Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KANSAS JAYHAWKS SURVIVE CAL BAPTIST: Darryn Peterson & Paul Mbiya Lead KU to 2nd Round

Starting point is 00:00:00 We hear the cliche all the time. Survive and advance. And that is exactly what this felt like. Unclench from the end of that game. A lot to break down. Darren Peterson, Paul and Beale will get to it all. You are Locked on Jayhawks. Your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:00:23 Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on, Derek Johnson with Lockdown Jayhawks? Thanks for making it your first listen. day. We're going to be breaking down the NCAA tournament opening round win for the Kansas Jayhawks on today's episode of the show. We are brought to you on today's episode by Mazda. We put that same drive into every detail. Wins to find the moment, putting in the work that defines you. Stay tuned for highlights. And this week's moving the game forward. There's more to Mazda because there's more to you. We'll get to what's next for KU with St. Johns in the second round and some game balls. We get to game awards, moments of the game, stat of the game, all that.

Starting point is 00:01:00 and more starting right here though um yeah unclench as i said kansas able to survive against cal baptist and you know if this were a regular season game we would be sitting here and you know we will break down a little bit the standpoint of like k you did not finish the game well and they you know let cal baptist get back into it and it was scary at the end of the game and dominic daniels that dude is a stud and was hitting some incredible shots um in a regular season game though we would we would be like oh my Like, can you believe how they finish the end of the game? I think there's a little bit more understanding when it is the NCAA tournament. And I also, like, I thought going into this game that because KU fans travel so well and have

Starting point is 00:01:43 alumni bases so well, implanted all over the country, that this was going to be more of a neutral crowd that KU was going to be able to overcome. This was a road game for KU. Cal Baptist had a lot of students there. This was a road game for KU. And the momentum they had at the end of the game, it's thank goodness that you got the big lead that you did. Fortunately, it never got to a point of like that that Samford game a couple of years ago

Starting point is 00:02:05 where you needed like a last second Nick Timberlake free throws and stuff and then some heroics. So it's one of those things where it's like, yes, that's not ideal to finish a game like that, but also it's the NCAA tournament. These crazy things happen. So the fact that you overcame a crazy finish and still found a way to win by eight points as opposed to having what happened to North Carolina against VCU or what happened in one of these, I don't know,

Starting point is 00:02:33 like to Wisconsin against High Point. The fact that that didn't happen to you, that you overcame the late surge from the opponent, is a good thing in general for KU. Obviously, if you do this again in a further round, you will probably lose that game and you need to overcome that. But you, like, it's different when you're playing against the Cinderella and you are now clenching, you are tight.

Starting point is 00:02:55 You would hope that in those other moments, that's not the case. Now, all that being said, we have gone too long into the broadcast already without mentioning Paul freaking Mbia. That dude was a beast thing. Darren Peterson was great too. Darren Peterson gets his shine. He will get his shine in this show. Paul Mbia, to me, that's the secret weapon here for KU because we were all hopeful

Starting point is 00:03:18 Darren Peterson was going to go off now that we're in the NCAA tournament. And it did. And that probably is the biggest storyline here. But you were not expecting to get anything from Paul Mbia in this game or in the NCAA tournament. And he gave you eight points, threw down some dunks, gave you three rebounds, gave you a block, allowed for KU to sit Bryson Tiller a little bit more, allowed probably for Flory to have a little more fresh legs. Paul Mbia was a game changer in this game. And I think his length did bother Cal Baptist on the interior.

Starting point is 00:03:51 Now, how much will that continue in other matchups? I don't know, but he did enough in this game to at least make me intrigued to see it, you know? Like, is this going to be KU's version of, I don't even want to mention the name, but there was a Michigan big man who was averaging like five points per game, and then the NCAA tournament went off, including in a game against KU. Is that going to be Paul M. Bia now? Is that next like unsung hero? So I thought he was really good.

