Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - A BAD win? Kansas Jayhawks Sleepwalk Through 2nd Half in 71-59 Victory vs 0-13 Colorado Buffaloes

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked On Jayhawks takeaways and recap of Kansas getting by kind of in a sleepy one 71 to 59 against Colorado. 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. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you to the everydayers catching each and every episode. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show.

Starting point is 00:00:40 We're going to be recapping Kansas, Colorado on today's edition of the show. Takeaways from the game for ku we'll get into game awards and what is next for the jayhawks on this episode they are brought to you here by fanduel sportsbook right now new fanduel customers can get 150 dollars in bonus bets if your first five dollar bet wins if you would have bet ku you would not have covered the spread but, but maybe you've been down on KU and you went the other way with it, in which case you would have came out on top. So 71-59 is the final score here, and kind of a sleepy game. Kansas was pretty impressive in the first half, and kind of hard to diagnose how much of that was Kansas playing well and how much that

Starting point is 00:01:21 was Colorado just being a bad basketball team this year but you got up 40 to 26 and if you would have been able to you know keep doing that i think you would have felt a little bit better with where the final score was and said colorado outscores you 33 to 31 they have the strong second half especially early in the half where you know it kind of gets a point where you have to make some plays at the end of the game to close this one out and i don't know it's it's it's one of those weird things where it's like, don't apologize for winning like ever. And if you have to win in an ugly way, or if you have to win a close game, just be happy you won the game. Now, I always say, if you continue to have to win in close fashion, a fashion where you know you were playing games

Starting point is 00:02:06 closer than you expect to be eventually you start to stack those together and be like yeah something's up with this team um and in a weird way like beating colorado by 12 in a game where you didn't like add a ton of excitement and you let them back into the game against a team who uh at this point in time now is oh and 13 and big 12 play in a weird way like playing a close game with colorado almost feels like you lost a game to a better team it's not like you take the win again like don't apologize for it but i don't know that it makes anybody feel any better about where the team is at right now we're like about how they would respond to the kansas state loss about how they would respond to bill self you know talking about how they would respond to Bill Self, talking about the lack of consistent energy,

Starting point is 00:02:47 about Bill Self talking about changing up the practice schedule and, I don't know, the way that they would approach practice and then the need for more energy. I don't know that anyone really feels like, oh, okay, this was a definitive moment of that change, of some of the things that Bill Self is maybe calling them out for, some of questions you have about this team that all of a sudden now you just feel like, oh yeah, see, they overcame that and now they're a better team for it. And like they moved on. So I guess that is what it is. But again, you'd rather, you'd still rather win the game. You

Starting point is 00:03:18 know, you'd rather win the game by 12. This team has lost enough games at this point in time that like, you don't need to lose a game like this to teach a lesson like if the previous seven losses didn't teach a lesson then i don't know what will and maybe we're kind of at that point this season so i do think it is interesting if we diagnose what happened here in this way to you know what went well for ku versus what did not go well i think there's some interesting things so what went well for ku in this game the the two point shooting was good um you shoot 47% from the floor, which was aided by your two-point shooting because you didn't shoot well from three-point range. In the end, Kansas goes 21 of 37 on two-point shots against Colorado, which is good for about a 57%

Starting point is 00:03:57 clip. So Kansas shot good on those two-point shots and on the interior. The passing was excellent for Kansas in this game. You wind up in a game with just eight turnovers, so you did a good job holding onto the ball and not throwing the ball away a ton. And you counter that with 18 assists. So 18 assists on 27 made shots, which I think speaks to a couple things for KU.

