Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - 2ND HALF DEFENSE Key Again for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball in 54-40 Win at Cincinnati Bearcats

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, Kansas wins at Cincinnati. How a lot of people like to make their sandwiches more mayo. 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 at DJohnsonRadio on Twitter, at Derek Johnson on Blue Sky. Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:00:32 We are free and available anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. Thank you to the everydayers catching each and every show. On today's episode of Locked On Jayhawks, we break down the recap of Kansas 54, Cincinnati 40, Jayhawks winning back-to-back games on the road. What is this? We're going to get into how it happened. The second half defense elite once again for KU. We'll get into all that. Shaquille Moore, Zeke Mayo, Moore Mayo, all day long for KU. And we're going to break down what

Starting point is 00:01:00 this win means. We'll get to our game awards and what is next for KU with a pretty big one in Ames, Iowa early next week. Before we get into any of that, today's episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, where you could have got Kansas. I think it was like plus one last night, and then today it dropped to Kansas. Either way, you would have been good to go. From big upsets to game-winning drives,

Starting point is 00:01:21 the NFL playoffs are better with FanDuel. New customers can bet $5 and get $ bucks in bonus bets guaranteed win or lose just visit fanduel.com to get started today kansas 54 cincinnati 40 jayhawks again do it with second half defense also like i said back-to-back road wins how about that for the jayhawks if they win in ames we're gonna feel like the the road woes are no more. And who knows? Maybe this is the start of that being the case, regardless, because winning in Ames against a really good Iowa State team, maybe that shouldn't be the judgment. Anyway, nonetheless, Kansas finishes this game on a 16-3 run over the final seven minutes or so of the game. The more impressive part of that, to me, isn't the fact that it was a 16-3 run. It's that Kansas

Starting point is 00:02:02 held Cincinnati to just three points over the final six minutes and 47 seconds of the game. Cincinnati was just one for 11 to finish the game from the floor. And overall, Cincinnati finishes with just 15 points in the second half. This is after a game in which you defeated Arizona State by holding them to 13 second-half points. So actually, the the second half defense worse this game than the game before is there a problem in Lawrence with their second half defense but no it all honestly like that is remarkable Kansas has given up 28 total second half points in two

Starting point is 00:02:36 games combined like giving up 28 second half points would be good for one game they've done it in two games come on two big 12 games combined uh in the case of arizona state maybe a bubble team in the case of cincinnati at this point kind of a bubble team i guess because their own four and big 12 play i don't know whatever regardless i mean it is uh unbelievable what the second half defense has been enough to a point where it's like is this their identity at this point is their identity being a second half defense is their identity being just a a defensive team in general you look at it now on ken palm kansas is the fourth ranked defense nationally and as much time as we've talked about you know their struggles defensively against teams who can space you out

Starting point is 00:03:15 and hit a bunch of threes or teams who want to pick and roll you to death have they figured that stuff out right um i do think in the case of like you look at cincinnati and ucf and arizona state i don't know how much the the way that they want to play stylistically like in terms of their personnel is going to challenge ku as much as you know some other teams uh in terms of what their weaknesses are on the defensive end of the court so i do think that helps a little bit here but like at the same point in time maybe they have figured some stuff out since the West Virginia game. Maybe that film was enough for them to really flip a switch and figure out what they needed to do on the defensive end of the court. You know, whether it's Bill Self scheming something up, whether it's the players figuring things out and how they want to defend.