Starting point is 00:04:13 But yeah, Darren Peterson is kind of the storyline here for KU, now that they win by eight. I mean, we saw some incredible shot making at both ends by Dominic Daniels and Darren Peterson. And both of them had one thing in common. That was both of them got off to really bad starts. Daniels start extended longer. It was really through the first half. Daniels couldn't buy a bucket. I do think credit goes to KU on that,

Starting point is 00:04:34 the length that they had, the ability to put different bodies on him and affect him. I think then in the second half, it just became about Daniels make ridiculous shots more than anything. Like, I don't think, like, some of the shots he's making are step back shots that are contested and you just have to kind of tip your cap. and he was like on one. Peterson was hitting some incredible shots too, whether it's the end of the first half three, whether it's some of the shots he made in the second half, like to respond to

Starting point is 00:04:58 Daniels making some of the shots, almost a little bit reminiscent at points of like, you know, I don't know how many KU fans remember this game. It was the, was it Willie Warren, was the Oklahoma guard when he was like going back and forth with Sharon Collins and they're just kind of like trading shots back and forth. Was it Warren? I can't remember the OU. Anyway, there was a little reminiscent of that, but in an NCAA tournament setting. And you needed every bit of it from Peterson because this was, again, not a great offensive game for KU. Now, Calabap, this is a pretty good defensive team.

Starting point is 00:05:31 But like, KU only had two players and double figures. Darren Peterson had 28. Trey White had 12, which shout out to Trey White for that dunk at the end to give him 12 for any betters who had Trey White over 11 and a half points. But nobody else said more than eight. And that's where Pollymia comes in at eight. You're only getting six from Tiller, six from Florida. We talked about coming into the game that Cal Baptist's 19th percentile defending post-ups.

Starting point is 00:05:53 I thought KU didn't really even try to post up that often. It felt like a lot of the misses with Badunga and Tiller. I don't know. Like you were missing so many shots around the rim. Those guys included early part of the game. They just kind of abandoned that later in the game. And it did feel like as the game was going on, KU's going on that like five-minute stretch without a point.

Starting point is 00:06:13 It's like, okay, should we maybe think about throwing the ball inside here and maybe giving a try on a point? post up or something as opposed to taking some of these contested jump shots on the outside that are well defended with the shot clock winding down. So that wasn't great and there's still our issues with the KU offense. But that's where Peterson comes in. And the idea that you were able to do enough defensively and Peterson hits the big shots for you at the same point in time, if we are looking ahead, yeah, you're going to need more than

Starting point is 00:06:39 four from Melvin Council who continues to stay in a slump. You're going to need more than six from Flory who continues to not give you a ton of offense right now. Tiller had many ups and downs in this game once more. So I think those are kind of the big things here. I will also say like to me this was you have two splits here, right? The almost heroes of the game for KU become Darren Peterson, the star, and then the unsung heroes. And I thought the unsung heroes, I already mentioned Paul and Bia. I did think El Marco Jackson was kind of an unsung hero in this game. He's had a lot of ups and downs this season too. But El Marco in this game, four points on two of three. It's less about that. I thought El Marco,

Starting point is 00:07:18 actually did a really good job defending Dominic Daniels. I mean, there's a couple of possessions where Daniels scores like on a step back three over him anyway, but it's good defense. And over the long haul, you continue to play good defense. They're going to miss more than they make. And like, that's what you see at the end. When it's 66 to 60, El Marco was the defensive assignment. And he has to take a tough kind of mid-range shot that El Marco has pretty good defense on and he doesn't make it. So I do think those were kind of your unsung heroes off the bench here with Jackson and Mbia.

Starting point is 00:07:45 And you needed that. And you needed every single one of Darren. in Peterson's scorched earth mode, especially from the end of the first half to the start of the second half. And I'm trying to think Peterson was what, one for six to start this game. So that means, let's see, he finishes 11 of 24. So if you're one of six to start, that puts you at 10 of 18 to finish. That's a really good finish against a good defense that's keen on you over the course of

Starting point is 00:08:11 the rest of the game. Now, if we do want to look at positives to take away moving forward for KU in this game, I guess do you view this as a positive or a negative? First of all, KU only having eight turnovers. That's a good sign. KU also holding the Cal Baptist to just a 28% offensive rebound rate. When they came in with a third offensive rebound rate, that's a good sign.

Starting point is 00:08:33 Like, are you going to have better defensive rebounding now with Paul and Bia? I guess in there a little bit more now that you're super focused. You're going to need it against St. John, certainly, and Zubi. But do you view this as a glass-half full or glass-half-empty thing? that KU won a game in the NCAA tournament while only shooting 48% on two-point shots, right? Kansas on the season is shooting 51% and that's outside the top 200 nationally. So 48% from 2 is not very good. KU only shot 4 of 19 from 3-point range.

Starting point is 00:09:04 Again, not very good. Should we look at this and say, hey, KU found a way to win in a game that they won ugly? And the glass-half-full approach is, okay, now they're due for a good shooting game. the glass half empty approach is okay, but the shooting woes are, this isn't just a one game thing. It happened against Houston to an even worse degree. It happened against TCU. Like it's been happening.

