LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas vs TCU turned into a Big 12 thriller Tuesday night as No. 22 Kansas rallied from 15 down to beat the Horned Frogs 104-100 in overtime at Allen Fieldhouse. Darryn Peterson was fouled on a 3-point try and made three free throws with 1.7 seconds left to force the extra session, Jan. 6, 2026.
TCU appeared to have the game in hand after an 18-1 second-half run and still led by 15 with just over four minutes remaining, before Kansas ripped off its late surge, according to a Reuters game story.
Kansas vs TCU: the final possession that flipped regulation
Kansas, which trailed by as many as 16, needed everything to get the game to overtime. Flory Bidunga’s tip-in cut the deficit to three with just over six seconds left, and the Jayhawks got another break when TCU turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play.
Peterson drew contact beyond the arc and sank all three free throws to tie it at 87, a sequence detailed in the AP recap carried by ESPN. Peterson finished with 32 points but did not play in overtime as Kansas leaned on Melvin Council Jr., who scored nine of his 18 points in the extra period.
Kansas held the lead throughout overtime and did its damage at the stripe, repeatedly answering TCU buckets with free throws to close out the 104-100 escape.
‘It really happened in the huddle’
Council said the comeback started with a midgame reset. “It really happened in the huddle … we just took off,” he told KU Sports. Kansas coach Bill Self echoed the swing, saying, “Our defense was awful … and then for some reason the switch flipped.”
Tre White added 22 points for Kansas, and Bidunga finished with 16 points as the Jayhawks finally matched TCU’s physicality late. For the Horned Frogs, Liutauras Lelevicius scored a career-high 23 points and David Punch added 20, but TCU’s top two scorers went scoreless in overtime as Kansas’ pressure ramped up. TCU also owned the glass for long stretches, finishing with 16 offensive rebounds and 20 second-chance points, per KU Sports.
TCU’s postgame notes underscored the same theme: a lead built by energy and extra possessions slipped away amid late mistakes and a relentless finish by Kansas.
Kansas vs TCU has been building toward nights like this
The latest Kansas vs TCU stunner fits a recent run of tight, high-stakes meetings. In January 2024, Hunter Dickinson’s layup with 3.4 seconds left lifted Kansas past TCU 83-81, according to a Reuters recap. Kansas also won 74-61 in Fort Worth in January 2025, as reported by Reuters, and it held off another ranked Horned Frogs team 63-58 in February 2023 in an earlier AP recap on ESPN.
After Tuesday’s escape, Kansas improved to 11-4 overall and 1-1 in the Big 12, while TCU fell to 11-4 and 1-1. The Jayhawks next travel to West Virginia, and the Horned Frogs return home to host No. 1 Arizona — another quick test after a Kansas vs TCU game that felt like two different contests stitched into one.
