Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Deep Dive Into How Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Has Done Defending Against Opposing Big Men

Episode Date: November 30, 2022

Analyzing how the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team has done against opposing centers and power forwards. How much of a struggle is it for KU in the rebounding column, and what does it all mean for who Bill Self could go with at the 5 position between Ernest Udeh, Zuby Ejiofor, Zach Clemence and Cam Martin. Plus, a quick look at the Kansas volleyball team under Ray Bechard ahead of the 2022 NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament where they will take on Miami (FL) and possibly Nebraska.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnCollege to learn more.UpsideDownload the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/locked to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more.Omaha SteaksOmaha Steaks is a gift from the heart – a gift that will be remembered with every unforgettable bite. Order with complete confidence today knowing you’re ordering the very best. Visit OmahaSteaks.com use promo code LOCKEDON at checkout to get that EXTRA $30 OFF your order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we take a deep dive into how the KU big men have done against other big men in terms of limiting their scoring and the rebounding numbers and what it all means. You are locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 on KLWN. Lawrence, thanks for making Locked On.

Jay Hart from Free Day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts. And you can find us on youtube on today's edition of the show we are gonna do a deep dive into how the kansas basketball big men have done against opposing bigs in terms of limiting their scoring and the rebounding numbers some actually positive numbers to go over but also some negative ones to go over what it all means and maybe we have a summation of what that means in terms of who should be the center? I don't know. Maybe that's just me reading into something. We'll get to that all on today's

edition. This episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by Sling TV. Sling has something for everyone, especially when it comes to college football coverage with a massive lineup of games across the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC. You can watch the games that you want to on Sling.

Check out Sling TV now to see the massive lineup of games. They have all season long. Sling, the TV you love for a price you love. Try it today. Kansas obviously has been lacking a bit at the center position so far this season. Nobody has emerged so far as being the guy, but how have they done against opposing competition despite some of those struggles at the center position, whether it's KJ Adams playing at the five or one of the other players

like Ernest Uday, Zuby Edifur, and Zach Clements coming in off the bench. They've actually had some success in certain regards, and then in other ways, they have not, which doesn't sound very polarizing, does it? Let's start with the North Dakota State game. I don't want to even start with the Omaha game. One, Omaha doesn't really have a lot of size. They play a lot of 6'6", 6'7", guys at like the four and sometimes even the five, and they play a ton of guys who are big men. I don't really want to look at that game. It doesn't really matter.

We'll just go from then on. I'm also not going to look at every big man for every team that we're going over here, just the main ones, like the main two or three. And I'm not really going to look at guys who are like, Hey, they're a wing, but they're playing the four. Like I'm looking at, are you a big man who is impacting things down low? And how is, because that's a question, how is Kansas defending the interior players and getting rebounds on those guys? So with that said, we'll start with North Dakota State. Two main big men for them, Brent Nelson, 6'11 center, Andrew Morgan, 6'10 power forward.

He held them to a combined 19 points, 12 rebounds on 7 of 15 shooting, below 50%. Combined, those players averaged 26.5 points per game right now, over 14 rebounds on 7 of 15 shooting below 50%. Combined, those players averaged 26.5 points per game right now over 14 rebounds. They combined to shoot 56% from the field. So you held them at bay. A lot of those numbers came late for those guys too. Really, when things mattered in the early part of that game,

you prevented them from impacting the game at all. You took them out of the game. So you held them 7 and a half points below their average, two rebounds below their average there, and almost 10% below their shooting average. That game, really good. Duke game, maybe not as much in certain regards. Ryan Young, Kyle Filipowski, and Derek Lively. They combined for 27 points, 22 rebounds on 11 of 25 shooting against you, which is 44%. That's not like all that different than what Duke is averaging this season from those players, though.

Combined, those three average 26 points per game. So you give up one more point there. 20 rebounds per game. So you did give up two more rebounds on 51% from the field. You held them 7% below that. Outside of the rebounding, you kind of did okay against Duke. It was really just Kyle Filipowski.

It's 17 points, 14 rebounds. Everything else was, you know, you limit Filipowski to 10 rebounds in that game. Who knows? Southern Utah. They had Jason Spurgeon and Parsifala. Those are their two centers. They combined for 14 points, 11 rebounds against you,

five of nine shooting. It was more about the pace and space and the outside game for Southern Utah. So those guys didn't have a huge impact offensively. They shot 56%, but again, limited attempts on ones that are really going to be wide open. But combined, that duo gets 16.5 points per game. So you held them below their mark.

Eight and a half rebounds per game. They did get more rebounds. And they shot 63% so far this season. You held them 7% below that. Again, besides the rebounding, you did pretty well. And in all these cases so far, North Dakota State, you held them 9% below with their shooting on average this season for the two big men.

