Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks OVERCOME early deficit to win at TCU Horned Frogs Behind AJ Storr & Shakeel Moore

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we recap Kansas winning at TCU. Is AJ Storm back for Bill Self and KU? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on? Derek Johnson here at D. Johnson Radio. This is Locked On, JR. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you to every dayers catching each and every show.

Starting point is 00:00:34 And thank you for you for listening wherever you get your podcasts or on our YouTube page. We're going to be breaking down Kansas, coming back from the early deficit to take down TCU on the road. Get another road win for KU. AJ Stor showing some life for KU. Is he officially back? Are we on the right trend of things here now for KU? And what else went into the game? Plus, we get to Game Awards and what is next on this episode of the show,

Starting point is 00:00:59 which is brought to you by Game Time, where you can get tickets to the KU Houston game coming up on Saturday. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Apologies for not having this episode up last night or early this morning. Had a family emergency, but everything's good now, so we're getting it up and we're rolling through. All right, Kansas wins this one 74-61 at TCU. They overcome that early deficit and, you know what down 14 early you win by 13 that's always a good response for a team especially when you're able to do that

Starting point is 00:01:32 on the road right and I I think this one boils down to me Kansas found life in the final part of really the first half like the second half is is what carried the win for Tau but it was that late first half that I think you you kind of grinded it out in the late first half to get you to the second half to be able to do what you did and have AJ Storr and Shaquille Moore you know go off in the second half and here's what I mean by that Kansas didn't have a pretty offensive first half like they actually shot well on twos i think they were shooting like 50 from the field so like that would be shooting you know well um but they're shooting well on twos they were turning the ball over too much which they kept turning the ball over too much even in the second half but they weren't hitting their threes they were one

Starting point is 00:02:19 for seven from three-point range and i i think i tweeted a stat at halftime before things went awol for me but that at that point at halftime of the TCU game TCU was was shooting like or I'm sorry Kansas was shooting like 28 percent to that point in conference play and then you get to the second half you fast forward you go five of ten from three in the second half you let it fly a lot from the corner which was an area we diagnosed before the game that you should be able to take advantage here. You had AJ store and Shaq Moore who really take over in the second half. I mean, you got 21 combined points from AJ store and Shaq Moore in the second half alone. I mean, um, what TCU had voted in the 35 and a half time. So they had 26 in the second half. So I mean mean, A.J. Storr and Shaq Moore almost outscored TCU themselves

Starting point is 00:03:06 in the second half. And I think that you look at it, KU's ability to stay close in the first half, to grind out what ended up being a good finish to the first half for KU. I know they ended up down two points at the end of the first half, but that thing could have been a lot uglier than it was at halftime. KU could have easily been down 10 points, 8 points, even 6 Griffin that was big in the first half, but that allowed them to capitalize on the second half. And I think the perfect switch to this is look back to those games at Creighton and at Missouri. And you can even, I guess, point to the West Virginia one at home,

Starting point is 00:03:55 but I more so look to those two because those were road games, whereas this was a road venue as well. But if you want to include the West Virginia just because it was the same story, I would understand that. So those three games, or the the two Missouri and Creighton, you played really poorly in the first half and you dug yourself a big hole again in the Creighton, Missouri cases on the road, the West Virginia case at home.

Starting point is 00:04:16 You played much better in the second half of all of those games, maybe not as much in the Creighton game. You played well in the start of the second half in the Creighton game. And then he faltered off. He played well, really the whole second half against Missouri. You played well in the start of the second half in the Creighton game, and then you faltered off. You played well, really, the whole second half against Missouri. You played well the second half, really the whole thing against West Virginia. But because the hole you dug yourself in in the first half, by not grinding it out, by not finding a way to get within striking distance in the first half, that second half comeback was for naught. Because you were able to grind it out better in the first half

Starting point is 00:04:45 against TCU it set yourself up that a good second half was enough to come through with a road win and I think that's important as well and so it's almost like this was a a tale of different halves in that perspective like AJ Storr gets some storylines because I think um for KU to reach their ceiling for KU to reach their potential you know AJ Storr being a competent player for KU to reach their ceiling, for KU to reach their potential, you know, AJ Storr being a competent player for KU would go a long way in that happening. And AJ Storr looked good in the process. He obviously was really good in the second half and, you know, scoring those 11 points or 10 points in the second half. In the second half, he also had four rebounds. He was five for six from the floor. And I think honestly, like the most important stat line to me for this game for AJ Storr, he had six rebounds for the game and three steals.