Starting point is 00:09:30 It happened against Arizona State. It happened against Arizona at the end of the regular season. Is that just what this team is at this point? Like they just can't make shots, even layups. Like how many missed layups in the first half of the game? Is that just what this team is? So that's the negative side of it, that the trend continues. The positive side is you want an NCAA tournament game.

Starting point is 00:09:47 and the hope is that the shots start to fall in the next round and you do the other things you did well in this game and the shots fall, right? That would be the hope for this. Obviously, the other negative would be the end of the game. But you know what the biggest positive here? And the bottom line is survive in advance. It is cliche, but it is 100% true. We are past the point of, hey, take this lesson away from the game and apply it to the next.

Starting point is 00:10:13 I mean, obviously there will be an element of that for Bill Self and coaching and like, hey, we should do this better. Like, this happened. Here's the film. Like, let's teach it, whatever. We're pretty much to the point of the season where you are what you are. So just go win the dang game. And they won the dang game.

Starting point is 00:10:27 And you're moving on. You're on to the second round. You avoid the upset here. Now can you move on to the second weekend for the first time since 2020? We'll get more on that coming up in a second. Let's get to our moments of the game, stats of the game, awards of the game. All that next. This is Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:10:45 Our episode of the show is brought to you by Mazda. moving the game forward. For those who show there's more to the score than what's on screen with Mazda. I think a lot of moments you could point to is kind of the, I don't know, game changing moment that defined this game for KU. But let's just talk about the exclamation point moment because I think everybody was freaking out at the end there. It's a six point game. It's their ball.

Starting point is 00:11:08 You get the stop. You throw it ahead. Trey White throws down the two-handed dunk. And then at that point, there's 13 seconds left. You're up three possessions at eight. And you felt like that was, okay, we took the first. final blow and we found a way to get over the hump. It's these moments that remind us what it really takes to raise the bar. It's that extra work off the court, dialing in every detail,

Starting point is 00:11:27 giving it that extra fire, that grit and never quit. We put that same passion in every model. Highlights make the real. What it took to get there makes it count with Mazda. Episode today is also brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook. You can get in on the round two action starting tomorrow on Fandual. And with Fandual, They're also doing college basketball parlay profit boost. You can go safe. You can go bold. You know, were you not impressed with Duke in round one?

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Starting point is 00:12:28 and to join our Discord server. Lockedon Podcasts.com slash everyday or locked on podcasts.com slash every day or moments and plays of the game for KU. Early portion of the game, KU's missing all these layups and then Trey White hits a kind of fun early and won. I thought that was good. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:12:46 Just in general. I thought Trey White played pretty well. It felt like he wasn't as impactful in the second half. But he's been in a bit of a rut, so that was nice to see. Some other guys didn't get out of their rut. I think if we're talking like an extended moment for KU, I think the scorched earth moment from Darren Peterson, where he finishes the first half going six of eight shooting,

Starting point is 00:13:13 and then I guess exclamation point on the end of it, with the end of first half buzzer beating three. That is probably the most enjoyable fun moment from the game if we're giving that out. Super impactful as well to stretch out the lead. Obviously, KU needed to stretch out a lead with how the game finished, right? Because what if, you know, there would have been a 12 point lead instead of a 20 point lead. Who knows what happens there, right? And then I also appreciated this in the second half, Darren Peterson gets like hit in the face.

Starting point is 00:13:43 He's like guarding in the post and he gets like smacked in the face. he, you know, has a moment where he just, you know, needs to recalibrate, basically. And then he goes down the next possession and he hits a floater. And that moment I thought was really important to me because through everything we've gone through with Darren Peterson, and there's been a lot of really good writing, Shreyis Lada, CJ Moore that have detailed some stuff of Peterson, full body cramps and go to the hospital and stuff from earlier this season that I think give a little bit more to the story that we were kind of missing back when it was happening.

Starting point is 00:14:14 but through everything that's happened and, you know, with the questions of, okay, what is the toughness level here? He showed his toughness there. He got nailed in the face, stayed in the game, went in, immediately hits a floater to get to, I think, at the point, that point, 20 points. Now, Paul M. Bia scored eight points. Most of them were on dunks. One of my favorite plays of the game was the play where he actually got to show a little

Starting point is 00:14:36 post movement, man, working off the pivot foot, like working through, getting the layup. That was awesome to see. I don't think the early season, but I don't even know if January, Paul and Bia does. I don't even know if February Paulumbia is able to do that. And that's important to me for two reasons. One, it was really impactful in this game. Two, could it be impactful for KU and future NCAA tournament games?

