Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Hosts Kansas State Wildcats on Senior Night

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks preview of Kansas versus Kansas State senior night for the Jayhawks as they look to win one final time at home in the regular season in an Allen Fieldhouse. 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. Give me a follow on social media at D Johnson radio on Twitter or X, and you can listen to locked on Jayhawks anywhere. You get your podcasts,

Starting point is 00:00:39 including on our YouTube page where you can like, and subscribe to the show on today's episode, preview of Kansas, Kansas state. It is senior night for Kansas. We're going to talk storylines of the game, Kansas State scouting report, matchups of the game, player matchups, and Hawks to soar. We'll get through all that on today's episode of the show. Before we get into any of it, today's episode is brought to you by Nissan.

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Starting point is 00:01:30 Jerome Tang is now 2-1 against Bill Self, trying to get a bit of revenge. You lost a tight one on the road in overtime for the second straight year to them. And trying to, I mean, I say this all the time, this is what college sports is about, playing your local rivals in the teams that you're trying to get bragging rights against, right? That absolutely does matter here. I do wonder if this is kind of the game where it's like any hope of a spark or any idea of a spark, does it have to start here? Certainly you'd think if you lose this game, which would give you three consecutive losses, and then you're playing at Houston after that,

Starting point is 00:02:08 it would feel like, okay, that's probably not a great recipe for starting to turn things around right here, right? But if you win this game, you know, even if you lose at Houston, maybe you win two, three games in the Week 12 tournament, and then maybe you feel like you're trending in the right direction again, headed into the NCAA tournament. Maybe this one doesn't matter that much to that degree because you could lose at Houston anyway,

Starting point is 00:02:30 and it kind of stifles any momentum you would feel like you build in this game. But any hope of having that spark where maybe you do win this game and then win at Houston and then win a couple games in the Big 12 tournament and feel like you are trending in the right direction and kind of hot and go the right way. It's obviously senior night for Kansas, and I don't know what the plan is with some of the speeches at the time of recording. I'm sure Bill Self will talk about this at his Monday press conference,

Starting point is 00:02:55 but it's a situation where Kevin McCuller spoke last year, so maybe he'll just do like a quick – I remember Remy Martin had like a senior speech, but it was like 45 seconds. It was like a minute long. Maybe that's what Kevin will do. He'll be like, quick, I remember Remy Martin had like a senior speech where it was like, it was like 45 seconds. It was like a minute long. Maybe that's what Kevin will do. He'll be like, Hey,

Starting point is 00:03:08 I got to speak last year. Just wanted to say, thank you again for like everything you did. Yada, yada, yada. And then boom, he's out of there.

Starting point is 00:03:13 Right. So we'll see if he ends up doing something like that. Beyond that, Parker Brown will have a senior day speech. Michael Jankovich will have a speech. Nick Timberlake will have a speech. And then I guess in the case of like DeJuan Harris and Hunter Dickinson, they can both do what Kevin McCuller did where it's

Starting point is 00:03:30 like they could come back another year, but they'll just do the speech now in case they do go. I feel like with DeJuan, that won't happen, that he won't do the speech, because in the case of DeJuan, I feel like it is just more known that he's coming back for another year. Whereas with Hunter, it is more of kind of a question. So I don't know if he'll do it or not. Maybe that will give us a bit of a tell one way or another based on what happens there. For this Kansas State scouting report, they are 17-12 on the season,

Starting point is 00:03:59 7-9 in Big 12 play. Right now they're on the wrong side of the bubble, not really showing up on NCAA tournament brackets right now. But they have a big chance this week to maybe get a little bit more favor there because you're at Kansas, then you're versus Iowa State. If you go 2-0 there, if you're Kansas State and you're sitting on 19 and 12, nine and nine in Big 12 play and you grab a couple of those wins, all of a sudden I'd imagine you're back in the tournament field. Now if they go one and one, you either win this one or you beat Iowa State if you're Kansas State. Probably keeps them alive with some other wins next week and work to do in the Big 12 tournament, but point being, they're