Starting point is 00:05:29 He was active in other categories. That's what Bill Self wants to see. And so to a certain perspective, like, you know, AJ Storr, is he back? I mean, that was a performance that felt like, is he back? But the answer to the question of, is he back? Is he going to make a big imprint on what this team is and what they do moving forward? That's going to come down if he can string these games together consecutively. You know, we saw Nick Timberlake last year have a game or two here or there where, like, he was hitting threes, but it never really strung together, right? You have to be able to string this stuff together. And, you know, even the first half and the wider sample size would say that it has not been the best season so far for aj store and for kansas getting minutes out of aj store if this is a step in the right direction that's great i'm not quite ready

Starting point is 00:06:14 to declare it as being back i need to see more consecutive games doing so but i love the first step taken to get there uh shack more second half i half I mean him and AJ Storr were huge in that second half and Hunter was good in the second half I mean um obviously a lot of things had to go right for and a lot of players had to play well for KU to play uh as well the scoreboard as they did in the second half but I I really like watching Shaq more and I will say like one I don't know one one thing that I'm curious on is in a game where DeJuan Harris, I thought, really struggled for KU, he was one of six from the floor. He had five turnovers. He allowed a let and a few others to beat him a few times on the defensive end. I couldn't really help but wonder why DeJuan Harris was playing 35 minutes last night and Shaq Moore was only getting 24 minutes um and i don't know i'd like to see shack more play a little bit more point you know what i mean like by himself where he's the point next to zeke mayo or something like that right and then that allows you to get two wings on the floor you can play store next to greffin even

Starting point is 00:07:14 for a little bit i'm not saying that's like your primary lineup but you know even if it's a little bit more than maybe they have been doing uh because i thought the one did struggle last night i thought shack more is really good and i i And I kind of think if you were grading the best defenders on this KU team based on just performance this year, I think DeJuan has overall been a net positive this year on the defensive end. I don't know that he's been back to Big 12 defensive player of the year, DeJuan Harris. I think he's been better than he was last year.

Starting point is 00:07:41 But honestly, if I'm just selecting who are the best defensive players on this team i don't know that he's top three and maybe that's not even like an indictment onto it maybe that's actually more just like um praise on how many good defensive pieces this roster has like for me the top three on this team in no particular order are kj adams florida dunga and shaquille mo Moore in terms of the defensive impact that they can have on the floor. But I don't know, just a quick thought on that one necessarily. But, you know, the first half, I thought, even though the second half is what leaves a lasting impression where it is the Shaq Moore and AJ Storchow, and I thought the first half, going back to how important it was just to stay within striking distance i thought that half was about flory badunga and you know i i know the stats don't like okay rylan griffin for the game ended

Starting point is 00:08:30 with 19 minutes he was one of six from the floor with four points um two assists a turnover a foul and a rebound like those stats don't jump off the page i thought that rylan griffin had a good first half um he wasn't necessarily making shots he did did make the one three, which was K who's only made three in the first half. And that was important because he got it from, I think, 26, 17 to 26, 20. But go back and rewatch those last, I don't know what, five minutes of the first half. He's making a lot of play. Like he's making defensive plays. He's getting his hand on balls that are maybe being tipped to somebody else who's collecting the credit for the rebound. But it's like, because of him, he's, he was very active in getting his hands on a lot of balls. And I think as much as Flory was probably the story of the first half,

