Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Smash Indiana Behind 17 Steals

Episode Date: December 19, 2022

Kansas Jayhawks Basketball smashes Indiana in Allen Fieldhouse behind 17 steals and the play of Gradey Dick, Dajuan Harris, Kevin McCullar and the bench. KU is now officially hitting their stride. And an early look at Kansas vs Harvard.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!NHTSADrive high, get a DUI. Click HERE to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked On Jayhawks, we recap Kansas blasting Indiana in 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. You can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 on KLWN in Lawrence. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks,

we're going to be going over Kansas dominating Indiana in Allen Fieldhouse for a top 15 victory and kind of furthering their rise as they've really kind of hit a role and maybe hitting their stride here over the past few weeks. But first, today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs, helping you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockedoncollege. That's linkedin.com slash lockedoncollege to post your job for free at linkedin.com slash locked on college. That's linkedin.com slash

locked on college to post your job for free. Terms and conditions. Appliance takes down Indiana and a game that they started hot, 12-2 to open things up. Just kind of stretched the lead out as it went on. Worked themselves to a very

sizable cushion at halftime. Indiana kind of crawls back at the beginning of the second half. And then it feels like, okay, maybe we're going to get a game to the finish here if they keep up this long run that they're on. And then DeJuan Harris has that stretch where he has like six straight points for Kansas. And then it just opens the floodgates back up. They end up with a rather dominant performance that was a game that, again, outside of that one small stretch, never really in doubt. And even then it was like, okay, well, maybe Indiana is going to make it a game. Never really felt like they were

going to necessarily win the game. And certainly an impressive outing for Kansas, just kind of all around. Like you look at what they've done the past few games and it has been big time wins and they've looked really good, but it hasn't been against a great opponent. Well, you went into this one saying, okay, just, just win any way you can. And that'll be impressive because it is a good opponent. And obviously Xavier Johnson gets injured and that impacts how things go in the game, but you were blowing them out even before Xavier Johnson got injured. The fact that you blew them out in addition to just beating them is pretty remarkable, but you shot the ball well. I mean, you look at what Grady Dick just provides in terms of his shooting. It is

incredible. And you did all that with Jalen Wilson going four of 18 shooting. Jalen Wilson went four of 18 shooting and you beat Indiana by 20 points. Again, if you would have said that coming into the game that Jalen was going to go four of 18, I would have had my concerns, but Kansas, everybody else just played very well and they defended so well. I mean, the biggest, I guess, I don't know, takeaway for me is, and this isn't something that's new, is how good this team is at just creating chaos getting steals you know jumping into passing lanes ripping the ball away they are so good at it and i mean even a guy like the grady dick had five steals and then yourself kevin mcculler and

i mean kj adams gives you the ability to get seals from a center position like how many other centers i think they said this on the radio broadcast or going to be able to, to get a steal and then run the court and, you know, get an and one play as he did to kind of open up the game. They are just so good at creating that chaos. And it is a little bit similar in a certain regard to like, I know I've brought this up for Texas tech last year,

Texas tech. And this isn't just because they have Kevin McCuller,er um but texas tech last year if you remember they played like it was essentially like they played like a five wing lineup it was like terrence shannon who's like a six four six five wing was at times their point guard and then they'd be playing like you know marcos santo silva who's like a six six center or they'd be playing like a six foot seven wing at the center position essentially last season. And they just switch everything. But then when you play them, you go, oh, we have a huge height advantage.

We have our big man. They don't have a true big man. He's going to feast inside. That'll be our advantage. But they just double teamed every time you got the ball in the post. And because they were fast, quick players who were good at stripping the ball, they swarmed you and they made life difficult. And they basically, that was the one thing you couldn't do against them so it's almost counterintuitive you think

oh well our big man's six foot seven and you think that with kansas and oh they have an all-american big man and trace jackson davis and you think that's going to be the way that they dominate and obviously that was a big talking point as we talked about here on the show but i think what we're learning with this team is that their defense isn't just surrounded by, oh, well, it's just KJ Adams versus Trace Jackson Davis. No, it's not. The way that they're going to scheme it up and the way that they have personnel defensively, they're going to make life really hard on guards to enter the ball to the post to begin with

because they're going to pressure it well, try to get steals. Then when it is entered into the post, they're going to double team. They're going to do it quickly because they have fast athletic guards and wings and they might strip the ball away. And it's going to make life a lot more difficult for the centers of the opposing team of the big men to score. Even if Kansas doesn't have that traditional big man, that's going to be in that way.

So just ever, I mean, they ended up with 17 steals. Yeah. If this Kansas team gets 17 steals a game, they're going to win every single game they play seriously, because they're so good in transition. 17 is a huge number.