For Duke, 7% below for those three guys. For Southern Utah, 7% below for those three guys for Southern Utah 7% below for those two guys then we go to NC State Doosan Mahorsich and DJ Burns went for 12 points 14 rebounds Burns was better than Mahorsich in the game but they went just 5 of 14 shooting 36% not super efficient there combined on season, those guys averaged 17 points per game. Held them 5 points below. 10.5 rebounds. He did give up 3.5 more rebounds than they averaged.

Once again, good limiting their scoring, good limiting their shooting percentage, but gave up more rebounds than you'd hope for against those guys. Wisconsin. Steven Crowell had a bad game. Tyler Wall had a really good game.

Crowell had four points. Tyler Wall had 23 points. They combined for 27 points, 16 rebounds on 10 of 25 shooting. 10 of 25 shooting won't really get you hurt. That's 40% from two big men. Wall carried those numbers, though. As I said, he really hurt Kansas. Obviously, keep in mind, some of those numbers came in overtime as well,

which are going to boost up some of the totals. Combined, those two guys averaged 22.5 points per game. You gave up 27, but if you take out overtime, you'd be giving up 22. So it'd be right in line with what those guys are averaging this season. You give up 16 rebounds. They average 15 on the season. Again, take out overtime. It's below that. And on the season. Again, take out overtime. It's below that.

And on the season, though, they're only shooting 37%. So this was actually one of the few cases where the big men averaged a higher efficiency or a better field goal shooting percentage than they did on the season in an individual game. But it's because the floor is so low at 37%. So this matchup actually might have been your worst in certain regards if you take out the last like the last 10 minutes of the game though tyler wall was on an absolute heater he became unstoppable and if you limit i think he had three offensive rebounds that he got an offensive rebound that became an immediate and one on a stick back so if you limit just those possessions you're really okay there. Tennessee, Jonas Adu, Oliver Nkamla, I forget how you pronounce that one, and Juros Plavsic. Man, that's ultimate

broadcaster's nightmare with the Tennessee big men. They totaled 14 points, 22 rebounds on 6 of 11 shooting, 54.5% from the field. They're not really guys that they were going to in the post a ton there were a few times and they were going to try to give them their shot they were more so hey just finish if we happen to get open inside those guys average 15.2 points per game so they scored a little below that on the season they averaged 12.4 rebounds per game there's a problem you gave up 22 to them and they shoot 43 from the field again they shot way above that so that was one of the other times with wisconsin where they shot above that but this time a little different because again it wasn't really them like creating offense um didn't totally spurn you with the 14 points it was more about the rebounding and the efficiency

boost texas southern jordan carl nicholas grayson carter john walk Walker they notched 12 points the other night 10 rebounds they went just 5 of 16 from the field those guys combined and you might say oh it's Texas Southern who are they playing go look at their schedule they have played a very tough schedule to open up the season probably schedule similar to a lot of other power five teams so far those three guys average 22 points per game so you held them to 12 well below that 14 and a half rebounds per game that was actually i think the only game you might have held them below the rebound total i guess the wisconsin one was like right there and they average about 40 shooting you held them below that at like 30 you stifled the texas southern big men total it Overall, most of those that I just mentioned,

you might have noticed, you did well in limiting maybe their scoring and or their efficiency numbers, but you may not have done as well limiting their rebounding numbers. So let's dive further into that and more on what that means for the center position in just a second here.

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but they have given up big rebounds. Let's start with the rebounding part of it. You're not preventing other bigs from gathering large number of rebounds. Duke, Southern Utah, NC State, Wisconsin, and Tennessee. Over your last, so if they played eight games, over your last seven games, that's five of the seven opponents totaled more rebounds than they're expected to based on their season average and then what they got in that game. They totaled 19 more rebounds than they're used to. Doesn't sound like a ton over five games. Maybe it's not, but that's about four extra offensive or not offensive, four extra rebounds per game, right? That could be two extra offensive

possessions. That could be two extra shots. That could be two extra possessions where you don't end up with an extra shot offensively. And maybe that's a couple extra possessions. If that's one less shot for you and one more shot for them, that could be a four or five point difference in a given game. Only against North Dakota State and Texas Southern did the opposition's main big men go for less rebounds than they average per game. You're giving up way too much on the glass to those guys. Now on the flip side, as I said, the positive to this, they've actually done a pretty solid job in limiting opposing offense. Like even Kyle Filipowski, a game that we remember him kind of going off.

