Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Dominates Howard with New-Look Bench in 87-57 Victory

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, it's a 30-point beatdown for KU in their opener. 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 Eric Johnson. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. And thank you to the everydayers catching each and every day. Kirk Johnson, thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day, and thank you to the everydayers catching each and every show. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find us on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. On today's edition of LOJ, we are going to be breaking down the KU Howard game in which

Starting point is 00:00:42 the Jayhawks won a cool 30 points. We're going to be talking about what happened in the game, what stuck out, starting lineups, rotations, our game awards, and what's next for KU with that big one coming up on Friday night. First, this episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. You can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a $5 bet, and you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets. If you win your first $5 bet, just visit FanDuel.com to get started today.

Starting point is 00:01:13 So KU wins 87-57. It could have been even more than that if not for late in the game with how things kind of finished. But it was an absolute beatdown like you would both expect and hope in that game for KU. You win by 30 points, could have easily won by a lot more. You dominated on the interior. It was 40 to 20 when you're looking at points in the paint. KU was 10 of 14 on layups, 4 of 5 on dunks. Overall, Kansas was 21 of 31 or a salty 68% on two-point shots. Meanwhile, Howard shot

Starting point is 00:01:47 under 40% on two-point shots themselves. So that was something they did last year. They had the two-point dominance, but now you sprinkle in the two-point dominance with a little three-point excitement. You go 11 of 22 from three, both halves, you were good. It wasn't just one hot stretch, right? I mean, you go six of 13 from three in the first half, you go five of nine from three-point range in the second half. And overall, 11 of 22 from the game from three-point range for KU. We saw KU shoot really well from three in their two kind of bye games early in the season last year too. But the more you stack these games together, you did really well from three, and they're two kind of buy games early in the season last year, too. But the more you stack these games together, you did it against Washburn, you did this one,

Starting point is 00:02:29 the more we can buy into that this is an awesome shooting team. You have to do it continually. You have to continue to do it. But the thing that makes me believe that this is going to be a good shooting team, not just the results of the last two games, but again, you can go back to last year, the volume's up this year from where it was last year, and it's the multitude of options that you have this year. Whereas last year, it was like, okay, Johnny Furphy could get hot, and Kevin McCuller was healthy. It's like, yeah, he might be able to hit some threes for you. Hunter was hot at the start

Starting point is 00:02:58 of the year, but DeJuan and Hunter were both just kind of set shooters. If you leave them open, they'll shoot the three. With this year, it's like, no, David Coit can get his own three or make an open three. Zeke Mayo can get his own three or make an open three. Rylan Griffin is going to hit threes for you. AJ Storrs is going to hit some threes for you. You just have so many more options who can hit a three this year if you're KU. So you continue to the two-point dominance. You showed the three-point dominance. It is just night and day right now when you look at what that game felt like. Again, KU blew out some of these other teams early in the season, but just how they did it, right? Think back to that, the shooting, the bench depth, and the options of

Starting point is 00:03:37 players who can just score for you in a given game, in a given stretch, in a given moment if you're KU. Does this all mean KU winning by 30 points against a Howard team that was ranked outside of the top 200 on Ken Palm in the preseason? Does it mean that, oh, yep, Kansas for sure is the number one team in the country? No, it doesn't. It doesn't secure the fact that Kansas is the best team in the country. If you want to talk about the last two games, we've been really impressed with what they've looked like. Okay, but it's against Howard and Washburn, right? We're going to learn way more the next two games.

Starting point is 00:04:10 You get North Carolina, you get Michigan State. That is obvious. But it's better to do this than to look lethargic, right? It's better to look like this than you did in the game against Eastern Illinois last season. A bad Eastern Illinois team, and you're close through the majority of that game, and you only win by eight points, right? Remember that game? We had real questions about what the KU team was going to be.

Starting point is 00:04:30 Don't have any questions after the game, right? You're up by 37 until the final minute and a half of the game. You didn't really leave any questions we had. I mean, there are still questions there always are, but like big picture, you didn't leave any big questions for the game. And that's what you're trying to do in a game like this. While you figure some things out and get guys some good confidence and,

Starting point is 00:04:48 and, you know, get started on the right foot. Other notes from the night. Obviously the starting lineup was a big note in this game. There was a starting lineup switch. I, when we did our rotation projection,

Starting point is 00:04:59 I kept David Coy in the opening night starting lineup, but I moved Zeke Mayo in for AJ store. It actually ended up being Ryylan Griffin in for AJ Storr. So Zeke still came off the bench. Storr now came off the bench. And, you know, I thought it was – it's funny. Rylan Griffin only goes one of five from the field, one of four from three. But, like, at no point was I just like, oh, man, like that felt like a bad game.