That's like a number that you would expect like Bob Huggins, West Virginia to average. So pretty incredible stuff from Kansas in the game defensively. And how about getting a bit of a bench punch too, right? You had not really everyone provided a bench punch. And honestly, it was a very short bench that Bill Self played for the first 37, 37 and a half minutes of the game. It was only three guys had come off the bench till about the three minute mark of the end of the game. It was Joey Esavu, Bobby Pettiford and Zuby Ejifer. Joe didn't do a ton in the game.

Bobby and Zuby both did. So extended run for both those guys. But that's been the conversation this whole time for me. It's not that you need your bench to be, you know, five guys deep to where four or five guys every night are impacting things. No, you just need one, maybe two guys each and every night off the bench to give you something else, to give you that extra punch that when somebody needs a rest, you have one or two extra guys that you can come off the bench.

Like think last year. Last year's Kansas team didn't have, you you know the deepest bench in the world they were mostly playing a seven-man rotation but Remy Martin would come in and you know he would certainly have an impact on things Mitch Leifold would come in he'd hit a couple hook shots for you he would certainly have an impact on things and then every so often you'd be like oh let's throw in Jalen Coleman lands and maybe he'll hit a three-fourth or we'll throw in KJ Adams for a defensive possession but that was kind of it from the KU bench last year. Right now, you just haven't had the consistent from anybody though. It hasn't even been one or two guys. We saw that against

Indiana and I mean, you saw the results of the game. Obviously there were other things like steals and the defense and Grady Dick just making everything once again, but Bobby Pettiford had, I think one of his best games um i mean statistically certainly so he had the one game earlier this year we had like eight or nine assists but he was really good he was in control and zuby edgifer really impressive he was the first big off the bench he was the only big off the bench until you brought in cam martin ernestude and zach clements at the end of the game so i don't know if that's indicative of where things are at in terms of the rotation, because let's not forget, literally one week ago, it was Ernest Uday, the first big off the bench,

and he was the only big off the bench until Cam Martin came in in the final few minutes of the Missouri game. So are we to think, like, it almost feels like to me it's tryouts. It's like, okay, this game we're going to go with this guy. This game we're going to go with this guy. Next game we're going to go with this guy. And we're going to see who does the best, and then we're going to evaluate from there. But you could also say, well, Ernest got the first crack off the bench against Missouri. Didn't have the biggest game. Zuby did, and he did have a big game.

He played very well. I mean, he had that first play where he went up to try to lay it in, and it got blocked. And the coaching staff was like, dunk the ball. After after that he was dunking everything and he was great so maybe because of his performance i think we had heard some stuff about them really um i don't know or him kind of picking it up in practice over the last week or so maybe that all comes together and they can find their guy i've always been team zuby i think you can really impact it from a defensive rebounding but i've always understood team Zuby. I think you can really impact it from a defensive rebounding, but I've always understood the Ernest due day thing.

Cause if you think he has a higher ceiling and the play isn't that far off between Ernest and Zuby, then I, I understand why you would go with that. Okay. Um, Kansas officially on a roll. We talked about this, didn't know if it was the schedule or if it was playing, you know, just better from the Tennessee game. I think we found out they've just been playing a lot better. And this team is obviously very, very good.

And they're kind of hitting their stride right now because this was kind of a top 15 opponent. All right. In a second, we're going to get to our goats of the game, our good and our bad. But first, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. You want to be 100% certain that you have access to the best qualified candidates available.

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Post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Goats of the game for KU. Let's start with the good. There's plenty good. The steal attempts. As I mentioned, KU wound up with 17 of them. That just changes the game. It's not just thwarting Indiana possessions. It's also that you're creating great opportunities for you in transition play where maybe you have a two-on-one or a three-on-two and Kansas is so good in transition man because you can get Grady Dick open threes Jalen's great hitting driving lanes Kevin McCuller and DeJuan can hit driving lanes and also are good passers like even Jalen's a good passer too right he's averaging like two and a half three assists per game so uh yeah that that was just remarkable And if Kansas can continue to do that against good opponents, they're going to be really,

really tough to beat a good goat for Grady Dick. He had 20 points, eight of 12 from the floor, four or five from three, six rebounds. And how about this one? The five steals, he was getting out in transition. He was dunking the basketball. It was fun. But yeah, if you're getting that defense from Grady Dick and then in addition to him I mean he just looks like a lottery pick right now that it's that simple he looks like a lottery pick each and every night um you saw some of the it felt like adjustments from some teams Kansas played in the battle for Atlantis of like face guarding Grady Dick and trying to take him out of the offense I feel I don't know maybe that's gone away I feel like more likely is that Bill Self and the staff

have figured out other ways to work around that. Let's not forget Ochai was being face-guarded at different times last season, and Kansas found a way to adjust from that, so that's good experience headed into this year because his last few games, he has been unbelievable. DeJuan Harris, good go to the game. Ten points, five of eight from the field, efficient.