Starting point is 00:03:59 It feels like they're going in the right way on the defensive end of the court in a very real way, and we are seeing that being the difference in not just Kansas winning. Obviously, the UCF win, you could have given up 20 extra points in the final second half of that game. You still would have won by 30. But these last two games, that whole second half defense isn't just leading you to win the game. It's leading you to win the game by double figures, leading you to win the game. It's leading you to win the game by double figures,

Starting point is 00:04:25 leading you to win the game in blowout fashion. So I am wondering if this is becoming kind of their identity of being a defensive team in a way that, you know, you think about it. Okay, well, you have Dwan Harris, former Big 12 defensive player of the year. You have KJ Adams, who I view as a plus defender. You have Flory Badunga coming off the bench. And, you know, this wasn't Flory's best game, but he's still a good defender overall um i say it all the time like as much as we talk about hunter dickinson not being a good defender in space or in pick and roll if you just have him in the lane or you have him as a one-on-one defender or from a defensive rebounding perspective he is a good defender from those perspectives because he is just giant and he gobbles up a lot

Starting point is 00:05:03 of defensive rebounders and so our defensive rebounds and so you add Shaq Moore to the starting lineup who is also a plus defender now you have a lineup out there when it is Shaquille Moore, DeJuan Harris, KJ Adams you know that's three plus defenders out there right and then if you have Flory out there at a given time like there's a reason that it's the case but I think also from this game it makes you feel good that this is a back-to-back good game. I guess three straight good games, right? Since Gilmore's entered the starting lineup, he finishes with eight points, four rebounds, two assists. In the end, when you look at plus minus for Kansas, really all the starters graded out really well.

Starting point is 00:05:38 The bench did not. This was not a really good game for the bench overall. But Gilmore finished a plus 16. That was second on the team kj adams led the team with a plus 17 which this was kind of a perfect game to have kj adams and it's not even that kj was you know a great shooting but like it's just a physical rugged game back and forth where their foreman isn't really much of a shooter either and dylan mitchell like this was a great game to have kj adams and shaquille moore fits in so perfectly because if we're talking about the identity of this team becoming a defensive team Shaquille Moore is a really good defensive

Starting point is 00:06:09 guard and then you add to it the athleticism he brings that dunk that he throws down just having somebody else who can create his shot for him you know even if he's only going to score six eight ten points in a game just having another guy who has that ability to handle the ball take the load off the one Harris take some minutes off his plate play good defense and create his own shot here or there. It's so pivotal, man. And it's funny in a game where Shaquille Moore and Zeke Mayo combined for just 17 points combined, where they combined eight of 19 from the floor, where they combined one of eight from three point range and again you have to grade everything on a curve because it's like well when i say 16 points of or 17 points of 54 that's like a third of your output right um but those numbers don't jump off the page but they made key plays when it mattered like they were the the players who were making the winning plays at the end of

Starting point is 00:07:00 the game and you know the biggest thing in this like kansas showed some stones in winning this game and when i think of the best seasons that bill self has at cancer maybe not even that that's the best way to put it the good seasons that can't that bill self has a chance i guess they're all good seasons if you do with them oh they've all been top four seeds everybody would take that right so whatever the better seasons for bill self at kansas they all involve being able to win games ugly and specifically go on the road and win ugly games and this is something that alluded kansas really last season they weren't really able to go on the road and ugly up a game and and win it obviously if you keep doing this and keep having to ugly up wins at some point it gets like a little bit okay are

Starting point is 00:07:42 you just ugly too um but that hasn't been the case for ku right you have to be able to every now and then you're not going to play your best game you're not going to hit shots right you have to be able to make other teams worse and play worse and that's something bill self talks about all the time kansas made the other team play worse today kansas made the other team play worse in the second half against arizona state they didn't do it in the first half but they did do it definitively in the second half and they did it all game long against cincinn made them play worse. And so when you look at the best Bill Self seasons, this is the Bill Self special. They win a couple of the games like

Starting point is 00:08:14 this. And so the fact that you are now starting to show that you can win games like that, I think is a huge step forward in what I, and how I evaluate this team, because I almost view it as like, okay, Bill Self is starting to shape them. They're starting to fall in line, so to speak, with what Bill Self wants them to do. That is how I view a win like this, which makes it so important. And when you look at those, like, it's not just you grinded out a gross, ugly looking game to find a way to win on the road. It's also that you combined making a team play worse with maybe a key player stepping up.