Starting point is 00:04:17 One, they do have good ball movement. They have a lot of players who are good passers. Also kind of speaks a little bit to the fact that they don't have a lot of guys who can just create buckets for themselves. But that's neither here nor there uh those are the positives here and uh yeah you had a good passing game i mean you'll gladly take an 18 assist to eight turnover game any day of the week right um can we say defense i mean you held colorado to 59 points 39 from the floor um you know i, I, I guess both of those are areas like, uh, their leading score

Starting point is 00:04:45 in Hammond had just two points in this game on one for seven. So can you say that the defense, I don't know, uh, because Colorado was four 23 from three. Um, I don't feel like they played very well. I just feel like they're not a very good team. You still only got eight turnovers off of them. I don't know if this was like a great defensive game as much as the stats might indicate necessarily i don't think it's a bad defensive game but like i think it was just a average defensive game for you that you were just

Starting point is 00:05:14 playing a team that wasn't very good but i don't know i guess you could say the defense if you're just looking at the stats um the other good news is that i feel like florida goes back feels like maybe he was in the bed of the freshman wall for a couple games and uh you know in a game where he plays 18 minutes he only has four points but he had six rebounds his presence was felt he has a couple big blocks in there I thought Flory uh looked more like the guy we were accustomed to in this game that that would be big if uh you know he's past that freshman wall and back to the guy that you're kind of used to seeing and then the other one is uh you know it's always good whenever some of the role players have solid games for you and you can start to wonder, okay, is this a turning point

Starting point is 00:05:49 where they're about to get hot or they're about to, like, you know, make this who they are moving forward. And David Coit having eight points, two of three from three in 17 minutes. He was plus 10 on the box score, plus mines, which was third on the team. Hunter at plus 13, KJ at plus 12 were the only ones better. So those were all good signs, I think, for KU. Now, what didn't go well for KU in this game, going back to the defense thing, they're still not forcing turnovers.

Starting point is 00:06:12 I had that whole spiel after the Kansas State game that basically Kansas over these last, you know, seven games outside of the Baylor game, it's really six of the last seven, was like the worst turnover defense team in the country. They're just not forcing steals or turning teams over they're not applying enough ball pressure they're not making teams uncomfortable enough and that didn't change in this game Colorado came into this game 354th in the country in turnover rate offense and Big 12 only games they came in 16th they came in turning the ball over about a quarter of their possessions in Big 12 games, 23.3% of the time. In this game, they only had eight turnovers. That is a very bad sign that this is not going to change for KU. And forcing turnovers is not

Starting point is 00:06:58 just an energy stat, right? It comes down to having good defenders and having players with quick hands and having alert defense. There's a lot of different ways you can force turnovers but energy is a big part of it energy and physicality are big parts of it and i don't think i would describe kansas as an energetic team or physical team and i think you're seeing that kind of continue another not good thing is is you continue to see the the transfer wings and rylan griffin and aj store struggle if you're kansas uh store only played eight minutes in this game and uh Ryland Griffin you know played 16 minutes didn't play for a big chunk of that second half I don't know what it is ever since Ryland Griffin has been reinserted into the starting lineup he can't make three

Starting point is 00:07:34 like he just can't make a shot um I thought this would be the game for him based on what Colorado gave up and I think now over these last three games that he started he's like 1-4-15 from three point range it's somewhere around there i just don't understand he's getting some good looks too so i don't know if that's a mental thing or what but um yeah i i don't know really where you go with this to be completely honest um lack of consistent energy again like that was was not a great thing you would think after a game you got called out you would have consistent energy they showed some energy in the first half there's a bit of a lull in the middle of it but then you come out with no energy to start the second half and it was just

Starting point is 00:08:07 kind of more of the same and kind of more of the idea that yeah this team isn't changing this team is who they are and the good news on certain nights like this night is that you are a better team than colorado and you are a better team than some of these schools that you can play that yeah you should be an ncaa tournament team and a team is going to win 20 games and this sort of thing but like that comes back to haunt you against some of these better teams and bigger games so um yeah that wasn't great that you didn't see any change there and then uh I think all that kind of led to one thing which was you know you come into this game especially after you get up 14 and a half and it's like okay can you win this game by 20 can you win this game going away where

Starting point is 00:08:41 you feel like yeah you took care of business against a worse team and you did just that but instead you just kind of let them hang around and it's more of the same of like okay they won the game but you know how good are they because you're not hammering a team i mean this is a team who was 0 and 12 in big 12 play and uh you know they had lost what three straight games by double digits? And I forget the number I said on the pregame show. It's all but like four of their Big 12 games. So that would be eight. So nine of Colorado's 13 Big 12 games they've lost by double figures, I believe, if I'm counting this right.

