Bill Self Postgame Press Conference
Kansas 81, Oklahoma State 69 | Feb. 18, 2026 | Gallagher-Iba Arena
Opening statement:
“I thought we were offensively great early. And when we didn’t score, we got great looks. Of course, Darryn was terrific early. I thought everybody played well early. Then we didn’t finish the half great, and the second half we just kind of pieced it together. But overall, we were good enough early to keep them at arm’s length for the remainder of the game.”
On Darryn Peterson’s strong first half and not returning:
“We’ve had it more than a couple times. I didn’t anticipate that tonight at all. I thought he was good to go. But obviously we only got 18 minutes out of him. That’s disappointing because he could have had a really big night. One thing about it, though, it’s happened often enough that our guys have learned to play without him — even though that’s not the way we want to play — but it’s something we’re not unaccustomed to right now.”
On the 3-pointer before Peterson exited:
“He was going to come out before he made the three. Then he makes the three and says, ‘Give me.’ I didn’t know that he’d be done, but obviously he was.”
On Tre White hitting key shots:
“It’s important. We ran the first play to try to get him a basket early just to get the lid off. He’s a good player and has had a great year, but he hadn’t been very good by his standards the last couple weeks. It was important that he see a couple go down, and he did. Those were big shots.”
On Elmarko Jackson’s aggressiveness:
“I thought he was the best player we had tonight over 40 minutes. The biggest thing is he’s not putting himself in as many compromising positions offensively. The ball moves, and when he’s got an angle to drive, usually there’s not as much built-in help. He’s exercising a lot more patience.”
On the Big 12 freshman class:
“It’s not even close. We’ve had good players at Kansas — even one-and-dones — but I’d be shocked if the top one or two picks in the draft aren’t from this league. The freshmen in this league are different. Bryson Tiller has had a great year for us and nobody even talks about him because of everybody else. This is as good a recruiting job as our league has ever done.”
On the message to the team:
“I didn’t think we played very tough. I thought they beat us to loose balls after the first 15 minutes. I didn’t think we finished the game. There are going to be close games late February and early March where you’ve got to execute and finish. Defensively, I didn’t think we were very good the second half at all.”
On the environment at Gallagher-Iba Arena:
“It was a good turnout of KU people. The environment’s good. I actually think it’s a great idea when they drop the curtain, I think it looks good. Steve’s terrific. He’s going to do a great job here.”
On the focus for the rest of the week:
“We need two good practices — even though tomorrow is short, and we need to play tougher against a very physical Cincinnati team. That would be the goal, and not even looking past Saturday.”
On Barry Hinson’s recovery:
“He’s as good a human being as there is. We went for about an hour-and-15-minute walk this morning. He seems to be doing quite well. One thing the open-heart surgery didn’t impact was his ability to verbally communicate; he still talks all the time.”
On concern about Peterson’s cramping with March approaching:
“It’s a concern. I thought we were past it, but obviously we’re not. You get into the NCAA Tournament and you’re playing a team just as good as you, you need to have all your best players available. All it takes is one day like that to derail not only a game, but a season. It’s concerning, but I do think we’re making progress with it.”