Starting point is 00:04:32 kind of desperate for a win here, which always makes an opponent even more dangerous. And since they beat Kansas, they lost three straight to BYU, TCU, and Texas. Then they defeated BYU in West Virginia, and then most recently, they lost by two at Cincinnati over the Texas. Then they defeated BYU in West Virginia. And then most recently they lost by two at Cincinnati over the weekend. What they do well, this is a top 20 defense nationally ranked right now on Ken Palm. They also rank top three in big 12 only games. Reason why they're number one in the conference in effective field goal percentage defense, even ahead of Houston. That's thanks to being third in two-point defense with a top four block rate and the first best three-point defense in league games. And both their two-point defense, three-point defense rank top 40 nationally. So this is just good defensive challenging shots and

Starting point is 00:05:18 not letting you get easy ones off. They have guards who can score, which helps them take a high volume of threes and they can get hot and really hurt you, whether it's a half or game. And we kind of saw that a little bit in the game in Manhattan. They are a top half in big 12 games in three point, two point and free throw percentage. So they've shot it, you know, at varying degrees of efficiency, at least, you know, an average rate in the conference and those guards and having multiple options you can go to allow them to kind of come away with buckets and key moments or with the shot clock winding down or in creation settings. They also really attack the glass on offense. They rank top 50 in the country in offensive rebounding rate, though that number is more of

Starting point is 00:06:01 middle of the pack when you're looking at the conference only numbers, but still that is inside of them. They can be a really good offensive rebounding team. What they haven't done well so far, even with the guards that can create and score and everything for K-State with really Cam Carter and Tyler Perry, and then I guess whether you count them as a guard or a wing or forward Arthur Coloma. But even with that, this has been a bad offense. They rank 11th in Big 12 only games, so bottom four in the conference, and they rank near 150th in the country. They're just inside of that in the country in offensive efficiency on Ken Bond.

Starting point is 00:06:35 They're 352nd, 352nd in the country and last in Big 12 games in turning the ball over offensively. They're going to give you some gimmies. Take advantage of them. Get the easy turnovers. Go score in transition. I mean, Kansas has, over these last five games, their fast break scoring has just plummeted.

Starting point is 00:06:56 So that's one way that you can kind of help that. Sometimes the guards can be chuckers for Kansas State and take tough shots, and when they're not hot, it can get ugly, right? I mean, it's one thing when Tyler Perry's hitting reverse layups and hitting these tough threes over you, which is what happened when they played them last time. It's another thing when K-State's playing a game where those guys are taking those tough shots and they're just missing them. And it looks like the offense is in a slog and they're just missing all these tough shots and because of that the shot selection they're shooting just 31.9 percent from three which is 278th in the nation despite the fact that they launch a lot of threes and that they

Starting point is 00:07:35 have very talented guys from three so I mean it's it's two ways of looking at it one that you know I don't know you hope that they shoot at their, but the negative is because they do shoot a lot of them, and if they are hot because they're able to get them off in tough situations, it makes them dangerous on a game-in, game-out basis. Defensively, the one thing that's kind of haunted them is they rank outside the top 200 in steal rate and defensive rebound rate, so they actually don't win the possession game. They're just good at challenging shots.

Starting point is 00:08:03 KU needs to do a good job on the glass, holding on the ball, and forcing turnovers. The personnel, they're big three. We mentioned it. Tyler Perry, Cam Carter, Arthur Columa. Perry goes for 16 points, 4.6 assists per game. He shoots 34% from three on 8.4 attempts per game. That's a lot of threes.

Starting point is 00:08:19 Cam Carter goes for 15 and five rebounds. He shoots 31% from three on a 5.8 attempts per game. Arthur Columa goes for 14.6 points, 7.1 rebounds on 43, 35, 78 shooting splits. Just does a little bit of everything. He's been a solid defense.

