3 takeaways from Kansas' Big 12 basketball road win at Oklahoma State

Shreyas Laddha, The Kansas City Star on Feb 18, 2026

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Freshman Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball star Darryn Peterson needed just five minutes of game time to assert his will against Oklahoma State.

Peterson scored 13 of KU’s first 17 points on Wednesday at Gallagher-Iba Arena to give Kansas a 17-6 lead. And that provided the Jayhawks the opening burst they needed to take complete control and never look back en route to an 81-69 victory.

The craziest part?

It never felt like Peterson, or KU, tried very hard ... and it didn’t matter.

No. 8 Kansas (20-6, 10-3 Big 12) extended its winning streak against the Cowboys to nine games. Peterson led KU with 23 points in just 18 minutes.

Jayhawks guard Tre White added 16 points and freshman Bryson Tiller finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

Peterson, who’s dealt with cramping issues throughout this season, played a total of 18 minutes. He did most of his scoring in the first half, playing just three minutes in the second.

The Jayhawks led 43-29 at halftime after shooting 46.2% beyond the arc. The score didn’t get much closer than that the rest of the way, even with OSU outscoring KU 40-38 after the intermission.

Up next for KU: The Jayhawks play host to Cincinnati at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday.

Until then, here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s game:

Peterson is back on track

Peterson entered Wednesday’s game in the midst of a shooting slump. Over his last three games, he had shot just 36% from the field.

The slump ended against Oklahoma State. Peterson scored 13 points in the first five minutes of game time and made it look easy: He had 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting and was 5-for-9 on 3-pointers.

He added another three points early in the second half before taking a seat on the bench. At one point, he was seen working out on the stationary bike. He didn’t return to the game.

White starts slow, keeps building

After an excellent start to the season, White has struggled in recent games.

In his most recent two, he had failed to score five points. The bigger issue, however, was turnovers. Before KU’s matchup against the Cowboys, he was averaging 2.8 per game in his last five games.

White struggled early against Oklahoma State, too. He couldn’t seem to buy a bucket, even at the rim. He missed a number of layup opportunities.

Then he hit a couple of 3-pointers in the second half and that seemed to get him in a groove. He finished with 16 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the field with five rebounds.

Jackson is the x-factor

KU guard Elmarko Jackson has shown growth this season.

After missing all of last year due to a torn patellar tendon, it wasn’t clear if he’d have a role in the Jayhawks’ rotation in 2025-26. He does, and he’s become a key bench contributor.

When scoring seemed hard to come by for everybody besides Peterson Wednesday night, Jackson provided valuable points off the bench. He scored 14 points on 3-for-5 shooting from the floor.

On top of that, he’s mastered the art of dribble-penetration. That’s given the Jayhawks another ball-handler to go with Peterson and Melvin Council. Jackson finished with four assists.

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