According to ESPN, Darryn Peterson said a new round of bloodwork and other tests after the college season led doctors to conclude that his use of high doses of creatine created the mysterious and sometimes debilitating cramping he experienced during his freshman year at Kansas.
In an extended interview with ESPN, Peterson said he had never taken creatine before arriving at Kansas and that tests after the season showed his baseline level was already high. “They said when I dosed, it must’ve made the levels unsafe,” he said, describing a process of increasing a dose over time to achieve benefit from the supplement.
Peterson traced his problems to a frightening episode that followed coach Bill Self’s weeklong boot camp in September. He said the cramping began in his legs and progressed to his stomach, back, arms and hands until his whole body tightened. “I made it to the training room and just started begging them to call 911,” he said, adding that trainers had difficulty finding a vein because he was cramping so hard. Emergency-room doctors were eventually able to administer several bags of fluids intravenously, and he was treated for what doctors thought was severe dehydration.
The condition affected his availability during the season. Peterson missed 11 games and asked to come out of several more, though by the end of the season he had worked out how to remain in games and played more than 30 minutes in eight of Kansas’ final nine regular-season contests. The report lists his averages at 20.2 points and 4.2 rebounds while shooting 38.2 percent from beyond the arc in 24 games.
Peterson said he rarely spoke to the media during the season because he did not have an explanation for the cramps and had not publicly detailed the full-body episode that sent him to the hospital. He finally described the incident to reporters at the Big 12 tournament in the middle of March. The report also says HIPAA rules prohibited Kansas coach Bill Self from discussing the cramping incident or giving further details. Peterson is ranked as the No. 2 prospect available in next month’s draft, per ESPN’s Jeremy Woo.