Starting point is 00:08:51 Like, you know, you think of all the times that Devontae Graham or Frank Mason or one of these players stepped up and made big plays at the end of the game. That was the KU guards in this game. DeJuan Harris didn't have a good offensive game, but he gets that good floater to make it a double-digit lead. You know, Shaquille Moore and Zeke Mayo at the end of the game, right? They found a way to make it happen.

Starting point is 00:09:06 Of course, Hunter Diggins had 14 points too. Just giving you your steady 14 that I haven't even talked about to this point in time. It's just, it feels like those were the winning things that led to this one with Shaquille Moore and Zeke Mayo. Kind of being awesome late for KU. Okay, let's get to our game trophies and what is next for KU on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Our episode of the show is brought to you by TurboTax. This is a message from our sponsor, Intuit TurboTax. Are you tired of the endless waiting, wondering, and worrying about your taxes?

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Starting point is 00:10:12 and get matched with your expert who's ready to take your taxes off your plate so you can focus on your day. Only available with TurboTax Live Full Service real-time updates only in iOS mobile apps. See guarantee details at TurboTax.com slash guarantees. Continuing on with our game awards, and don't forget to make Locked On College Basketball,

Starting point is 00:10:34 Locked On College Football, your second listen every day. You can get recaps from the college football playoff games that just were over this past week, or the large amount of basketball games that have been occurring with locked on college basketball over this weekend. Okay. Let's get to our game trophies here. We're going to start with our best moment of the game.

Starting point is 00:10:52 I think there's an obvious one here, but I do want to throw another one out there for honorable mention. And that would be the KJ Adams and one, he didn't make the free throw. So can I still call it an end one either way? There was the, the, you had like the,

Starting point is 00:11:05 I forget if it was a steal or what, but you up with shaquille moore taking a layup in transition and it's no good and kj adams hustles down the floor grabs the rebound on a tip in in the air and while all in one effort you know jumping grabbing the rebound tipping it in laying it in off the window he's fouled as well gets super pumped it goes into like a media timeout and he ends up like i said missing the free throw. But it was still such a big energetic play. It put Kansas up 38-35 at the time, which sounds like it should be a score in the first half.

Starting point is 00:11:32 It was late in the game. But the reason it's only honorable mention, I mean, I guess I could also honorable mention the DeJuan shot. But like, it's a very clear answer, I think, for best moment in this one as well. In the same way that the best moments of the Arizona State game were like the Shaquille Moore steals that led to the Shaquille Moore dunk and then the Ryland Griffin dunk. In this game, it was the Zeke Mayo steal that then he gets down the court, lobs the pass to Shaquille Moore for an alley-oop from a little guard that

Starting point is 00:12:00 puts you up 46 to 37 with like 345-ish left. And then obviously Kansas never turns back from there. That kind of felt like the nail in the coffin, you know, usually like the nail in the coffin has to come with like under two minutes, maybe under a minute to go. Cause like there's still 345 left. Like they could come back from down nine. It happens all the time. But the way that there was no offense really in this game overall for, for both teams and the importance of that one, it kind of just felt like, okay, Kansas in this game overall for, for both teams and the importance of that one.

Starting point is 00:12:25 It kind of just felt like, okay, I can't swing this game because even then, like they were, they were in at least a comfortable position, 44, 37, but that like it was kind of that nail in the coffin.

Starting point is 00:12:33 And then you add to it, just the excitement of going a guard to guard alley-oop. And, you know, we talked about this in the Arizona state game, Shaquille Moore, the best little man dunker of the bill self era at Kansas. Okay.