Starting point is 00:09:16 So in a way, you definitely did kind of want to hammer them. So I guess bottom line, you take the win. Like I said, you'll gladly take a double-digit win any way you can get can get it but i don't know about you i don't feel any better about this team moving forward you know for talking long-term takeaways i also don't feel worse either i just kind of feel the same after this game uh it's yeah and maybe that's a good thing maybe that can be a good thing that's just like okay move forward you take the win be happy with the dub schedule opens up a little bit here and if you can build some of these wins together, then who's going to really care how you looked in this game?

Starting point is 00:09:48 At the same point in time, if we're trying to overreact to what happens in a one-game sample, which is pretty much what we're doing when we recap individual games, again, I don't think you really feel better. But again, I guess you don't really feel worse either, which is, I guess, sort of a good thing. So a fine way to start the opening to the schedule, I suppose, for KU. All right, let's get to the game trophies next.

Starting point is 00:10:07 And what's next for KU? This is Locked on Jayhawks. Our episode of the show is brought to you by Wayfair. After the holiday hustle, there's nothing like giving your home a little TLC. I always find the decluttering and refreshing my space helps get me back into a routine. Whether you're tidying up, clearing out, or just want to give your space a new look to start the year, Wayfair has everything you need all within your budget. My favorite part, the free and hassle-free delivery, even for the larger items.

Starting point is 00:10:36 Wayfair's site was so easy to navigate, and I found everything I needed in no time. Give your home the refresh it needs with Wayfair. Head to wayfair.com right now. That is wayfair.com, W-A-Y-F-A-I-R, Wayfair.com. Every style, every home with Wayfair. Continuing on in this episode of Locked on Jayhawks, thanks for tuning in. Don't forget to make Locked on College Basketball your second listen every day. Our game trophies for the Jayhawks, winning by 12 over Colorado. best moment of the game i think in the first half there were a lot of cool moments

Starting point is 00:11:08 of big to big passing whether it was you know kj to hunter or uh the pass from kj to flory where dunks on the guy i mean flory had some some really cool highlight moments in this game but the big big passing was was really good in the first half for ku and i think that led to some cool moments a lot of the flory well there were two flurry blocks but like those are cool highlight plays um just flurry blocking just every time flurry jumps high in the air it seems like something cool happens um the I guess maybe the best moment of the game is the one that to me felt like it sealed it like you were letting them hang around it's 64 to 56 you miss a shot I think it was Ryland Griffin misses a three. KJ Adams, who thought had a good game for KU, tips the ball out on the rebound.

Starting point is 00:11:52 It goes straight to Zeke Mayo, who's wide open for three, and shoots it and knocks it down. This is not a particularly great game for Zeke Mayo shooting the basketball. I thought KJ had a really good game, as I just said. KJ should get credit there. I don't know if he did for a rebound and an assist uh he ended up with five rebounds they had five assists so maybe he did but um i thought that was a cool moment and kj played a good game so maybe uh indicative of that uh worst moment of the game honestly you can probably say the whole second half it just felt very lethargic and lack of energy and i don't know i just in a weird way it feels like that is the like that's what's around this program right

Starting point is 00:12:29 now whether it's the players whether it's right there's a lot going on online about like the student section and only having 24 camping groups i guess there was like a camping issue with uh an inability from facilities to get in and stuff and i don't want to point fingers about you know who's wrong and what's wrong in this or that but it just feels like like i was looking at tickets before the game and you could get like it was literally row one um in the it was not on the bench side of the court but it was like row one on the uh around the mid-court line i would say it was going for like 160 bucks which like you would never see in a big 12 game it just feels like there's a lack of energy around the program in the program around the program and um i think that second half was a good summation of that