Starting point is 00:09:14 and Flory was great for the game, I do think Rylan Griffin deserves some credit for doing a lot of little things in that first half that helped you grind it out when you weren't necessarily hitting threes, even though he did, again, hit that one three. But Flory was awesome in that first half, and those grind it out when you weren't necessarily hitting threes, even though he did, again, hit that one three. But Flory was awesome in that first half, and those kind of things kept you in it. And then that second half obviously happened for KU. And honestly, like overall for the game,

Starting point is 00:09:33 the defense, once again, was great for KU. Now, TCU hasn't been great on offense. Like they came into this one outside the top 100 in offensive efficiency. They'd been doing a little bit better in Big 12 play, but you held them under 40%. That's always going to be a good thing. And, you know, after the K-State game where you had your worst defensive performance of the season,

Starting point is 00:09:51 it was good to come out and have just another solid defensive performance without KJ Adams, who is one of your best defenders on the team. So bottom line here, always good to win on the road and way to overcome an early punch. Like I think Fran Fraschilla early in the game was talking about, and I do think a lot of times when analysts bring this up, they're in practices before the games or the shoot-arounds, whatever it is, with the coaches. They're talking with the coaches. They're getting a lot of the talking points that they're saying

Starting point is 00:10:16 on the broadcasts from the coaches, if you want to peel the curtain back a little bit there. And he mentioned at one point, he just said, he's like, you know, you think back to a lot of these great KU teams and players, you think of the guys like Devon Dotson and Frank Mason, I forget the exact, you know, players that he listed out, but he said, they were all teams and players who were very tough. And right now, this team hasn't been tough enough. And I think that was a very valid criticism, and maybe still is, about just how tough this team is. But if you're talking about making progress on that, winning like that,

Starting point is 00:10:49 a game where you're down 14 early on the road and coming back and being able to overcome that and win the game, that is showing toughness, and that's a great sign for Bill Self in this team. Now that said, can they lighten up the turnovers a little bit ahead of your next game against the best defense in the country in Houston? But we'll get more into what's next for KU. Game Awards on the other side. This episode is brought to you by Talkspace. Therapy is a game changer. It can help manage stress, improve sleep, and communicate more effectively. But finding the right therapist and fitting sessions into a busy schedule can be a challenge. That's where Talkspace comes in. Talkspace,

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Starting point is 00:12:22 And again, apologies for the delay on this one. We'll have a KU Houston preview coming at you on tomorrow's episode. All right, game trophies for this one. If you're new to the show, we give out different game trophies. Some of them are consistent. Some of them are different depending on the game. So this is one that's consistent.

Starting point is 00:12:37 Best moment. So what is the best moment of the game? Well, that end of the first half, I keep talking about the importance there. Florida Padunga at one point had six straight KU points. He had a dunk in there. That was a really important, I think, close to the first half. I think that was a good moment for both KU and Florid Badunga, who I think is quickly becoming a fan favorite.

Starting point is 00:12:57 I'd be curious, if you did like the most, you know, like approval, you have like presidential approval rating. If you did that with like ku basketball players who would come in the top three i feel like it would among ku fans i i feel like uh flory would be up there zeke mayo would be up there i'd be curious who the third would be anyway um shack more hitting that three at the start of the second half where hunter dickinson had a great cross-court pass to the corner. Shackmore hits a 3K. He goes up 38-35 early in the second half. I think the answer is this one, though, and it is a little cheating because, well, I list this as best moment,

Starting point is 00:13:33 not necessarily best play because it is technically like three plays. So Shackmore hits another three from the side. Then he gets a steal. Then you get the hammer dunk at the other end, the one-handed kind of rear back. He continues to be the best little man dunker of the Bill Self era. And, you know, Shaq Moore, I'm going to go with that one, the three-steal hammer dunk, because that was the one where it felt like, oh, you kind of put this one away. You put this one to rest with that little sequence of plays. Worst moment of the game, I mean, the start of the game, like that was not great.