Ten assists, double-double, three steals. It is his fifth game with eight or more assists, and again, just a pest defensively. But it's just the perfect example of DeJuan. He has that perfect feel for the game. He has the perfect read of when to pass it, when to try to be a scorer, when does he need to do one of each getting Kansas in the right positions and there was the stretch where Indiana finally was kind of mounting a bit of a comeback and making it a bit of a game

and there was a bit of a scoring spell for Kansas and DeJuan Harris said okay this is a time when I need to to activate offensively like I'm going to try to get other guys involved I'm going to get assists get other guys in the right situation but right now we need to score I'm going to try to get other guys involved. I'm going to get assists, get other guys in the right situation. But right now we need to score. I'm going to get a bucket. And he had six straight points for Kansas. Those are the things he's just so good at game management, knowing when to do what. He had the early two fouls, but he still bounced back from it

and ended up with the double-double. He's just, he's so good, man. Kevin McCuller, I thought at times you could have argued he was the best player on the floor. I don't know my vote would probably be devon for that but also it's hard to pick against grady dick in that game when again he cannot miss and he also had five steals so i don't know uh you'd have a good answer with any of them oddly enough jalen wilson who um you know is your national player of the year candidate and is your best player he would probably be fourth in terms of the best Kansas players

for that specific game. I don't know, maybe even be further down the list with kind of a tough shooting game. We'll get to that in a second here. But Kevin McCuller, 11 points, he went 5-11 from the field. He also had 11 rebounds, 5 steals, and a block. His defense is just absolutely insane. And we could say this after each and every game, and we probably will.

But it's good to bring after each and every game and we probably will but it's good to bring up each and every time i mean he's averaging like five steals a game over the last three games you don't do that that is just insane of what he is doing and he's able to switch down low guard other big men at time was like he is such a swiss army knife with what he provides for you man um all-time transfer rankings of transfers coming in for bill self who's number one remy martin kevin mcculler am i forgetting someone i feel like i am i guess jeff withy would be up in that list but uh yeah kevin mcculler has been awesome man and uh the rebounding too that's something that you know we've kind of talked about kj adams not the best

defensive rebounder so the wings have to step up as defensive rebounds for Kansas continues to happen McCuller with 11 rebounds Bobby Pettiford 10 points four or five from the field four assists two rebounds he was in control he had the foul trouble to Dwan Harris he came in and kept things steady you know we've heard a lot from Bill Self and and I've had on guys like Greg Gurley on the Rock Chalk Sports Talk about you know what Bobby Pettiford does well and how he kind of keeps things afloat sometimes for the KU offense, even if the stats aren't there, that he is kind of in the same ilk of DeJuan and that he'll get you in the right set. He'll get you in the right situation and things run a little bit more smoothie, even if he doesn't have the

biggest stats. But also you look at the end of the day and he'll have like two points, you know, one assist, one rebound in 20 minutes of play. And it feels a little like empty calories. So it was nice to see the stats back up what we're hearing from Bill Self and all these guys about how impactful of a player he can be. And he certainly had that impactful game against Indiana. I thought about putting Zuby here. I think he very much could deserve it. Played very well for Kansas.

And we'll see if that leads to a bigger role. The last good goat, the Dickie V tribute. That was awesome. I know some people get kind of annoyed or whatever when, when Dickie V has been on broadcast in the past and that's fine. Do whatever you want, but like, regardless of how you view him as a broadcaster, you cannot dislike. And to be clear, like I have no problem with Dickie V as a broadcaster, but I know some people get annoyed by it. Nonetheless, if, if you don't like Dickie V the person dickie v as a broadcaster but um i know some people get annoyed

by it nonetheless if if you don't like dickie v the person like that's a you problem man this guy has raised like more money for cancer research than like anybody i mean this guy is incredible with what he has done from that standpoint and then on top of it like if you love college basketball you love kansas basketball dickie v has been one of the biggest proponents of the rise from i don't know the 80s or 90s into where college basketball is now and the popularity of the sport so it was awesome to see the tribute he was tearing up afterwards and uh cool to see him coming back onto the broadcast after uh battling through cancer onto the bad goats we've got only two. One, Jalen's shooting.