Starting point is 00:14:58 But three, you know, every year is kind of a re-evaluation. Every off season is a re-evaluation. What can this person be? Are they developing enough? Do we want to bring them back? What's the price point? Like all these things. And seeing some of the development from a guy who has a

Starting point is 00:15:13 seven nine wingspan and kind of being in a situation where it's like, hey, we can see more now that makes us think he's on an upward arrow. Let's bring him back because continuity has been king for Bill's self, but you're only going to get that continuity if the player is good enough to earn that spot back. And I think that was important for the future of Paul and be at Kansas as well, but he was really good tonight. And then there was a moment where, you know, so Daniels hits like a step back three and they're grabbing momentum.

Starting point is 00:15:43 Peterson hits a big step back three in response to kind of tame the momentum at that point. And then they go down and hit another bucket. And then Peterson hits another three. Those again were huge to kind of because the big run for Cal Baptist came at the end. And they just, you know, they didn't have enough time by the time that the run came on. And that response by Peterson is one of the reasons why they started to run out of time because he was able to thwart one of their earlier runs in the second half. and then kind of to that same notion, like Daniels hits another three,

Starting point is 00:16:15 and Peterson goes down and hits a floater in a game that KU wasn't really able to get much going offensively for a lot of guys. Peterson stepped up in a lot of big moments for KU in this game. Our stat of the game or stats of the game for KU, side note, Darren Peterson going four of 11 from three and the rest of the team going 0 and 8 is wild to look at. But KU going 12 of 14 at the foul line, right? So that ended up being a big difference in this game. Cal Baptist goes 10 of 19 on free throws, just 53%. Kansas is 86% on 14 attempts, right?

Starting point is 00:16:50 So coming into the game, Cal Baptist was outside the top 200 in a free throw percentage. Meanwhile, you look at Kansas coming into the game, they were top 40 in the country in free throw percentage. That's one of those things where it really mattered, I think, in this game, right? To convert on those really was important. I mentioned earlier, you held Cal Baptist to a 28% offensive rebound rate. They came in with a 38% offensive rebound rate on the season. I think that's a huge number for KU's defensive rebounding that has been shaky and hit or miss at times this season. I thought that was really good for KU.

Starting point is 00:17:28 You get four blocks. That's always important for Kansas. You hold them to just 40% on twos, 24% on threes. But at the end of the day, to me, it is about the lack of offensive. rebounding for Cal Baptist comparatively to some of the games they've had because in a game where they didn't shoot well, it could have been a big offensive rebounding game for them. And in the end, the 20, 27.9% offensive rebound rate for them was their fifth worst of the season, right? And if they would have gotten a bunch of extra possessions and a bunch of extra Daniel shots,

Starting point is 00:18:00 who knows when it ends up happening. So that was really important for KU to be good on the defensive class. That's why that is the stat of the game for me. award of the game for me. I'm going to give an award for the, of course, that's how Kansas makes a shot award. And that's the El Marco Jackson mid-range jumper back in the first half. Kansas couldn't buy a layup to save their life. But of course, El Marco Jackson, taking one of his pull-up mid-range jumpers, hits off the back of the iron and drops in. Like, of course, that's one of the ways that they make a shot in the first half. And then our Paulumbia Award goes to Paul and Bia for just being Paul and Bia and making it, Paul, and be a sized impact in this game. So, yeah, KU wins. That's good news. What's next?

Starting point is 00:18:47 St. John's. KU's going to have to play a little bit better, but at least they're in the game. We'll get to that next. This episode's brought to you by Supply House. You wouldn't show up on game day without a plan, and you wouldn't show up to a job without the right parts. That's what putting Supply House in your starting lineup is always the right call.