He had 17 points. It took him 18 shots to get those 17 points. And a lot of those came on offensive rebounds. Kind of same thing with Tyler Wall. Wall was even more efficient, though. He had 23 points. It would have been 18 in regulation. Kind of similar to Filipowski in that it took him 14 shots to get to those 18. That's

more efficient than the flip side with Filipowski. Same thing though, with Filipowski in what I mentioned, he had two or three times he got an offensive rebound and then got a and one stick back out of it, which there's points right there. There's extra points for the free throw. That happened a couple of times with Filipowski too. If you just limit the rebounds, go back to the weakness side of it, it even further adds to what you have done, which is basically what I'm saying here. They've actually done a good job defending big men. Even if it has been KJ Adams

or one of the bigs off the bench or just doubling the wings coming in for help defense switching on guys, they've done a good job. You've done a solid job inside defending them. It's just giving up those extra possessions. And unfortunately, that's a very big part of defense. You can't have a defensive stop until you get the rebound. Possession doesn't end. You don't clear it until you gather the defensive rebound. So if you're giving up a bunch of

offensive rebounds, the possession keeps going. And unfortunately, that's part of defense. Kansas ranks 13th right now on Ken Palm in adjusted defensive efficiency. If they were a good defensive rebounding team, this probably would be a top five defense in the country. So like you look at since the North Dakota State game, Kansas has held opposing primary big men to about 21 points below what they're averaging. Basically, you're shaving off about three points per game, seven games, 21 points, but you're also limiting their efficiency. So it's not just that you're shaving off three opponent points per game in what the big men are doing. You're also making it so that

even to get to that total, they're having to take more shots and they're less effective doing so. You've defended them well, but you've given up too many extra looks. And it makes sense too. KJ Adams is a really good defender, but he struggles on the defensive glass. The defensive rebounding numbers have not been good for him even last year and this year too. KU's wings, you have a bunch of athletic wings. And I will say, to me, the biggest difference between offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding, offensive rebounding is a lot about athleticism, finding ways to sneak around guys, being good jumpers. Those are the guys that tend to get offensive rebound.

Hustles, hustle plays. Defensive rebounding is more about positioning, boxing out, strength, size, not being able to get jumped over from behind, finding the right angles. They're different sets of skills, even though you would just think, oh, they're both the same thing, they're rebounding. The end goal is the same,

but a lot of the skills that go into it are kind of different. KJ Adams' skill set goes to being a good offensive rebounder, but he's not as good of a defensive rebounder. When you look at the KU wings, you know, Jalen Wilson's actually been a really good defensive rebounder. That makes sense. He, I guess, I don't know. He, like KJ Adams is more of a springy athlete. Jalen Wilson is more of a strong athlete, right? Like just see the way they play. Like Jalen is, I. KJ Adams is more of a springy athlete. Jalen Wilson is more of a strong athlete. Just see the way they play. I guess KJ is strong too. I don't know. Maybe there is more that you can get there. But the point is that I feel like there's something missing there from the KU wings that these guys are super athletic and can get up.

I feel like they're not attacking the defensive glass as hard as you would want. Now part of it is just schematically for this team to be successful offensively and something they do really well offensively is transition play. They run out in transition and that starts a lot of their offense. They're not as great of a half-court offense. They need those transition points. A lot of times on the rebound, the wings are just going. The problem with that is because Kansas doesn't have that pillar,

that center block in the middle that can grab that rebound every time for you. It might be hurting you on the glass. But again, do you want to give that up? Because that is your best avenue for scoring right now for a team that is kind of lacking in that regard. So you're kind of losing one way, winning another way. But if you give that up, then you're going to lose transition game, but maybe get more rebounds.

I don't know what the proper answer is there. Kansas is 194th in the country in defensive rebounding rate. It's preventing more runouts too, though. So that's the big difference there. If you can have one of these centers come in, if you can have Zuby Ejifer or Ernest Duda or Zach Clements or Cam Martin, when he's healthy, come in and be a good defensive rebounder and gobble up rebounds. And this is to be clear why I'm on kind of team Zuby,

because I think Zuby is the best rebounder on the team. I think he's the best defensive rebounder. I think he does a great job getting angles and hauling in rebounds. Just imagine how good Kansas will be. If you think they're good in transition now, now imagine they're getting a lot more of the rebounds to start those transition breaks as opposed to, hey, everybody ran out to go in transition, but then we didn't get the offensive or the defensive rebound. Other team got the rebound and then they were able to hit a stick back. Now we have an inbound pass as opposed to a live ball rebound transition opportunity that we try to pass to the outlet guy.

If you just get better with rebounding, if you find the right center that can help you on the defensive glass, because currently KJ Adams is great of a hustle player and offensive rebounder as he is in certain regards setting screens, he's not a great defensive rebounder. So if one of those centers can fill that role, all of a sudden you're cooking with gas. It's going to help your defense. It's going to help your rebounding, which helps your defense. It's going to actually help your transition play even more.

