Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - 2ND HALF BEATDOWN: Kansas' Defense Crumbles at North Carolina Tar Heels Despite Darryn Peterson's 22

Starting point is 00:00:00 Rough second half for KU against North Carolina. We were riding a high after the first half. And now we're wondering just how good is this Kansas basketball team around Darren Peterson? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:00:30 Thanks for making it your first listen every day. And thank you the everydayers catching each and every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page, we can like and subscribe to the show. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're breaking down KU's 87 to 74 loss to North Carolina. What went wrong is the roster been built to fail around Aaron Peterson? We're going to get into all that on today's episode of the show. We'll get into our moment, stats and awards of the game.

Starting point is 00:00:55 And then we'll get into our game balls as well here for KU. It does feel like doom and gloom whenever you lose, you lose a game by 13, and you get outscored in the second half by 21 points. I will say there are certain positives you can come. Like, it will depend at the end of the year where this North Carolina team is. If this ends up being a team who, right now they're preseason number 25, if they end up being like the 25th best team in the country and you lost in that situation, it doesn't sound as good.

Starting point is 00:01:21 But in the same way that when Kansas beat Michigan State last year in the Champions Classic and Michigan State was unranked and it was an ugly game and we didn't know what to make of it. And Michigan State ends up being one of the best teams of the country at the end of the year. I don't know, man. Like, I got to be completely honest, watching that game, yes, I was, you know, there were certain things that weren't great from KU. I was really impressed with North Carolina. And I do think we need to at least acknowledge, I think you played a really, like Caleb Wilson looks like a top 10, if not top five pick in the NBA draft.

Starting point is 00:01:48 Henry Vassar is a possible all-ACC pick. Seth Trimble is a possible all-ACC pick. I think they legitimately might be a top 10 or 15 team in the country. And you played them on the road in a game. where, yes, you did not make life hard on them at all. You made them, you know, get into a rhythm and everything, but they shot the ball well in terms of, you know, it wasn't a great three-point shooting game for them.

Starting point is 00:02:07 They did have that hot stretch, but it seemed to hit every, like, mid-range fall away. Obviously, you couldn't stop their offense in terms of getting into the paint. So I will acknowledge a little bit of that. But I do think a lot of the warts that we were worried about KU coming into the season showed in this game. Oddly enough, one of the warts, the three-point shooting did not. If I would have told you KU was going to know 12 of 25 from three coming into the game,

Starting point is 00:02:27 you would have said, oh, KU was going to steal this one on the road. KU was going to win this one on the road. The bigger issues for KU, you know, some of the warts that we thought coming into the year were do they have enough scoring punch? Do they have enough creation around Darren Peterson? And I don't really know that we have a good answer to that after this game, which brings us to the next part, which was not supposed to be a whart, which was supposed to be a strength of this team, and that is the defense. And that was, I think, the most disappointing part of this game for KU, how bad the defense was. the defense was good in the first half. You have 29 points. And it almost felt like, though, so you hit all those threes at the end of the first half with Bryson Tiller. It almost felt like a

Starting point is 00:03:03 moment where when you look at what happened in the second half, where KU felt like, hey, we can match them scoring wise. And you almost lost your fundamental. You lost your principle. Because at the end of the day, this is what Kansas's identity needs to be this year. They need to be a gruel it out, grinded out defensive team that excels in transition and has Darren Peterson because if you can be an elite defensive team that can grind it out, they can play tough, they can make other teams play bad, which in the first half you did, he forced 10 turnovers. But guess what? You only forced one in the second half. And it came in garbage time, basically. For Kansas to be a successful team, that needs to be their identity. And then it's like, oh, we have

Starting point is 00:03:43 this star player, Darren Peterson, who is going to, you know, kind of carry the offense, even though we're not going to be the prettiest offense in the world, but we're going to have that grit to us on the defensive end. And that's where I think you lost a little bit of that in this game. Because, like, that's the difference to be the first and second half to me. Like, yes, the Bryson-Tiller threes, that's a difference first and second half with him fouling out in the second half. But the biggest difference to me is the first half, you were able to be that gritty, grimy, defensive team.