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Starting point is 00:20:36 Event contracts are offered by Robin Hood derivatives LLC, a registered future commission merchant and firm. Thanks again for joining us on today's episode of Locked on Jayhawks and give us follow at L.O underscore Jayhawks on Twitter. Kansas Survives 68 to 60. Let's give out some game balls first before we move on to what is next for KU. I really want to give it to Paul Mbia, but offensive game ball has to go to Darren Peterson, 28 points in a game where nobody scores more than 12. And outside of Trey White's 12, nobody else scores in double digits. It is very, very obviously Darren Peterson winning offensive MVP. Now, I will say just a little bit of an honorable mention, I think Trey White specifically the start, right? Because Peterson starts one for six from the game,

Starting point is 00:21:24 and KU's missing all those layups early. Really the lone guy who was, he was just getting to the free throw line was Trey White forcing the issue and at least booing KU early in the game before Peterson got hot. So that would be the honorable mention there. Defensive game ball for me, I do want to give it to all Marco Jackson. I thought he did a good job when he was on, you know, on the floor and playing hard defense there. So I do think that mattered. I do think in general, like KU's big men were able to. I mean, they shot in the low 40% on two-point shots.

Starting point is 00:21:58 That's impactful as well, but that'll be the answer. Then, yeah, Darren Peterson gets the overall MVP. But honorable mention, Paul Mbia, who gets the bench MVP in this game as well. All right, so what's next for KU? It is St. Johns. And now we have a battle of Hall of Fame coaches with Rick Beteen. and Bill Self. And St. John's is two-point favorite on Ken Palm on a neutral floor over Kansas,

Starting point is 00:22:23 but that makes it kind of a coin flip game. They looked really good in their first round win over Northern Iowa. And they're hot right now. They have won seven consecutive games, including over Yukon and the Big East Championship, by 20 points. And looking at it, over this win streak, only two of the games have been decided by single digits. And that was after a 32 point loss to Yukon. In general, too, they were sitting at 9 and 5.

Starting point is 00:22:48 They have won 20 of their last 21 games. This is one of the hottest teams in the country. Now, the Big East wasn't very good this year, but I think St. Johns is just a terrific team. And what scares me about this matchup is there a team who wins the possession game. Kansas is a team that normally doesn't win the possession game. They're basically top 50 in turn over rate on offense and defense. They're top 30 in the country in offensive rebound rate.

Starting point is 00:23:10 Not the best three-point shooting team. team. It's going to be important for Kansas to handle the press, to play tough, to win on the glass, and finally find their shot a little bit. They've at least got to be tough and make their shots on the interior. It's a very athletic front line for St. John's. They've got Bryce Hopkins, who's a 6-7 power athlete who can play the 3 and 4, Dylan Mitchell, who's KU's seen a good amount with Cincinnati in Texas. It's kind of a 6-8, like super springy athlete. Zubi Adjafur on the inside. They've got another 6-11 center who can come in there as well. I'm hoping this isn't one of those vintage second round Kansas blowouts where they get blown out.

Starting point is 00:23:50 I do think from a certain standpoint, like KU has struggled more with the teams who are elite defenses than offenses and that does describe St. John's. So that's not great. But some things that I do like about the matchup to leave with a little bit of optimism here. St. Johns wants to play fast, right? Top 40 in the country and average possession length offensively. What is the importance of that? Kansas is at their best when they're playing in transition. and they play fast.

Starting point is 00:24:13 So that might not be the worst thing in the world against St. John's, right? Even though St. John's a good or offensive rebounding team, not the best defensive rebounding team. There's an opportunity there. Right? We know sometimes Kansas struggles with teams who shoot well from three. Well, St. John's is only 33.3% from three this year. That's outside the top 200. They're also close to ranking 300th in the country when you look at their three point frequency.

Starting point is 00:24:34 So they don't take a ton of them either. Those are good things for KU. Also, when you look at their average two point attempt distance, how close are you to the rim on average on your two point shot? They're 181st offensively, so they're not getting a ton of shots at the rim. It's a little further back. And they're 160th defensively, meaning that teams are able to, I don't know, get more shots at the rim specifically against them, which would be a good thing for Kansas.

Starting point is 00:24:57 So I do think there are some good things about this matchup. If Florey can win his matchup with Zuby, then I think it's an edge to Kansas. If Zuby dominates Florey, then I think that's a big edge to St. John's here. But it also depends on, you know, what is Kansas going to get from Melvin Council? is Kansas going to get anything again from El Marco and Paul and Bia. There's just a lot of moving parts that have been inconsistent here for KU this season. But they'll go into Sunday night. One win away from making the second weekend for just the second time since 2018.

Starting point is 00:25:26 We'll see if they can do it. All right. That'll do it for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks. You can find a show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. I'm going to try to get out a KU St. John's preview at some point on Saturday. So till then, thank you so much for joining us. once again on LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KANSAS JAYHAWKS SURVIVE CAL BAPTIST: Darryn Peterson & Paul Mbiya Lead KU to 2nd Round

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