Darryn Peterson will be active for No. 14 Kansas to face No. 11 Texas Tech in Lubbock Monday night.
LUBBOCK - The Texas Tech Red Raiders, after Monday night, will have played against the top three prospects for the upcoming NBA Draft.
So far, they've beaten two of the three. It can be a clean sweep at the United Supermarkets Arena if the No. 11 Red Raiders can beat No. 14 Kansas in ESPN primetime.
Earlier in the season, Texas Tech beat star forward Cameron Boozer and Duke inside Madison Square Garden on Dec. 20.
Then, AJ Dybansta and BYU were shut down inside the USA on Jan. 17.
Now enter the Jayhawks, who are led by arguably the best pro prospect of the bunch - of in all of college basketball - Darryn Peterson.
The latest injury report for this matchup does not include Kansas' dynamic scoring guard. Peterson had sat nearly the entire second half of a 90-82 win over BYU on Saturday.
Peterson was dealing with cramps throughout the game, and the Jayhawks big first-half lead allowed them to still hang on for a victory despite not playing the star freshman.
On the season, Peterson has routinely been the best player on the floor in games he's played ... but that's the kicker.
He has only played in 11 of the Jayhawks' 21 games, and has only registered at least 30 minutes four times.
Peterson is averaging an electrifying 21.3 points per game on 50 percent shooting and 43 percent from three-point range, but his availability offers concerns for his immediate future.
Regardless of his playing time, the Red Raiders will have their hands full as he's arguably the best player they've faced to this point in the season.
In between his fits of cramping versus BYU, Peterson posted a smooth 18 points in 20 minutes, shooting 6-for-8 from the field with three made three-pointers on five attempts. Dybantsa scored 17 points on 6-for-12 in 34 minutes of action in the highly-anticipated matchup.
The game's best highlight came when when Peterson blew by Dybantsa on the dribble and soared over two defenders for a jaw-dropping slam.
In their matchup earlier, Texas Tech shut down Dybantsa in the second half, only allowing the Cougars' athletic forward to score two points as the Red Raiders mounted a comeback to win by double digits. Against Boozer back in December, Tech also used another second-half adjustment of shutting down the big man's space inside to take away his biggest strength.
The Red Raiders know how to hone in on the opposing team's best player.
We'll see whether head coach Grant McCasland will need to make similar adjustments to limit Peterson's damage, but the first factor comes down to how much he is on the floor.
At least for this ESPN Big Monday (8 p.m. CST) matchup in Lubbock, it looks like he's good to go.