Starting point is 00:04:10 And you had enough from Darren Peterson and Bryson Tiller that it got you over the hump. You were up by eight at halftime. Second half, they put up 58 points. This Kansas team is not built to win shootouts with other teams. That's not how they're built. if maybe you would have added Daryon Williams or Kishon Hall out of the portal or one of these, then maybe it's a different conversation, but you didn't. And with how the roster is built, that needs to be your identity.

Starting point is 00:04:33 And so on one hand, is it frustrating that that wasn't the identity tonight? Of course it is. On the other hand, with a younger team, a team that should get better, there's going to be early season hiccups this year. There just are. And so I don't come away about this like totally diminished. again, I would, I would like to see them be closer in the second half. It just felt like an avalanche hit, though.

Starting point is 00:04:55 And K. You couldn't figure out how to stop them. I do have some other, you know, negative to take away. I have some positive stake away. But I'm not like completely deterred away from my opinion that I think this team is still going to be like a top 15 team in the country. And like I said, I think North Carolina is going to end up to be top 15 team in the country too. It's just going to be a matter of when you figure out your identity.

Starting point is 00:05:14 And if you never figured out, then yes, you are going to be screwed. But we've seen, but like I always think back to that. I know this isn't a great example because you got how. housed in the second round of the NCAA tournament. But you look at that Kansas team, the 2020 to 21 season that was playing like through the COVID years, like less people in stance. That team was like struggling and then they hit a switch. They figured out their identity ended up being a really good defense the last couple of months

Starting point is 00:05:35 the season. They beat Baylor in the regular season and then they end up having COVID and some injuries. And that went into that loss too. But, you know, they always figured it out. And I could see that being the thing for this year's team that they start to figure it out in Big 12 play. Maybe they're like in Arizona last year. Arizona had some struggles in the non-con and that.

Starting point is 00:05:51 really started rolling in Big 12 play. I do think the biggest positives, if we want to start there, I don't know, should we start on the negatives because they lost the game? Let's start on the positives. Darren Peterson is still just an absolute freak show, man. 22 points, 8 to 14, three rebounds, three assists. He even had to deal with the foul trouble in the early going, which a little annoying.

Starting point is 00:06:10 Obviously, he did come back in the first half. He didn't pick up another foul for the rest of the game. So it's like, you almost just took. But you actually did okay without him in the first half specifically. But he still is an absolute dude for KU. The Bryson Tiller 3s, I don't think Tiller had maybe the best game defensively, although when North Carolina had their onslaught in the second half, there was mostly Tiller on the bench.

Starting point is 00:06:31 So maybe he did have an okay defensive game. But the shooting specifically, because for KU to play the two big lineups, the biggest question is going to be the spacing. I think we're getting to a point. It's only two games, but as we continue to get more and more data, if you combine the exhibition games, I think the early season results would tell you KU's best line. up is going to be a too big lineup right now. Again, that can change. We need to see can

Starting point is 00:06:54 Trey White start to get more comfortable because it just doesn't feel like that's fully come together yet. You know, can Cole Rosario or Jaden Dawson get it together? Because I know it looks okay, two of four from three for Cole Rosario, but zero rebound, zero assists. He didn't dive on the ground for that one hustle ball in the first half that Caleb Wilson gets to and then, you know, gets the ball for his team and one of those threes in garbage time. If those guys can't come together like it's going to have to be you know tray white at the three and tiller at the four and at least k you can match with size but then the problem with that is you only have one big off the bench of tillers starting next to flory and it's paulambia so um i do think there's

Starting point is 00:07:29 some of the flaws of the roster build are starting to show already early in the season and that is a little frustrating too see we're we're getting into some of the negatives even through the positives um but yeah the tiller shooting was was a nice thing to see that he can at least get there um that he has that potential kind of in him um you know, to be a good three-point shooter and allow kind of the spacing of KU to come together. I would say for some of the biggest negatives, I mean, it is the defense because like I was saying, like some of the stuff on the KU offense where, oh, do you have enough guys to create shots? That was a question we had coming into the year, you know, and I do think North Carolina is a lengthy

