Peeler's sophomore year recap

Posted on: July 28, 2016 at 13:26:11 CT

MU would start the year at #11 and after victories over #12 Louisville, #7 UNC, and #7 Arkansas MU stood at 9-0 and ranked #4. At Nebraska, MU would rack up a 111-95 win over NU thanks to 29 points from Peeler, prompting Bush League Danny Nee to state, “I can't see anyone stopping them.” That would set up a matchup with 19-0 and #1 ranked ku. MU would take a 95-87 victory thanks to 24 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals from Peeler. “He is so talented, its unbelievable,” said opposing coach Roy the Snake Williams as MU took over the jayhawks #1 ranking, marking the first time since 1982 that they had ascended to the top of the polls. In a game against ISU Peeler would score a new career high of 42 (the only freshman or sophomore to ever top 40 points in a game) by making a school record 20 for 20 from the free throw line to go with his 9 rebounds in a 95-93 MU win. A loss to KSU knocked MU from #1 to #2, and set up the first ever #1 vs #2 matchup in series history when ku took the ranking back over. MU would lead the entire game and take a 77-71 win in Lawrence to against snatch the #1 ranking back from ku. But after a win against #11 OU, Lee Coward would break his hand and Peeler would lose his backcourt mate. The Tigers, and Peeler most notably, would go into a tailspin. MU stood at 25-2 and ranked #1, but less than a month later despite being the conference champs they would finish at 26-6 after becoming the first 1 seed to lose in the first round of the Big 8 tournament and losing on a buzzer beater to 14 seed UNI in the first round of the NCAA. Peeler would avg 16.8 ppg (the 29th highest scoring season at MU), 5.4 rebounds, and a school record 5.8 assist per game. The 179 assists for the season is still the all time MU record by a wide margin and he also finished with the 6th highest steals number for a season. He was named First Team All Conference in the Big 12.