Jalen overall, I wouldn't put on here. I thought he still had a fine game. It's just the shooting didn't go down. He went just four of 18 from the field. Felt like he might have been forcing things a little bit at the end there, trying to be playing Trace Jackson Davis. There's a lot to go with. But he still impacted things positively.

He had eight rebounds. He had two steals. Honestly, his struggle of hitting shots against Indiana just made the win even more impressive. And honestly, I'm not worried about it at all. Like he still had 11 and eight in quote unquote down game. Maybe if you do want to overthink it,

you could view it as well, Tennessee and Indiana had like really strong for men. And so Jalen couldn't play bully ball. Maybe that's the secret to stopping Jalen. I don't know. It's also just two games, small sample size. And maybe there's some other games in there that I'm forgetting where they did have kind of a strong four man that he was still able to bully.

So not overly concerned, but certainly the shot wasn't falling for Jalen. The other bad one, who's your daddy chance. This was happening at the end of the game. There was a sign for it said, who's your daddy chance? This was happening at the end of the game. There was a sign for it. It said, who's your daddy? And listen, it's, you know, it's creative. They're the Hoosiers, right? So who's your daddy, right?

Makes sense. But I am assuming, I could be wrong here. I am assuming for Indiana fans, hearing who's your daddy is the same as when Kansas fans hear other teams say, you're not in Kansas anymore. And we hate that. We hate that. It's cliche. It's dumb. So we can do better.

We can do better than who's your daddy because that's probably the cliche one for Indiana. All right. In just a second, we're going to get on to a quick early look at Harvard here. This episode of Locked on Jayhawk to you by BetOnline. BetOnline.net is your number one source for sports betting information, stats, news, and analysis. You can get the latest odds and trends for every professional and amateur league out there, from pro football to college bowl season to basketball,

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Arkansas getting three points. You can bet on the Chiefs in any of their upcoming games. You can bet on Kansas taking on Harvard. Haven't seen a line come out for that yet, but that'll be coming on BetOnline. Plenty to bet on, so check it out. You can also get many future picks. BetOnline, where

the game. Early look at Harvard here. picks. BetOnline, where the game. Early look at Harvard here. They're a top 200 team on Ken Palm. You know, anytime you play an Ivy League team, you just think of the traditional like, oh, they're going to run that motion offense and you got to be disciplined defensively for long periods of time in the shot clock.

And they're going to have shooters that are going to be able to launch stuff off. But they've been a top 200 team on Ken Palm. Haven't played a single top 100 team. So that'll be interesting to launch stuff off but they've been a top 200 team on Ken Pong haven't played a single top 100 team so that'll be interesting to them how they adjust to not just playing their first top 100 team but playing like a top 10 top 5 team and doing so in Allen Fieldhouse we have seen Ivy League teams before though come into the Fieldhouse and you know not be overly bothered by it like and certainly the one that I'm sure comes up for a lot of people

is the Cornell game where Charron kind of had to take over at the end of the game for Kansas to come out on top. But they shoot twos really well. They get a lot of open ones off cuts in that motion offense. They defend at a solid rate. The biggest question for me, honestly, in this game is just going to be how seriously Kansas takes it. If you remember the Southern Utah game that felt like a perfect letdown opportunity,

it was after the Duke win, and it was before you headed out to the Bahamas. And you're playing a lesser opponent, and then, you know, you just kind of have like an off game. You didn't have a good hustle rebounding game, and you have to win a game a lot closer than you would have thought kansas is rolling right now so maybe it won't matter but you just had a big win over indiana you are past finals week right it's it's no more school students are aren't around maybe that allows you to lock in more but um you're getting ready to go home for christmas like the players will get a couple days off for christmas and get to travel home so you're thinking ready to go home for Christmas. The players will get a couple days off for Christmas and get to travel home. So you're thinking ahead to that.

Could be a letdown opportunity for Kansas. So honestly, if the spread is like, I don't know, 15, 20 points, I might take Harvard with the spread. I expect Kansas to win. I could just see it being a little bit closer than you might expect because of that possible letdown opportunity. But they are rolling right now, and who's to say that they don't win another game by 30 or 40 points. All right, that's going to do it for this edition of Talked on Jayhawks. Coming up on tomorrow's show, and who's to say that they don't win another game by 30 or 40 points.

All right, that's going to do it for this edition of Locked on Jayhawks. Coming up on tomorrow's show, we're going to be giving out Christmas presents for the Kansas basketball team. We'll also do a Christmas presents team coming up in the following show. If you have anything you'd like for the show to talk about, hit us up on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio or in the comment section on YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe to the show. So you're getting all the latest with locked on Jay Hawks. That'll do it for today's episode. Have a good rest today.

I'm Derek Johnson. See you tomorrow. Bye.