Now, all those numbers that we just shared from other teams, like even NC state, they had 12 points, 14 rebounds, which isn't a great center game. That does feel like it would be a great center game from the center rotation for Kansas at this point. And that's part of the problem. Nobody has really emerged themselves to take lion's share of those

minutes and that role to be able to be that guy that can grab all those defensive rebounds and help you in that way. It's up to the player to kind of take the bull by the horns here, but that's the importance of finding that right guy. There's just no rhythm, no guy that's having sustained play right now. Let the carousel continue, but if you can eventually find that guy, that's the importance he can provide more than anything. The inside scoring, that would be great.

It would be for Kansas. Finding right angles and getting easy. The inside scoring, that would be great. It would be for Kansas. Finding right angles and getting easy buckets for this team, that would be huge. It really would for this team in the half court. Above everything else, finding a center who can come in and gobble up defensive rebounds, to me, at this point, that's the number one most important thing that this team can do because they actually are defending other big men pretty well they're getting out in transition pretty well they have some offensive

options that yes you are lacking and would love to have that inside score but maybe you can get by especially with more transition tries be a better defense team be a better rebounding team get more transition opportunities by getting those rebounds that's something the five men can provide which again is why i'm on team zoobie right, we're going to take a timeout here. When we come back, we are going to do a little KU Volleyball NCAA Tournament talk. They are in the NCAA Tournament for later this week up in Lincoln.

We'll discuss in just a moment after break on the podcast side of things. All right, if you're watching here on YouTube, thank you for doing that. You can subscribe to us. You can also find us anywhere you find any of your podcasts with Locked on Jayhawks. Kansas volleyball team in the NCAA tournament for the second straight season last year. They went up to the state of Nebraska.

They were up in Omaha. And they got the win in the first round against Oregon. How they did the NCAA tournament in the past, they had the top 16 teams across the country hosted, and they hosted the little four-team pod quadrant, I don't know, whatever you want to call it. And basically, Kansas was like the three-seat of the four teams there. Oregon was like the two-seat. They upset Oregon, and then they took on Creighton, who was the the seeded team, the hosting team, and they upset them. They made it to the Sweet 16. It was really exciting, an awesome thing for the Kansas volleyball team.

And this year, they changed up the format a bit to where, because part of the negative of that was you were winding up with teams that, you know, this should probably be a Sweet 16 matchup, but it's occurring in the second round because we just would make teams try to play as close to regionally as they possibly could. But volleyball has been a really growing sport, and there's no reason that they should be doing that anymore. So they changed it this year where they actually seeded in all four regions instead of basically just the top four teams in each region getting a number next to them, which would be seeded one through 16 overall. They went to more of what like the basketball tournament is where, you know, in basketball, it's every team is one through 16 in their specific region. Well, now they only seeded the top eight in each region, but it basically allows them to have more accurate matchups based on the seating than what happened in, for instance, I think it was 2016, Kansas won the big 12.

They were one of the top, I think they were number five overall. Maybe they were number four. I don't even remember honestly. But they were the hosting team and they had to play Creighton in the second round and Creighton had won the big East. Creighton was one of the first one or two teams who missed out on being seeded themselves as a top 16. So realistically, you were playing like number four versus like number 17 or number 18, which should be more of like a sweet 16 matchup. But Kansas got them in the second round.

Kansas beat them early in the regular season. Creighton got revenge and won in a crazy, thrilling five-set match. You want to avoid those things happening. So that happened this year. That's an aside, though. Kansas is taking on Miami. They're going to be in Lincoln. Nebraska, who's the two-seed in this region, basically says they're one of the eight best teams in the country, is the host to it.

You got to take down Miami first. If they can take down Miami, that would be a really exciting matchup with Nebraskabraska so you can obviously head up to the game it's only a few hours drive and nebraska fills out that arena like they sell it out for like every home match they get eight nine thousand people in the arena for a volleyball match highly recommend checking out and experiencing that it's very cool makes it tough for kansas certainly but hey they had a cool upset and made it to the Sweet 16 last season let's see if they can find it in them again to do it this year so they'll be taking on Miami and then possibly

Nebraska after that I guess if Nebraska were upset they would still host with Nebraska they just wouldn't be in it I guess that's what you would be rooting for but that's on the lookout for later this week as Ray Bouchard and his bunch continues to do great things with the kids volleyball program here in Lawrence. That's going to do it for this edition of Locked on Jayhawks.

If you have anything you'd like for the show to talk about, you can reach out either on our YouTube comment section or you can hit me up at D Johnson Radio on Twitter. Don't forget to subscribe to the show. So you're getting all the latest with Locked on Jayhawks. That'll do it for today's episode. Have a good rest of your day. I'll see some of you on Rock Chalk Sports Talk later today. Have a good one. Bye.