Starting point is 00:12:43 Worst moment of the game. I mean, honestly, like we could just say offense in general that from a neutral perspective, best little man dunker of the bill south era at kansas uh okay worst moment of the game i mean honestly like we could just say offense in general that from a neutral perspective if you had no rooting interest for either team kansas or cincinnati you if you watch this game good on you you probably came away from this game like if this was the first college basketball game you had ever seen you would never watch college basketball again right like this is the type of game that no you know what i'm not gonna go there i'm not gonna go no i already talked about it too late all right you want to know um this is the type of game where like the nba people who and i like nba so like this is not me you know

Starting point is 00:13:12 and i'm one of those people who likes both nba and college but there are certain nba people who are like oh college basketball they suck they can't make any shots they can't do any offense right those people would have a field day with this game um okay uh worst moment of the game though if i'm picking an actual moment honestly i think it was the uh so arlington page the big man for cincinnati which great name i love the name arlington i don't know where you uh got that name from but i love that uh so he was the big man for cincinnati he had a pretty good game 9.7 rebounds in just 14 minutes of play so when you consider the the minutes played like that's really impressive um he came into this one i think two of four from three-point range so like clearly he showed he can make a three but like it's not part of his his like he's only shooting one every

Starting point is 00:13:54 like three games so you don't expect him to make a step back three as the shot clock is winding down that puts them up 31 to 30 and that's one of those moments where it's like oh no now they're winning late on a ridiculous step back three by their backup center like is this gonna and then it's immediately followed by aj store kind of forcing up a mid-range and airballing it and that was for sure i think to me the worst moment of the game okay we have a new game award for this one and honestly i kind of want to do this for uh games moving, but we'll see how it goes. We are going to do the most appalling stat of the game. There were a lot of appalling stats in this one. Like, I think appalling stats can be a good thing or a bad thing, right?

Starting point is 00:14:34 I think from a bad perspective would be the majority of these. In fact, unless you're viewing it from a standpoint of just defense, then it would all be bad. Kansas was only 6 of 15 on layups. is appalling together the two teams 12 of 30 on the layups that's 40 on layups uh that is an appalling stat kansas 35 from the floor cincinnati 31 that's an appalling stat um free throw shooting the fact that there were only seven combined free throw attempts kansas was four for five cincinnati was one for The fact that there were only seven combined free throw attempts. Kansas was four for five. Cincinnati was one for two.

Starting point is 00:15:08 The fact there were only seven combined free throw attempts in a game where clearly both defenses were playing very physical and very hard. I don't think this was an advantage for one way or another because both ended up around the same amount. But that is appalling that there weren't more free throw attempts for either team. That is just unbelievable to see that happen.

Starting point is 00:15:27 I think it's probably also, Pauline, and this is the official pick for me, the three-point shooting, right? You could make the argument either way, like, oh no, Kansas only went two of 21 from three. Is that indicative that they're not a good three-point shooting team, right? I view this from the other lens. I'm like'm like oh they won a game by 14 on the road that they were only two of 21 from three that's awesome and now you hope that it against iowa say you have a reversion to the mean and you hit you know 50 from three right um so i think that's awesome but from a game watching

Starting point is 00:15:58 perspective the two teams combined five of 43 from three point range no that is not good Cincinnati shot 14 from three Kansas shot 10 from three so that is the most appalling stat of the game is that both teams were so bad from three point range uh okay our rim clanker of the game this could go in line with that because there was a lot to choose from a lot of missed shots a lot of missed threes uh but i think actually for me it's dylan mitchell who uh i thought he actually had like a game 10 points five rebounds um he tried to go for a dunk late in the second half and uh hunter dickinson like it's not that he was like trying to block the shot it was actually kind of a crafty play there by hunter where he like kind of stepped in to be like i'm gonna go for the block but he didn't actually and dylan mitchell

Starting point is 00:16:50 was just far enough away from the rim that it at least impacted him enough that he he got rim stuffed on the dunk attempt to dylan mitchell and uh i don't know if he cracked the rim because i feel like at that point in time they i'm trying to remember exactly where they're at they might have only had one more basket the rest of the way after that uh that that rim stuff dunk so uh that would be the rim clanker of the game in a game that was full of rim clankers okay offensive mvp for ku i think you have to go with hundred dinkins and he led the way he was the only double digit score he had 14.7 to 16 from the floor four offensive rebounds he got a bunch on the offensive glass for you which shout out to to KJ, by the way, because the thing that makes KJ a lot more, you know, I think playable if you're playing the two