Starting point is 00:08:05 team. They're going to be tough to contend with. The thing that it was most frustrating in me was the interior defense specifically. And it was like, where was Florida Bedonga? And I think that's one of the other biggest negatives from this game. What is Flory at this point of time? Eight point, seven rebounds, only four of nine from the floor, struggled defensively. Henry Vassar whooped KU down low. Caleb Wilson was really good. They did whatever they wanted in the paint. And some of that was KU's defense in pick and roll as a whole as a team. Some of that was Flory. Some of that was when the other big man is in, but a lot of it was on Flory. And I just like, what are you getting there? And maybe it's just an inconsistent big. Like, let's not forget, like he probably needs reps. He's more of a

Starting point is 00:08:43 raw prospect coming in, maybe it's just going to be inconsistent in the first couple months of the season for Florey and then maybe by the time you get to Big 12 play, at least this is the hope, you know, light switch flicks and you see that guy more consistently that we see when we see the high moments because that's going to really determine how good this Kansas team can be. Like if Flory Badung is an all big 12 player, Kansas is going to be a top 15 team. If he's not, maybe they're closer to that 25 to 30 range in the country, certainly. So that'll be kind of interesting to watch for KU. I also, you know, again, like going back to the idea that just like, what are you going to get scoring from your other guards besides Peterson?

Starting point is 00:09:19 Counsel goes two for 11. Rosario, again, you get a late three, but up until then you have four points. Jaden Dawson, three points in 10 minutes. Jamari McDowell gives you nine minutes without a point. Marco Jackson, you know, hit that one three and he had a few moments here and there, but still just looks a little too dear and headlightsy at certain times. It's just like, what are you going to get there? And again, these things can get better. We're still in the early part of the season.

Starting point is 00:09:44 We're still in November 7th right now. But yeah, right now it is very much an incomplete product for KU, which is a little frustrating because you don't want to waste a great season of Darren Peterson. So not the best start here, but I still do have hope of what this Kansas team can still become and still be if they figure out their identity needs to be on the defensive end of the floor. Let's get to our moment, stats, and awards of the game. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of LOJ is brought to you by DoorDash,

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Starting point is 00:11:11 Thanks for joining us on this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can check out Locked on College basketball for your second listen every day, or you can find Locked on College football to get you ready for a different sport. Also check out some of our KU Arizona content with the Jayhawks getting ready for that one. Our moments of the game, I mean, the early going of the game, like that one jump shot that Darren Peterson hit where he gets fouled to and it's like, oh my gosh, like this is just so pretty. So beautiful to watch some of the things he was doing. That was certainly great for KU. just the stretch where Bryson Delaer, because he hit four threes, but I think was one of them a little earlier and then it was like a run where he hit like three

Starting point is 00:11:46 threes in a couple minutes. That was just the barrage of threes he was putting on toward the end of the first half. That was probably the moment of the game for KU, certainly, to a positive respect. I think the moment that the game turned, I don't know. Was there one specific shot? It just felt like a cacophony of North Carolina getting transition plays at the beginning of the second half, making a bad. or Henry Vsar, they start getting behind the defense and dunking it or Caleb Wilson just doing

Starting point is 00:12:15 whatever he wanted. That dude is an absolute freak and that dude is a beast. That run of threes, Carolina had certainly changed it up in a real way for KU. So I think those would be kind of the ones that you point to there. I mean, honestly, if you're looking at like a big moment that, I don't know, like KU at this point, I think when he fouled out, KU was down 10. It was either 10 or 12. But that certainly was a big moment because maybe that was KU's last hope to be like, hey, if we can amount to come back, we need Bryson Tiller, and he fouls out in just the 15 minutes. So those, I think, would be the moments of the, that would kind of define the game. Stad of the game, I mean, a couple we could go with here.

Starting point is 00:12:52 Only one turnover force in the second half after they had 10 in the first half, and you see the difference in the scoring for North Carolina between the two halves. That's probably the best stat of the game because they kept flashing the graphic on the broadcast, points off of turnover. So I think at one point, it was like, I think of the first half it was like 17 to Kansas at 17 and they had, I don't know, it was a lower number. That's for sure. It wound up being 19 to 14 in favor of Kansas, which means they only got two in second half, which makes sense. They only forced one.

Starting point is 00:13:20 But like Kansas is going to be so elite scoring off turnovers this year, but can you continually get them? That's going to be the key. And again, that goes back to the identity needs to be the defensive end because that's going to be their easiest way to get buckets if you don't have a lot of go-to options on the offensive end. So that to me is kind of the stat of the game in this one. I would point out to North Carolina getting, so Kansas shot 45%.