Starting point is 00:08:37 Others of note include day to day aims who doesn't have big numbers or good efficiency at all, but he played well against Kansas last time. Athletic young guard there. And then 6'9", big man, David Ngesin. He gets over seven points, almost seven rebounds per game, 58% from the floor, solid defender on the inside. They'll play a couple big men along with him for certain times

Starting point is 00:08:59 when they're not using Kaluma at the four. Will McNair, he is 6'11", 265. He averages 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds. He played pretty well, I thought, in the game against Kansas. 62% from the floor. And then 6'10", 235-pound Jarrell Colbert, who has modest numbers. But, again, they just got a couple guys they can kind of rotate in there. Let's get on to our matchups of the game and our player matchup to watch

Starting point is 00:09:21 between Kansas and Kansas State with this episode of locked on Jayhawks. First, we were brought to you by fan dual sports book, get buckets with your first bet on fan dual America's number one sports book, because right now new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's 150 bucks. If your bet wins bet on all your favorite nba players and teams with quick bets live same game parlays exclusive props and more you can bet on futures whether you're into college basketball who's going to win the ncaa tournament or the mlb with spring training getting

Starting point is 00:09:57 going or you want to look ahead to the football season for next year you can get in on the kansas kansas state action don't have an official line yet, though. Ken Palm has it around nine, so it'll probably be somewhere around there for what it's worth. Kansas did not cover the spread on senior night last year against Texas Tech. Year before had to go to overtime. Year before only beat UTEP by five, although I think they celebrated

Starting point is 00:10:18 senior night against Baylor and did win that one. I don't know. Do with that what you will, whether you're playing with emotions or what you think they're going to do. But you can make your decision at fanduel.com slash locked on and shoot your shot. FanDuel, official sports partner of the NBA. Matchups of the game number one, making layups.

Starting point is 00:10:39 Sounds very simple. This sounds like something that, I don't know, is like an obvious and kind of a given going into every game. If you miss layups, which tend to be your easier shots, it's not going to bode well typically for your offensive efficiency. But I bring this up specifically because Kansas missed a lot of them in that game in Manhattan. That was kind of a weird stretch for them for like a two or three game stretch. They just missed a lot of layups. And there were so many that they were right around the rim. They just could not finish in that loss in Manhattan that they ended up losing in overtime.

Starting point is 00:11:15 And for the game, this isn't just layups. This is shots at the rim. So it can be layups. It can be hook shots or little bunnies, whatever. Kansas was just 15 of 29 at the rim against Kansas State. That is just 51.7% at the rim. So for a team who shoots in the mid to high 60s per game at the rim, that is a huge drop-off. And because Kansas does not have the nuance and the variability

Starting point is 00:11:39 to shoot a lot of threes or make a lot of threes, if they're not making their layups, you know, that's basically like if Patrick Mahomes is throwing three interceptions a game. It's like your strength has now become your weakness, right? So it's hard to win that way. And overall, Kansas was just 47.2% on all two-point shots. So at the rim, in the paint, mid-range shots, whatever. When offenses shoot 50% or better from two-point range against Kansas State,

Starting point is 00:12:08 Wildcats are just 5-8 this year compared to 12-4, big difference in the records, when teams are under that plateau. And of the five wins, even then, the 5-8 mark that they have when offenses shoot 50% or better from two, only one of those five wins is against top 100 opponent. And that top 100 opponent was BYU, who just doesn't shoot at the rim that often. They just take so many threes, so it was less of a big deal. Point being, if you shoot above 50% from two against Kansas State,

Starting point is 00:12:38 you're going to win this game on Tuesday night. I feel confident in saying that. And for what it's worth, over the last five games, Kansas State's made this hard because they're holding opponents who's 56% at the rim. And then you factor in the mid-range shots and some of the other shots that lower that number that they've done a good job holding teams under that mark,