Starting point is 00:05:24 You know what I mean? Whereas last year it was like Nick Timberlake. It felt like that was like the consistent stat line. It was like, oh, man, like, that felt like a bad game. You know what I mean? Whereas last year was like Nick Timberlake. It felt like that was like the consistent stat line. It was like 20% from three or something like that. And obviously, if that continues for Griffin, that's not going to be great. But, you know, it wasn't like a bad performance or anything like that, I guess, is where I'm kind of going with that. So he ended up starting.

Starting point is 00:05:41 We'll see because with Ryland Griffiniffin going one for five you have zeke mayo this big performance off the bench does it end up being that lineup of dewan david coit zeke mayo in your next game against north carolina um but that ended up being the starting lineup so we'll see this definitely feels like one of those years where you're going to get like a handful of different starting lineups over the course of the season based on who's hot, who's not, figuring stuff out over the course of the year. But I think that's big news probably even more so for David Coit than it is for Rylan Griffin. Rylan Griffin got one start moving into the starting lineup.

Starting point is 00:06:15 He was good against Washburn off the bench. What does it mean after this? For David Coit, this is now two good performances. I know the stats weren't as jump-off-the-pagey in this game as they were in the Washburn game, but he was still really good. He was efficient for KU. And now you're starting to create a streak of starting games if you're David Coy. Zeke Mayo, though, again, amazing off the bench. And how does that affect the starting lineup? Does he start? It's a tough decision for Bill Self because you're in a position where he has now played really well in back-to-back games off the bench.

Starting point is 00:06:41 And again, you can point to the competition, say it's Howard and Washburn. Let's see what it looks like against North Carolina off the bench. Okay., you can point to the competition, say it's Howard and Washburn. Let's see what it looks like against North Carolina off the bench. Okay, and that'd be totally fair, totally reasonable. But you could point to this and say, has he earned his way back into the starting lineup where he was in the Arkansas game? Or if you're Bill Self, do you view this and say,

Starting point is 00:06:56 hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. He's doing really well off the bench. He's a perfect six man for us. Let's keep doing that. But do you owe it to the kid who's playing really well to get him back in the starting lineup? I think that'll be an interesting kind of question with how Bill Self kind of poses that after a game like this.

Starting point is 00:07:12 But overall, the newcomers, so including Zeke Mayo, Ryland Griffin, David Coy, all those guys, Flory Badunga, newcomers combined for 50 points, 19 rebounds, and nine assists. I mean, Flory was great off the bench as well. If KU starts their bench lineup in that game, right? So if KU starts the lineup with, I guess, Zeke Mayo would be the one. Flory Badunga would be the five.

Starting point is 00:07:36 Zach Clements would be the four. Rakeesh Passmore and A.J. Storr in the wing. How much did they beat Howard by? I know Storr and Passmore didn't have like you know the biggest jump off the page games um Clements was solid for what it was Flory was amazing as was Zeke Mayo in the game what do they win that game by um but 50 points from your bet or from your newcomers excuse me I mean that is just a resurgent of new players that and that's even with like we said like AJ Storr, Rylan Griffin, Rakeesh Passmore three wings that people are

Starting point is 00:08:12 really high on how to combine 10 points it could have been even more right but the bench had 45 points as well I went back and looked KU had 38 total bench points in their final four games of the previous season. So they had more bench points, seven more bench points in this game than they had in the previous four games. And honestly, it would have been a number that I would have been able to keep adding games to. The problem was the fifth game back was senior day, where KU started Michael Jankovic and Parker Brown,

Starting point is 00:08:40 and you had K.J. Adams coming off the bench and guys who put up bench points in the game, even though they're not bench players. So realistically, like that was about as many bench points as you would typically get over like a probably six or seven game span if you're KU and you got it in your first game, which is pretty cool for KU. Obviously there's still things you need to work on. Bilsol said in the post game, like he didn't think they attacked some of the screen and roll or pick and roll actions as much as he would have thought would have happened. And so you probably didn't get as many reps against that. How's that going to look? It'll be much tougher against Carolina.