Starting point is 00:13:09 especially the start to the second half for kent's comes out without a lack of energy because they continue to not be able to string together two full halves of energy i don't know why uh the pass more quick hook was not a good moment in the game because that was weird it was like ricky's pass more is coming in we haven't always seen him all the time and like i'm not here to be like oh like this is the wrong lineup they should be playing the rickies pass more this many minutes like i don't know rickies pass more like hasn't really had that moment this year where you're like you have to play this guy more but also for him to come in for like a minute and shoot a three and then just get pulled right away for just being like okay like i don't think that was like the worst shot in the world that was certainly not great and i don't know maybe

Starting point is 00:13:49 it's just like a sign of of times and and i also think like it's a sign of like it's a sign of of the lack of of leash that is given to some of these players but also at the same point in time it's one of those things where it's like well you look at you know rylan griffin struggling and you look at Ricky's fastball when he has played this year, like the numbers aren't great this year. And it's like, OK, it's a two way street. It's one of those things where it's like, yeah, could these players be getting a longer leash? Sure. But also when they're getting an opportunity, none of them are really taking advantage of it, where it's like part of you is also like, I don't really blame the coach. You know, if you were in the shoes of the coach and you had players continue to not perform for you when you're out there, even if it was more limited time, of course,

Starting point is 00:14:31 you're going to have a bias to not playing them as much. So it's like it's one of those things where it's like I can understand both sides of it and both sides of it kind of it's not fun. And then, yeah, the other worst moment, like Ryland Griffin just can't make a shot. He's this elite three-point shooter, but he's just got ice cold these last three games. Maybe he's saving all the shots for when Kansas really needs it at some point in time here i don't know uh maybe he's gonna go on a malik newman march run that'd be pretty sick if rylan griffin did that and he just all of a sudden is shooting 50 from three in march or something like that uh the appalling stat of the game for ku

Starting point is 00:15:01 this is gonna be an interesting one i mean i go back to those turnover numbers right because the fact that you're only forcing eight turnovers, that is, like I said, that is very bad for KU. Again, this is one of the worst turnover teams in the country in Colorado. And I don't know what the turnover percentage is yet, but their lowest turnover percentage in a game was was 14.1 so i'm gonna be interested to see what that ends up being for colorado because if it is the lowest i don't know that it would surprise me necessarily based on how this game went but yeah that was uh that was a little bit rough for ku not being able to to force turnovers. Something that we kind of talked about in the Kansas State game. So that would be a good appalling stat.

Starting point is 00:15:48 The other appalling stat would be the Rancic guy, or however you pronounce it, number seven for Colorado. 19 points, nine rebounds. He came in averaging five and two. How do you let that happen if you're a kid? I mean, they did a good job on the key players. Is that just crap luck against KU? Or is that just bad defense like against ku or is that

Starting point is 00:16:05 just bad defense on certain guys i i don't know that that would be a good appalling stat for for kansas as well um offensive mvp for the jayhawks and the home team i mean hunter dickinson had 19 points led you by foreign points eight for 11 from the floor he had nine rebounds two on the offensive glass uh did have three turnovers but i mean 19 points and 28 minutes of action i think he has to be the winner there especially because you look at some of the other guys who had double figure scores like dewan was only four of 11 zeke was only four of 12 um kj had a good game all around but you know i i don't necessarily think of like kj as being this driver of the offensive end of the ball you could make probably an argument for

