Kansas Pulls off Miracle Comeback in OT Thriller vs. TCU

If you turned off the TV when Kansas was down 16 in the second half, don’t worry I almost did too. But if you did, you missed one of those classic “Phog Allen Magic” moments that fans will be talking about for decades.

In a game that had more mood swings than a teenager, the No. 22 Jayhawks looked dead in the water against TCU on Tuesday night. The Horned Frogs were dominating the glass, hitting everything from downtown, and generally making Kansas look like they were running in quicksand. But then? Chaos ensued.

Kansas rallied, forced overtime, and somehow escaped with a 104-100 victory that felt more like a survival test than a basketball game. Let’s break down the madness.

The “How Did That Happen?” Ending to Regulation

You know those scenes in movies where the hero is dangling off a cliff by one finger? That was Kansas with less than a minute left.

TCU’s Liutauras Lelevicius, who played out of his mind (career-high 23 points), sank two free throws to put the Frogs up five with 13 seconds left. Game over, right? Wrong.

Big man Flory Bidunga tipped one in to cut it to three. Then, in a sequence of events that will haunt TCU nightmares, the Frogs coughed up the ball on the inbounds pass. Enter Darryn Peterson. The freshman phenom, who had been sitting on the bench battling cramps, checked back in with five seconds left. He promptly drew a foul on a three-point attempt and ice-cold drained all three free throws to tie it up at 87.

It was the kind of sequence that makes you question reality and exactly why college basketball is the best sport on the planet.

Peterson’s Legend Grows

Let’s talk about Darryn Peterson for a second. The kid was literally cramping up, asked to come out of the game, sat for minutes, and then came back in cold to save the season.

He finished with 32 points in 32 minutes. He didn’t just hit those clutch free throws; he was a foul-drawing machine all night, living at the line. Even when he wasn’t shooting well from the field early on, he found ways to impact the game. That’s not just talent; that’s grit. If he doesn’t play through the pain, Kansas starts Big 12 play 0-2, and the panic meter in Lawrence hits “Code Red.”

The Glass was Half Empty (For Kansas)

Look, a win is a win, but Bill Self isn’t going to be happy in the film room tomorrow. To put it bluntly, Kansas got bullied on the boards.

TCU snatched 16 offensive rebounds and turned them into 20 second-chance points. There were moments where the Jayhawks looked like they were allergic to boxing out. Self called the effort “lackadaisical” postgame, which is coach-speak for “we got absolutely worked.” If Kansas wants to survive the gauntlet of the Big 12, they can’t let teams treat the rim like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Defensive Jekyll and Hyde

For the first 20 minutes, Kansas looked like a defensive juggernaut, holding TCU to 31% shooting. Then halftime happened, and the defense apparently decided to stay in the locker room.

TCU torched the nets in the second half, shooting over 63% and drilling threes like it was a layup line. The Jayhawks were getting lost on switches and giving up way too many open looks. As Self noted, they went from being a good defensive team to “soft” in the span of a few weeks. They toughened up when it mattered most in OT, but you can’t rely on miracle comebacks every night.

What’s Next?

The Jayhawks (11-4, 1-1 Big 12) survived, but they didn’t exactly thrive. They head to West Virginia on Saturday, and if they bring that same rebounding effort to Morgantown, it’s going to be a long flight home.

For now, though, exhale. Kansas erased a 16-point deficit, Peterson proved he has ice in his veins, and the Phog remains undefeated in giving us heart palpitations.