Starting point is 00:13:43 Carolina shot 52% and Kansas missed 32 shots. So did North Carolina. They got up eight more though. The fact that North Carolina got 16 offensive rebounds and Kansas only got seven, that was something we talked about coming in. Carolina, good offensive rebounding team and a big team. But maybe Kansas would have an opportunity and they needed to try to find a way to match them as as they could by getting their own offensive rebounds, that was dominated by Carolina in this

Starting point is 00:14:10 game. And it's interesting because Trey White had such good rebound rate numbers at Illinois. It is not carried over to Kansas so far. There's two rebounds in this game. They need him to be a glass cleaner, I think to be the most effective team, you know, kind of possible here. I would also mention the other stat of the game. And maybe this just goes back into the turnovers because when they weren't turning the ball over, they were getting it inside, but it's the points of the paint. 48 to 20 points in the paint in favor of North Carolina. I think that tells the story of a game in a couple different directions. It tells the story of the game in that Kansas doesn't have a post-up score.

Starting point is 00:14:45 Kansas doesn't have an easy option to get a bucket on the inside. It also tells you that the Kansas guards were unable to, you know, find creases and get to the lane. And I do think Carolina is probably like, I'm trying to think, like, who are teams that are going to be as big as Carolina? You know, like, if you, you don't play Florida, but they would be a team that would be up there. Duke could just depends what lineup they throw out at you at different times. But not a lot of teams can throw out.

Starting point is 00:15:11 And it's not like North Carolina played this all day long. Like, Jared Stevenson only played 23 minutes, but that's a lot of time that they were playing, right? If you add up, okay, Wilson at 30, Vsar at 37 and Stevenson at 23, that winds up being 90 minutes. That basically means you get 10 minutes of jumbo basketball, right? And I do think that hurt Kansas that they are more of, you know, not the biggest team. Like they're lengthy in terms of wingspan. I don't know. Maybe that hurt them a little bit here.

Starting point is 00:15:38 But the bigger issue there is the points that you allowed in the pain. Honestly, it's the 48. Like 20 is low for, last year, Kansas would consistently be in the low 30s. Probably going to be a little lower this year without 100 Dickinson scoring on the inside. So you'd like that to be a little up. But the 48 is the absurd number to give up. And how many of them were uncontested? how many of them were wide open dunks, wide open layups, they're going to have a lot to

Starting point is 00:16:03 figure out. But I will say this, going back to kind of a glass half full type of thing. I do think the personnel is more flexible in the series team. I don't know. Did they switch too much? Did they switch too much in this game? And maybe part of that was just you couldn't match up with their size. Did you overswitch in this game and it led you in too many bad situations?

Starting point is 00:16:23 And so I do wonder with the fact that they do have at least a lot of good athletes with good wingspans, are they going to be more flexible to where Bill Self can, you know, change up the defense where he can switch up what they want to do, where he can make adjustments throughout the season because they do have more versatile pieces, at least that's kind of the hope for me. And then are awards of the game for this one. I mean, NBA player of the game. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:16:47 I guess you could give it to Caleb Wilson, but I usually do this for just KU players. It is Darren Peterson. Dude just looks like an NBA player continually when he is out there. And that continues to be the case in this one. a Reggie Miller three-point shooter of the game that goes to Bryson Tiller, who is shooting a cool 100% from three, and yet KU still lost the game somehow.

Starting point is 00:17:07 So there's that one on him. And then I don't really have any other awards to give out, which, I mean, like, I don't know, like, oh, North Carolina big man just got open again and just dunked another shot. I just, you know, nowhere else to go there. All right, let's give out our game balls. And then what is next for KU basketball? This is Locked on Jayhawks.

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Starting point is 00:18:24 including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. So our game balls that we're going to give out in this one, we're going to give out Darren Peterson for our offensive game ball here. I mean, he was one of just three players for KU that ended up in double figures. I mean, had Bryson Tiller avoided, you know, getting in foul trouble and avoided fouling out and if KU ends up making it a closer game or ends up winning even, I do think that, you know, maybe Bryson Tiller becomes more of a question for this, but it wasn't out there.

