come to him and not pushing it. Still, he did enough, in limited ways, to show and remind people how good he can be. Now, he's got to work on building himself back into game speed and better conditioning.

• Council was built for this game — Self called the KU point guard the best player in the game in the second half and his numbers were damn good by game's end. Nine points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds in 36 minutes. Council forced the action so much, in transition, in the halfcourt and beyond, that he made Mizzou uncomfortable all afternoon. That's the type of player we've been used to seeing in these Border War rivalry games. And it was clear from the very beginning that Council was up for this one. During starting lineup introductions, he was barking out, "We got this! We got this!" as he made his way through the handshake line. Then, when the game began, he put his chest right into guys and was hounding the Tigers for nearly all 94 feet of the floor. The guy plays with a great deal of emotion anyway, and emotion plays in this game better than many others. So the marriage of Council and the Border War made this a really fun and productive day for the transfer guard.

• Tre White shines again – Whether it was drawing fouls, grabbing big rebounds or just steadying the waters, KU senior Tre White again had an outstanding game for the Jayhawks. He looks so comfortable in his role right now. He looks so confident in his game right now. And he rarely shows so much as a single bead of sweat when things aren't going great — for him or his team. White has been better than advertised in just about every way. But for a team that has needed a steady leader and veteran dude during the days without Peterson, he has filled that role incredibly well and be invaluable for the Peterson-less Jayhawks. When they're out there together and Peterson is back, like he was on Sunday, that merely adds to how dangerous this team can be.

• Comfort without DP – Bryson Tiller said it best after the win when he talked about Kansas looking good in the final 10 or so minutes of the game without Peterson the floor because they're used to it. That's what they've had to do — and done well — for the past month. And that familiarity with how to play without Peterson made it much, much easier for KU to flip that switch and get right back to it when he sat. Self said Peterson might've been able to go again had the game been closer. But he was only planning on playing him 27 minutes max and he reached 23 minutes by the 11-minute mark of the second half, making it an easy decision to call it a night.

DISLIKES

• Defensive rebounding woes early – The Jayhawks let Missouri hang around for much for much of the first half largely because KU could not keep the Tigers from hurting them on the glass. Mizzou got several second-chance opportunities and buckets by just going to the rim with reckless abandon after shots went up, and KU was unable to secure the ball many times over. KU wound up winning the rebounding battle 41-35, but the Tigers still won the battle on the offensive glass, 16-12. KU was much better in the 2nd half, with both White and Flory Bidunga doing their part to clean up Mizzou misses. But it was something that hurt them in the first half. Had it not, this one might have never been close.

• Foul trouble for Flory (and White) in 1st half – When Flory Bidunga went out with his second foul in the first half, things got noticeably tougher for the Jayhawks. More to the point, when Self gambled and brought him back in with those two fouls at the 4:08 mark of the first half, things got much, much better for Kansas. Single-game plus/minus numbers aren't always the best way to gauge how someone played. But they did seem to show Bidunga's immense value in this one. Flory was a whopping +29 for the game. A game the Jayhawks won by 20. Oh, he also finished with just 2 fouls for the entire game, adding a pair of blocks to his double-double line. White also picked up his 2nd foul in the first half and it's decidedly more difficult for Kansas when both of those guys aren't on the floor. White said after the game that Self told him to not foul again because if he does there are going to be issues. White, who had struggled with foul trouble a little in Vegas, showed complete understanding of the situation and also played hard and aggressive the rest of the way without playing carelessly.

• Peterson sits — Here's the deal... Until he's playing 35+ minutes a game and scoring 25-40 per night and looking completely healthy and unbreakable, Peterson's health is going to always be a question. It certainly was on Sunday, when he closed out the game on the bench, with his right leg being rolled out by trainers in the process. "We do that a lot," Self said after the game, noting that the return was that Peterson had no issues with his hamstring or the backs of his knees. That's good news. It's also not a topic that's going away anytime soon. Self knows it. Peterson knows it. The social media/message board world knows it. And Self said he thinks that the chatter out there about Peterson sitting just to sit has frustrated the freshman. He also said bluntly that he's aware that people think Self's words about Peterson's status are him "bullshitting" people, before adding, "And I'm not at all." So, where does it go from here? That's up to you. My advice, should you desire it, is to see that KU has 6 days before its next game and to expect that Peterson is fine. He'll get added rest, added time to get back into the flow of things and will be able to show us if he's ready to go at NC State next Saturday. If he is, great. If he's not, then you can worry again. But I don't think worrying after this one is warranted. I saw Peterson walking back to the locker room with his teammates on Sunday, laughing, moving fine and celebrating the win.

WHAT THE?

• Paul Mbiya poster - He was forced into the game in the first half because of Mizzou’s size and foul trouble on Flory Bidunga, but Paul Mbiya caught himself in an uncomfortable position late in the first half with Mizzou forward Mark Mitchell bringing the ball up the floor in transition. Looking around for the right spot to occupy, Mbiya got caught flat-footed and with his back to Mitchell in the paint. By the time he turned around, Mitchell was already airborne and he flushed a 2-handed dunk over Mbiya, which gave the Tigers a 23-21 lead and forced a Bill Self timeout. You feel for Mbiya a little bit in that situation. He entered Sunday having played just 32 minutes in 6 games all year and found himself in this game and in that moment. Still, you’d expect him to at least know where the ball is and be able to use his size to make the bucket tougher and/or foul instead of giving up the highlight play. 

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