Starting point is 00:12:54 at least recently over the past few games. And during that time, they're ranking the 92nd percentile in at-the-rim defense, according to CBB Analytics. Number two is dealing with emotions. You know, you're dealing with the senior day emotions. This can easily be something that comes into play where you're pressing too hard, you're trying too hard, and it's leading to you missing some shots you would normally make, right? You're just a little too tight. You're not playing free, and that can sometimes be a negative thing. Or maybe you're so energized up in a game like this that you pick up two early

Starting point is 00:13:31 fouls or something, going for a rebound that you shouldn't, and you get an over-the-back call or something like that. Those are things that you do have to deal with on senior day. And when you look at the Kansas roster, maybe it's not something where it's going to have as big of an effect, because yeah, DeJuan Harris can come back next year and KJ Adams isn't a senior yet. And Johnny Furphy is only a freshman, but what about for Kevin McCuller? Then again, he celebrated last year.

Starting point is 00:13:52 So I don't know how that affects it. What about for Hunter Dickinson? Will he be back? Will he not? How is he going to view this? All that stuff. It was Nick Timberlake going to come in and just be like, this is my senior day.

Starting point is 00:13:59 I'm shooting every three point shot and then not end up being like great shots. And in the thick of the offense, I don't know. Like there's ways that you can look this is negative there is ways you can look at this as a positive if you can deal with your emotions in the right way it's also dealing with a rivalry matchup a game that you lost right so they're dealing with some of the emotions there you're dealing with the emotions of coming off another loss you're dealing with the emotions

Starting point is 00:14:20 of the kind of negative energy it feels like around the program right now, trying not to crumble at the end of the season. And when you look at the first time that these two teams met, Kansas is the better team. Kansas is better than Kansas State this season. But Kansas lost the game. Why did they lose the game? Well, Tyler Perry made some great plays, and Kansas played poorly. And so now you're playing at home. You're the better team. How do you lose this game? Well, yeah, of course, there's always the possibility, you know, anytime you're playing basketball, the opposing team can come into your place

Starting point is 00:14:56 and go 15 of 25 from three, and that would be why you lost the game. Sure. But the realistic answer of why you would lose this game is because you play poorly again, and you let a team game is because you play poorly again, and you let a team that is worse than you into the game and let them hang around. So just don't do that, and one of the things that can lead to that is not handling your emotions well in a myriad of different ways in a game like this. Just be calm, cool, and collected, and you'll be fine. Number three is getting Johnny Furphy going. Furphy had just four points in the game in

Starting point is 00:15:24 Manhattan, which was, I don't know, maybe his worst start of the year, though the last couple games have not gone great for him. Turns out, though, I think we found out about this in the aftermath. It sounds like he was pretty sick in that game, so I think maybe that one's easy to kind of excuse away that way, but now he's coming off his worst two-game stretch since he's been inducted into the starting lineup where he is just one of eight from three over the last two games and he you know the point per game numbers are going down he's only averaging eight points per game of the last two which compared to the other numbers he was putting up as a starter were closer like 12 13 points per game he's also played his two lowest

Starting point is 00:15:59 minute totals the last two games both of them would be his two lowest minute totals since like kind of mid-january and the last game was kind of weird that you know i i mean you sort of understood it bill self didn't trust him on the defensive end i guess but in a game where kansas needed some threes to catch up it was kind of weird that he wasn't out there so you know how is he going to react to this kansas needs to get him going because we saw that the the best stretch we saw from kansas in conference play ironically they did lose some games in there but like you beat houston to this Kansas needs to get him going because we saw that the the best stretch we saw from Kansas in conference play ironically they did lose some games in there but like you beat Houston and you had way more efficiency and you just looked like a much more pleasant basketball product was the