Starting point is 00:16:42 david coit the eight points he pitched in off the bench in 17 minutes was pretty crucial for KU. That one step back midrange he had was a really nice shot, but I think it's kind of hands down. Hunter Dickinson is your offensive MVP, this one is KJ Adams pretty handedly. He ended up leading the team with three steals. So in a game where you didn't force a ton of turnovers, you did get three of them from KJ. He also had a block, and the block was a really cool sequence for him where he gets a block on one possession where it was a highlight block. Additionally, that and then the next possession down the court for Colorado, he forces a jump ball, which I don't know if that counts as a steal or not but uh it forced the jump ball and gave possession to to ku and the jump ball one honestly might be more impressive than the block to me like the block is a cooler highlight it's a cooler play but the jump ball if you go back and re-watch it that was not his guy it was i'm pretty sure it was hunter dickinson's guy was like driving on him and he comes in from that defense and that's something we hear from bill self all the time um i almost wish that like bill self would would find a way to like show film or

Starting point is 00:17:49 something on social media to be like because we hear it but you don't always see it and this includes me like i'm i'm far from an ex's no you know expert in basketball or anything but like there are certain times where um you do notice he is making up for other players on the defensive end or he is helping other players on the defensive end. And that was one of those moments where it's like you can see his impact on the defensive end by helping other players, by covering up for them in certain ways that sometimes you do notice, sometimes you don't notice, sometimes you just think he's rotating or something, but he's actually, you know, knows where the play is going to go and somebody made a mistake or something. But I thought KJ was really good

Starting point is 00:18:25 on the defensive end for KU overall for this one. What's next for the Jayhawks? We'll talk about that on the other side with Locked on Jayhawks. We will be back on Thursday's episode. Can the Jayhawks win a title? We're going to compare Kansas to past March Madness champions

Starting point is 00:18:43 in terms of how they stack up in some different different statistic filters. So stick around for that one coming up on Thursday. Friday, we'll have a Kansas-Utah preview, and that brings us to our next segment. What is next for the Jayhawks? Well, it is the Utah Utes, and they're going to be on the road, which will certainly be interesting because so far in the Hunter Dickinson era,

Starting point is 00:19:02 as I've kind of coined it here, Kansas has not been a very good road team. It seems like they were maybe shaking some stuff off early in Big 12 play. They won at UCF in a blowout. They won at Cincinnati. But since that point, they just have the TCU win on the road. They lost by double figures at Iowa State. They lost by double figures at Baylor in that bad second half, and they lost by nearly double figures to Kansas State.

Starting point is 00:19:23 So they lost three of their last four on the road. Can they get back to it? Because, I mean, it's really the next two on the road for KU, right? They're at Utah, and they're at BYU. Certainly the Utah game looks more winnable on paper. I mean, it should be, I think, BYU a little tougher place to play, but also BYU is just a better team, right? And BYU shoots a lot of threes.

Starting point is 00:19:42 But the Utah matchup is going to be super interesting, and I think it'll be interesting what KU decides to do with this travel over these next two games because you're in altitude and the recovery of altitude can be difficult. But what I also find interesting, going back to the idea that Kansas has not always been an energetic team to start games,

Starting point is 00:20:00 Kansas has not really been a team that strings together high-level energy play for long periods of time over games for both halves of games how does that get impacted by the altitude right do they have even less energy than normal if so that's a scary place to be where kansas could drop both these games so you're kind of in a position where like you need to win both of these games right you want to get a top four seed in the big 12 where you get a buy in the first round of the tournament and you're not playing on wednesday back-to-back years um which would be kind of embarrassing from where things were before

Starting point is 00:20:32 you kind of got to win both these games on the road but i don't know there's a part of me that's just thinking like yeah probably gonna go one and one in these two games so we'll see like i said if you win those next two games you're're going to look back on this Colorado game and it's just like, okay, it wasn't their best game, but it started this win streak at this point in time. But if they lose a Utah, not great Utah team on the road, you're going to look back at Colorado and be like, yeah, this

Starting point is 00:20:56 team, they just don't have it. So it'll be very interesting, fork in the road that this team goes from here. 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 LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - A BAD win? Kansas Jayhawks Sleepwalk Through 2nd Half in 71-59 Victory vs 0-13 Colorado Buffaloes

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.