Starting point is 00:18:56 So Peterson, 22 points, he continued to look like a pro. He gets our offensive game ball for KU. And outside of those two, you wouldn't really have an argument for anyone else. Those are quiet 10 points from Trey White, Flory, again, kind of a struggle to get to eight points there. He didn't really get much from the guard position if you're KU outside of Darren Peterson. Our defensive game ball for the Jayhawks, I mean, this was not a good defensive game. But when KU was rolling in the first half defensively, they were doing it by forcing turnovers. And so immediately you go to steals.

Starting point is 00:19:27 Kansas had six steals in the game. Darren Peterson led KU with two steals. Peterson was also one of three Jayhawks with a block. Col Rosario Melvin Council and Darren Peterson had the other blocks. So do we just give Darren Peterson the defensive game ball too? I guess we do in this one because I don't think you give it to one of the KU bigs. I think there was too much giving up on the inside there. I continued out nightmares, Henry Vesar, just got switched on to El Marco Jackson again

Starting point is 00:19:50 and scored another bucket. And so I wouldn't give it there. So I guess we're just going to give both to Darren Peterson. And then our, this isn't necessarily a game ball because we could have done this in awards. And this is one of those. I bring up plus minus in a game, you know, to use as kind of a, it can be a support system, right? If you see something and you feel something and then you see that, maybe you can use it as a piece of evidence. But sometimes I like to bring up when plus minus gets a little, a little wonky and not super indicative, although maybe it is.

Starting point is 00:20:20 Maybe I don't know. Should this guy be playing more? there was only three players for KU who were not negative in this game and plus minus one was Samis Calderon only played three minutes it was a zero whatever another was Bryson Tiller he was plus one like 15 minutes that one makes sense right the other one this guy was plus 13 everybody else was negative outside of we just talked about this guy's plus 13 and nine minutes was Jamari McDowell and I think that just goes to like you were out there at the right time when KU hit that run of the three-point shots because McDowell ended up zero points on

Starting point is 00:20:55 0 of 1. He did have two rebounds, he had one turnover. That's just kind of funny to look at point being. Okay, so what is next for KU? So they get A&M Corpus Christi, who is ranked 247th on Ken Palm. That'll be on Tuesday. And then they get Princeton, who that'll be next Saturday. Princeton's ranked 205th on Ken Palm. So a couple opportunities to kind of, you know, boost it back up because Because the next game that you play that is like the super meaningful one is Duke. And Duke is obviously got a very good team this year. That'll be at the Champions Classic. Opportunity for Kansas to show that, hey, this was a learning moment in what they

Starting point is 00:21:35 can do against Duke. I think one of the issues with playing Duke this year for KU is going to be, they've got a lot of good wings. Obviously, Cameron Boozer is kind of a power forward big man type. Patrick and Gongbuzz 611, 250, Boozer 69, 250. Domey Saar near Kansas. Jayhawk is like 6-7, 68 on the. wing. Nicholas Kamenia was a five-star recruit. He's 6-8-215. This is a big Duke team.

Starting point is 00:21:56 There's the starting guards Isaiah Evans and Caleb Foster are 6-6-6-5. This is a big team. So if you couldn't handle height against North Carolina, you better get ready to handle height against Duke. But it'll be an opportunity. Like I said, there's going to be more growing pains for Kansas this season with kind of a younger team. If you can just build this something, right? We saw Kansas the last couple years have a lot of success in the non-con and then it didn't lead to any improvement or win big time games in Big 12 play for the most part, right? You prefer to have the opposite. And the thing is, like, you don't get to see the crystal ball.

Starting point is 00:22:29 You don't get to know, hey, did losing to North Carolina teach this team a lesson that now they're going to beat Houston in Big 12 play? You don't know that. For all you know, they're going to lose both, right? And then this becomes more frustrating. But if this is a good learning moment, and if this does lead to this team having a more defensive identity, then I think it could be worth it in the long run. but obviously right now you just don't know what that long run's going to hold.

Starting point is 00:22:50 So we'll see more about that coming up for KU. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. See you tomorrow for a KU Arizona postcast right here with L.O.J.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - 2ND HALF BEATDOWN: Kansas' Defense Crumbles at North Carolina Tar Heels Despite Darryn Peterson's 22

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