Starting point is 00:09:14 You still need to get AJ Storr going. He only had five points in the game. He was impressive, I think, in that first stint. When he first came off the bench in the first half, he looked pretty good, but kind of waned from there. Again, it was a solid overall performance. He plays 15 minutes, five points, two rebounds, two assists. If you extrapolate that out to playing 30 minutes, 10 points, four rebounds, four assists, that's a fine performance on two of five. It's not the best performance in the world. It's fine, but they need to get him going to what he could potentially be,

Starting point is 00:09:40 and he still didn't do that in this one. Hunter Dickinson obviously was good in the game. He had 16 points, six rebounds, two blocks, three steals. He was plus 24 in 21 minutes. Even then, you could tell Hunter Dickinson was shaking the rust off of being away from, I'm sure, playing or practicing as often with the injury that he had because he missed some of those little bunnies, missed the dunk, shots that he would normally make.

Starting point is 00:10:02 Obviously not any concern long-term. Like probably by Friday he'll be okay. Maybe it's by next week. Who knows? He will be making those shots. But you can still see kind of shaking some of the rust off there. So bottom line here, it's a great start for KU, but there is a long way to go.

Starting point is 00:10:18 And in a short ways away, you have a game that is going to mean a lot more and tell us a lot more. Let's get to our game awards next. This is Locked on Jayhawks. This episode of the show is brought to you by Roy. It's time to recognize our Roy player of the week. So far this season, we've pulled over $20,000 to support players on Roy. Microdeposits lead to massive change.

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Starting point is 00:11:03 He's really turned around this season. He's had three of his best performances of the season he's starting to look like the old guy once again I think he deserves some credit he obviously you know weathered a lot of the media brunt and should he be benched including right here on the show and credit to him for working through it so I just pitched in a hundred dollars and I love you for joining the support even ten dollars makes a difference remember pay today celebrate love you for joining the support. Even $10 makes a difference. Remember, pay today, celebrate tomorrow. Your support sets your team up for success. Plus, don't miss out on Roy's exciting giveaway. You can

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Starting point is 00:11:54 Roy, support the players. Change the game. This episode is also brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. The FanDuel Sportsbook app gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets.

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Starting point is 00:12:46 The I Am Clueless Award goes to me on still being on the rotation because you look at the minutes played in this game, K.J. Adams led KU in minutes with 23 minutes. He was actually tied with Zeke Mayo, who oddly enough Zeke Mayo comes off the bench. A real quick read down of the numbers. Hunter Diggins in 21, DeJuan 22, Rylan Griffin 19, Coit 22, KJ 23, AJ Storr 15, Rakees Passmore 16, Zeke Mayo 23, Flory 17, Zach Clements 14.

Starting point is 00:13:15 So you are stuck there with 10 players between 14 and 23 minutes. And AJ Storr, who you thought coming into the season would be one of the two or three best players on the team, plays the second lowest minutes of that bunch. I have no earthly idea what the rotation is going to look like still, even after the first real game. Maybe we'll learn more about North Carolina, but I'm sure the minutes will be more sifted out. I'm sure they will be more directed at certain players. But even then, I don't know that I'm confident in ever really knowing what the rotation is going to look like this year, maybe until we get to Big 12 play or something like that.

Starting point is 00:13:53 There is the redshirting award. That goes to Jamari McDowell. Credit to Zach Clements for the post-redshirt award. He played 14 minutes. He had five points. Had that one breakaway where he tried to take it himself and earned the free throw trip. And Jamari McDowell, I wonder if you see Zach Clements, if you're him, and you see that, okay, Zach is now playing some minutes after he redshirted,

Starting point is 00:14:13 earned his way to getting a little bit more time. It seems like Jamari McDowell is going to redshirt barring any injuries or something like that that forces him to burn it at some point during the season. So credit to Jamari McDowell. I think he is going to be a good program player. If he sticks around, I think he will make an impact down the road for KU. Now, could that be two years from now? Could that be a year from now? That kind of remains to be seen, but I still think there's something in there like a Travis Relaford-type career for Jamari McDowell down the road,

Starting point is 00:14:39 which would obviously be very helpful for a team. The plus-minus king award goes to, you would think this award goes to the guy who just has the best plus minus. That would be DeJuan Harris. He had a plus 27. Second on the team was Hunter Dickinson plus 24. We talk about all the time, not overvaluing plus minus in an individual game sample. And that is true, but I love this and I want to bring this up anyway. I am going to give this award to Rakees Passmore. Okay, think about this for a second. Floyd Budunga goes for 13 points on six of six shooting, eight rebounds, has two blocks, two steals. He plays 17 minutes. That's unbelievable

Starting point is 00:15:19 per 40 numbers. He had a plus minus, plus 13. Rakees Passmore, zero points, 0 for 1 shooting, 16 minutes. He had a plus minus, a plus 13. Now that right there is the ultimate reason why those numbers aren't always the most ideal things in the world. You take them with a grain of salt. It can be a helpful tool, but it's not the be-all, end-all. But Rakees Passmore was our plus minus king because it wasn't the best game in the world for Rakeese Passmore

Starting point is 00:15:45 that he's going to come away with, but clearly was impacting winning in some way or another. Our offensive MVP and the Mr. Lawrence Award goes to David – no, I'm just kidding. Zeke Mayo gets the Mr. Lawrence Award and the offensive MVP for this game for KU. He was so good coming off the bench. I don't even remember him missing those three threes. He was five for eight.