Starting point is 00:17:33 big lineup, which obviously they are, they do is if he's a rebound in basketball. These are three straight games where he's had good rebounding games. He had seven this game, five on the offensive glass. KJ keeps doing that on the glass. I don't know, like complaints withdrawn from from people that they're still going to be complaints but like less complaints uh with bill self about how many minutes he plays i think if he's rebounding like that but yes uh hundred against in 14 points he was over three from three but seven of 13 on two point shots he also had two assists and zero turnovers which against team who can really

Starting point is 00:18:02 swarm you i think that's certainly impressive but also like shout out to Zeke Mayo and Shaquille Moore at the end for the offense there. But yeah, Hunter Digginson is the offensive MVP. And then defensive MVP, I mean, do we just go with the rims? Do we go with the entire team for KU? Do we go Shaquille Moore? Because what he has done with being in the starting lineup has been so pivotal for KU.

Starting point is 00:18:23 When you look at Cincinnati on the offensive end of the court, like who struggled the most? Well, Jizzle James only had three points. He was one for six. So that would be credit for DeJuan Harris. Simus Lukosius had two points. He was one for 10 from the floor. He was 0 for 6 from three-point range.

Starting point is 00:18:38 And that was kind of a team effort, whoever had him at the time, for KU. So I think this just goes to a team war. I don't think I can pick one individual. You held Cincinnati to 40 points on 31% from the floor. You also, you know, forced them into 12 turnovers where you led 16 to 6 in points off turnovers. They were 3 of 22 from 3. It's just a team effort.

Starting point is 00:19:03 The whole team wins it for defensive MVP for KU. What's next for the Jayhawks? This episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. From big upsets to game-winning drives, the NFL playoffs are better with FanDuel because right now new customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. That is $200 in bonus bets, win or lose.

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Starting point is 00:20:23 road. They're now 12-3 on the season. They're now ranked seventh on Ken Palm, and now they have a top-five defense on Ken Palm with the sixth-best two-point defense and effective field goal percentage nationally. They are going to be at Iowa State coming up on Wednesday. This is an Iowa State team that has been excellent so far this season. They just beat Texas Tech in overtime on the road. That's a really good win for them on Saturday. They're 4-0 to start in big 12 play if they win this game and they're

Starting point is 00:20:48 sitting at 5-0 and they push kansas at 3-2 they're gonna feel like hey it's us in houston for a two man race now i don't think that would be the case because they still have to have a return trip to kansas but um they would certainly feel good about where they're at whereas if you're kansas if you win this game at iowa state you're gonna feel really good about where you're at for the big 12 standings obviously you would still have you know an undefeated Houston which I haven't seen how they've done so far today but this is a big game Titanic clash at the top of the Big 12 the only team who's beaten Iowa State was Auburn in the Maui Invitational and Auburn's the number one team in the country that was a game that Iowa State was winning for a lot of it Auburn had a

Starting point is 00:21:19 big comeback and ended up winning by two so Iowa State is one of the best teams in the country and you're playing them in Ames this is a good opportunity for kansas to prove you know the road woes are no more and we've seen them prove it against like duke and and stuff that they can beat some of the other top teams in the country but winning at iowa state i think that would feel like another level level for uh ku and then after that they'll be back at home next saturday against kansas state who hasn't been very good this season. But I guess rivalry game, you never throw the records out the window books. That's what people always say. All right.

Starting point is 00:21:50 That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. We'll see you next time with Locked on Jayhawks as we'll be back at it on Monday, talking a little KU football. They have a new punter, really good one. They have a new linebacker slash safety, and we'll get into a little more KU basketball

Starting point is 00:22:07 and preview that Iowa State game next week. So make sure to subscribe to the show. See you then with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - 2ND HALF DEFENSE Key Again for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball in 54-40 Win at Cincinnati Bearcats

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