Starting point is 00:16:34 stretch from basically when Johnny Furphy became a starter until Kevin McCuller you know went out with the injury or maybe the game before that was like the Kansas State game that was a good stretch of ball for Kansas, and so that means Johnny Furphy has to be playing well. And Kansas has gone 6-1 this year when Johnny Furphy gets 15 or more points. They're also 8-2 this year when he makes multiple three-pointers. Our player matchup is Tyler Perry against DeJuan Harris. Obviously, Tyler Perry is the engine that makes things go for Kansas State,

Starting point is 00:17:05 and he has go-off potential. Tyler Perry is the type of player that can go for 30 on any given night. He can hit a tough shot at any given moment. And Kansas plays a switching defense that it won't always be DeJuan on Perry, but I wonder if they'll have him guard him a little bit more this game than he did last game when there were more switches. Like, I don't know, maybe you do tell him. Because I remember they played a game last year against Texas

Starting point is 00:17:25 in Allen Fieldhouse, and I thought it was Texas. And basically Bill Self was like, yeah, like I think it was Marcus Carr or somebody like went off in the first half. And then he was like, DeJuan, you just take him in the second half and we'll switch everybody else. I wonder if Kansas would think about doing something like that with DeJuan on Perry. Then again, does your lack of depth and

Starting point is 00:17:45 where you have to play DeJuan so many minutes, does that prevent you from being able to chase him all around and stuff? I don't know. But DeJuan had a good game in Manhattan. He had like 15 points, eight assists. And this is the matchup to me that most determines the game. Because if Tyler Perry doesn't go off, I don't think Kansas State can win the game. If DeJuan Harris has a good game, I think it certainly makes it more likely that Kansas can win the game even by double digits, right? So that to me is the player matchup between Tyler Perry and DeJuan Harris. Let's continue on with our Hawks to soar.

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Starting point is 00:19:15 Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Shop NissanUSA.com. Finishing things up with this episode of locked on Jay Hawks with Hawks to soar. Make sure you're subscribed to the show anywhere you get it. Thank you. Every day is tuning into each and every episode.

Starting point is 00:19:33 We will be back on tomorrow's show with a Kansas, Kansas state recap, try to get Nick Schwert on with us later in the week. And then we'll have a KU Houston preview later on as well. So the first one here is Kevin McCuller. And Kevin did not have, I would say, you know, his best game against Baylor. Obviously, Kansas as a team just really struggled against Baylor. And from a shooting perspective, it was not, you know, one of his more efficient games or anything like that. But it wasn't a bad game either. He still wound up with

Starting point is 00:20:04 20 points with scoring some late buckets I know he was 0-5 from three I guess he did have a good game in terms of the two-point shooting but he was still shaking off rust in that game so for him to score 20 points coming back against Baylor in a game where he was shaking off rust I think that bodes well for well what's the next game going to be where he has shaken off that rust now the one caveat here would be okay is the knee get resore again but we'll see on that it's also senior night for him we saw him make that huge play he made the game-winning play on a hustle play against texas tech on senior night last year that clinched ku the big 12 title so you know for him uh this is the true senior night he knows there

Starting point is 00:20:40 can't be another one after this and also also he played poorly at Kansas State and Manhattan. And when you're an All-American candidate, which Kevin McCuller is, and I guess the only thing that would keep him off All-American teams would be the injury that maybe lessens the game play. But he'll be on some sort of All-American team, whether it's second team, third team, whatever, or first team. He played poorly at Kansas State. I think he takes that personally i think he tries to take over this game now there can be a negative to this going back to the

Starting point is 00:21:10 emotion side if you overdo it are you causing problems for your team because you're not playing in the rhythm of the game but i don't think i don't think uh i expect kevin to have another bad game against kansas state i guess is what i'm saying like i think he's gonna bounce back in this one and i fully trust him to. I also think DeJuan Harris, going back to the player matchup here, he had 15 and eight in Manhattan. Perry hasn't been a great defender. I think DeJuan should be able to get some stuff done for KU

Starting point is 00:21:36 and be a key player here for the Jayhawks. 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 a KUK State preview on Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Hosts Kansas State Wildcats on Senior Night

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