Starting point is 00:16:03 I just felt like everything that came out of his hand was in the bottom of the net. He had 19 points, seven of 12 shooting, five eight from three, great efficiency. Also had the four rebounds in the game and a steal for KU. He was just absolute knockdown shooter. And that was really cool to see for Zeke in his true hometown game. Again, he got to play down in Fieldhouse late night in the fog and Washburn exhibition, but now it's the real deal. And to get to do that in front of, I'd imagine they had a lot of family friends and whatever, people in

Starting point is 00:16:31 attendance. And it's just cool to see the growth of his career and everything that's gone on. And that was awesome. He was, I think, KU's best offensive player in this game. Defensive MVP, you know, a couple guys we can go with. Flory had two blocks and two steals in 17 minutes of play. That's really productive stuff in what he did.

Starting point is 00:16:52 What if I went with Hunter Dickinson? Okay, he led KU in steals. He had three. Nobody else had more than two. He had two blocks, which tied for the team lead with Flory. That was in 21 minutes of play. So if Hunter would have played, you know, his around 30 minutes per game, then maybe he ends up with So if Hunter would have played, you know, is around 30

Starting point is 00:17:05 minutes per game, then maybe he ends up with four or five steals, three, four blocks, right? You look back to the defensive interior dominance, Howard shot under 40% from the floor. Big reason why was he was in the middle, thwarting them inside. He also had five defensive rebounds and it didn't feel like KU got super exploited in ball screens or anything like that. Again, the real test will be Friday in that, but for this specific game, I thought Hunter did a really good job on the defensive end for this specific matchup and everything that went down. So that is your defensive MVP for the game. All right, what's next for KU?

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Starting point is 00:18:31 No question asked. Remember to head to ZBiotics.com slash LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Use the code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at checkout for 15% off. Okay, continuing on with this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. What is next for KU? Well, they have the North Carolina Tar Heels, who North Carolina also had kind of a warm-up game taking on Elon. And North Carolina is just a very good guard team.

Starting point is 00:19:05 I guess I would put it as there's going to be questions about how good is their big man play. Typically North Carolina, I feel like has good big men, but that is kind of the question coming into this year. You lose Armando Baycott. What is that going to look like for them? But that's a game that right now,

Starting point is 00:19:25 as I'm speaking, even though Elon was only ranked in the low 200s, he's tied 69-69 with under eight minutes to go. So does this mean North Carolina has some problems? Does this mean that Elon is just a juggernaut and we haven't realized it as a community does it mean that North Carolina is just having a bad game I'm looking at it and North Carolina is 9 of 26 and 3 that's not like horrible North Carolina only has two turnovers how are they tied right now again we'll see how this one finishes but that is wild Elon's on a 12 to 1 run anyway this is absolutely bonkers that I'm looking at this now but regardless North Carolina is only shooting 34% from the field. So this is going to be really interesting on Friday.

Starting point is 00:20:07 Is North Carolina that good? North Carolina, are they a top-ten team, really? Does this show that they have some flaws? Or are we going to see in the game they're going to come out and be much renewed? I don't know. That'll be very interesting with them. And then you have Michigan State after that and the Champions Classic.

Starting point is 00:20:20 Here's what I'd be interested with. How are you going to feel if KU goes one and one in that span? You'll probably feel like, okay, this, this team's solid, but I have some questions. It depends how, you know, they look in both those, right? What if you blow out for the win and you have a close loss where weird stuff happens, right? Versus if you get blown out and you win the other one close, right?

Starting point is 00:20:40 Those are different versus what if you go to an L now North Carolina with this result against Elon, maybe you're not going to feel as great. Like, how good is Michigan State? They're not seen as a top 10 bar none team right now. So it'll be interesting. But I think for KU, the expectation is to go 2-0. They're going to be favored because they're playing at home. And North Carolina coming off this performance, Michigan State,

Starting point is 00:20:58 they're going to be favored. So go out, take care of business, win both games, show that you can be the number one team in the country. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get podcasts, including on our YouTube page. See you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Dominates Howard with New-Look Bench in 87-57 Victory

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