Starting point is 00:14:03 I guess not necessarily even like the first couple minutes it was really that stretch between maybe like minutes what like 16 and i don't know somewhere around there where they went on like a 15 to 2 run or something like that so that was not great um i think lots of turnovers you could pick from from the worst moment honestly that even though aj store had a good game the one moment where AJ Storr turns the ball over and then KU gets the ball back and AJ Storr's running down in transition the very next sequence and he gets it wolfed which is basically if you don't know what that is um somebody's coming from behind and steals it from behind um that was not a good sequence. That was, that was not fun to see. Uh, we have a specific award for this game. It's the no, no, no, no, no.

Starting point is 00:14:48 Yes. Shot of the game. That would go to Diggie Hoyt who, uh, you know, made a three, which it's been a little bit of a cold spell for Diggie Hoyt. So it was good to see the ball go in the basket there. He ends up with five points. Um, that's what you're hoping for from Diggie Hoyt to be able to come off the bench and go make shots for you. Right. That's why you have them on the team.E. Coy to be able to come off the bench and, you know, make shots for you, right?

Starting point is 00:15:05 That's why you have him on the team. So KU gets a ball in transition. It was off like a missed three, at least a long rebound. And Shaquille Moore, I want to say got the rebound, and I forget who passed it. Maybe it was Shaquille Moore. Anyway, David Coy gets the ball in the fast break, and he pulls up like left wing.

Starting point is 00:15:22 This was around like 10 minutes to go in the second half i think at the point it was ku was up by one they might have been down one i think it was like 49 48 kansas and he pulls up from three and it's like oh for a guy who's been struggling shooting lately and now you're gonna pull up in this transition opportunity but it went in and uh ku ends up going up four and that ended up actually being a very big shot for KU to try to certainly pull away there. Our appalling stat of the game, I think too many TCU offensive rebounds. They ended up with 16 offensive rebounds, which, you know, the past couple of years, TCU has been an elite offensive rebounding team. This season, not as much. After the game, their numbers obviously went up, but they still rank outside the top 120 in offensive rebound rate this season um but the kansas game they collected 40 percent of their offensive

Starting point is 00:16:09 misses that was uh tied for their fourth best game of the season and uh three of the other ones were florida a&m montana state and south alabama so this was not a good defensive rebounding game for ku which has typically been a good defensive rebounding team this season so that was appalling uh honestly you could just take TCU's shooting line. They shot 38% from the floor. They shot 21% from three-point range, and they only shot 50% at the free throw line. And so if you're looking at effective field goal percentage, which kind of puts it all together in a formula, just 41.7%,

Starting point is 00:16:41 which on the season, you look at effective field goal percentage, TCU hasn't been very good there this year, but they're still at 49%. So that would be pretty appalling, too, in looking at how gross that stat line was for TCU. Okay, offensive MVP for KU, I would go with Hunter Dickinson. Dickinson, I haven't mentioned a lot. I've mentioned him here and there in a few plays, and he had a good game. It's just that the storylines became Shaq Moore and A.J. Storer

Starting point is 00:17:04 and Floyd Badunga and stuff. But Hunter was really good in this game. He played 34 minutes the storylines became Shaq Moore and A.J. Storer and Floyd Badunga and stuff. But Hunter was really good in this game. He played 34 minutes. He was 7 of 10 from the floor. He had a slow start. KU obviously had a slow start. KU needs to figure out a way to overcome these slow starts and stop having them.

Starting point is 00:17:15 You can't afford to have it against a team like Houston coming up on Saturday. And I do think Hunter needs to be better in those situations because if you're expected to be, I don't know, the leader of the team or the best player on the team, you need to start stronger as well but he still had a good game 16 points nine rebounds four assists um he finished seven of ten like I said uh he he was just efficient and I think he was instrumental he was key to something we talked about in the pregame which if you're an everyday or you remember we talked about in the pregame, which if you're an everydayer, you remember we talked about TCU giving up a lot of corner threes.

Starting point is 00:17:47 And KU didn't really take advantage of it. In the first half, they go one of seven from three. Second half, they go five of ten from three. And how many of those threes were off Hunter catching the ball in the post or in the high post and slinging the ball to the side for somebody to hit like a corner three, right? That was a big part of this offense. Low key, by the way, Hunter Dickinson has not attempted a three

Starting point is 00:18:07 over the last two games. I'm wondering if, you know, because he's struggling for three, is that a personal decision or is that Bill Self saying, all right, no more of this. Just get down and get on the block. I don't know. That would be kind of interesting. I do want to give an honorable mention to Zeke Mayo, too,

Starting point is 00:18:21 who I haven't really mentioned at this point, too. I mean, he scores 13 points, which is like a pedestrian 13 points for him. He goes six of nine from the floor. And yes, he had too many turnovers, four turnovers. But that's when you know you have something as a scorer when it's like he goes six of nine for 13 points and you're not really even talking about it because it's just a ho-hum day. He has just become such a consistent good scorer for KU at this point. We get defensive MVP. Maybe you could argue Shaq Moore. He was really good on the defensive end.

Starting point is 00:18:52 Honestly, you could argue AJ Storr with those three steals. I'm going to go with Flory Badunga. He had 10 rebounds, seven on the defensive end. He had four blocks for the game. He had a steal, and he ended up with a double-double in route to all that. And I just think Flory continues to be this really special defensive prospect that KU has. And I think he changes the way that the other teams can really attack the KU defense.

Starting point is 00:19:15 Our overall MVP, though, of the game, I'm going to go with Shaq Moore. I think the combination of Shaq Moore's defense with Shaq Moore scoring 11 points in the second half with, you know, hitting those crucial threes, with having the moment of the game, so to speak. I think Shaq Moore deserves overall MVP of the game for KU. What's next for the Jayhawks? We discuss on the other side. Our episode of the show is brought to you by game time where you can attend nfl playoffs experience like no other the energy the excitement the connection with other fans it's unmatched

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Starting point is 00:20:28 here's one for $117 in upper corner 2A, row 23. You can see the visions of where your seats are in the apps. Take the guess. We're going to buy tickets to game time. Download the game time app. Create an account and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE

Starting point is 00:20:43 for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and use code locked on college for 20 off first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem code locked on college l-o-c-k-e-d-o-n-c-o-l-l-e-g-e for 20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guarantee i finish you things up what is next for ku well it's a big one it's houston on saturday in allen field house and houston is just coming off of an absolute drubbing of Utah. They won the game 70-36, and that is about as indicative of how good this Houston defense is. They're number one in the country on the defensive end of the floor. They're top 10 in the country in turnover rate defense.

Starting point is 00:21:22 They're number one at block rate. They're top 15 in steal rate. They do everything great on the defensive end. But beyond that, they also have a top 10 unit in the country in three-point percentage. So that's a little scary when you combine a team that shoots threes really well and defends as good as anyone in the country. They're currently riding an 11-game winning streak. And they almost lost at UCF, though.

Starting point is 00:21:43 So, you know, it's not like they're impenetrable but kansas has to be on their game and we remember last year kansas was on their game when these two teams met in allen field house they're gonna have to do that again uh obviously no kj adams so like this is a game that you could use his toughness you could use his defense at the same point in time because of the way houston defends maybe you could use more of the offensive punch of having more minutes with aj store and Ryland Griffin in this game. So I do think this would be a big Ryland Griffin game for me. I do wonder how AJ store will play against them.

Starting point is 00:22:13 Can he follow up a good performance against TCU against a gnarly Houston defense that will punish you if you don't go in the flow of the offense or you don't move the ball. Well, you know, it'll be very interesting to see how kegu attacks houston but this is a if kansas does want to win the big 12 this is a must win game at that point of time maybe we're past that maybe we're past carrying as much because

Starting point is 00:22:34 the streak's not alive and there's so many teams in the league and the schedules are in balance league so long that you care just more about you know what seed are they going to get the ncaa tournament than the big 12 but you know you in it. You're competing in it. Might as well win it, right? So yeah, go win this game on Saturday. All right, we'll preview that one on tomorrow's episode. That'll do it for us today on Locked on Jayhawks. We'll see you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks OVERCOME early deficit to win at TCU Horned Frogs Behind AJ Storr & Shakeel Moore

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