Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Locked On Jayhawks - 10.25.19

Episode Date: October 26, 2019

KU hoops wins exhibition opener; Keys to beating TTU; Friday 5 picks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, everyone? Welcome into Locked On Jayhawks. I am Sean Kellerman, Learfield IMG College Broadcaster and University of Kansas Insider. This is Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, giving you insight, numbers, and a chance to hear from all the voices within Kansas athletics. I'd like to apologize for my voice. Obviously, it's October in Kansas and caught one of those head colds that goes around too quick, but we're going to power through because it's basketball season in Lawrence. And as we know, there is no exhibition realistically when we're talking about KU hoops. Got a lot to get to today. We will hear from Bill Self and KU players after last night's performance. It was a victory in which the Jayhawks won 86-56 over the Fort Hayes State Tigers, the first of two exhibition games, and a lot to unpack

regarding that game realistically from where KU struggled to where they did well. And of course, they were without Devon Dotson and Isaiah Moss. So some guys had to step up and maybe some roles that they haven't played or that we haven't seen them in, and certainly we'll talk about all of that a little bit later in the show. We'll do our final look at Texas Tech. I'm going to give you my keys to the game for the KU Tech matchup, which is taking place tomorrow at 6 p.m. at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. And then, of course, we'll go over the Friday Five,

five lines I like from this weekend in college football, and I think you should too. All right, so let's get right to it. This Kansas-Fort Hayes State game, it was a game in which the Jayhawks looked pretty nervous early, and they had a lot of newcomers. Jalen Wilson got the starts as Dotson and Moss were both unable to go. Bill Self saying after the game that

absolutely not. There was nothing that Wilson did to necessarily earn the start over guys like Christian Brown or Tristan Inaruna. It's just who he went with. But we got to see a lot of Brown, Inaruna, Wilson. And it was really good for them to get their feet wet for the first time at James Naismith Court. And while Wilson started the first half, it was Brown starting the second half. Bill Self was made available to the media in his post-game press conference, and he was asked right off the top what impressed him about this win. I don't know that I was totally impressed about too much, but I do think this. I thought after the first four minutes of the

first half and the first two minutes of the second half, I thought we actually guarded pretty well. You know, and you guys would probably know as good as me, but they made eight threes and six of them were on our two bigs. So, you know, we've got to do a better job of getting the shooters. And, you know, that's something we've emphasized, but obviously that was certainly an issue tonight. Fort Hayes State hitting eight threes last night, but as Coach said, six of them are from the bigs,

and that's something that we're going to have to keep an eye on all year because while Kansas is very happy with their depth in terms of the front court, and they feel like they have more depth than they have in quite some time, you know, that goes both ways. Kansas is going to have to have their foreman get out and guard the perimeter, and we'll hear from Bill Suff regarding his frustrations with that, and perhaps some things that he's going to do a little bit differently to combat that, because Kansas cannot have their three bigs, DeSosa, McCormick, and Doak, giving up the number of shots that they've been giving up. And, of course, one game, already 6-3, 75% of the main threes for the Tigers came against KU's bigs.

So let's talk a little bit before we get into that, and there's a lot of sound on that subject. It's kind of a hot topic after the game is how is Kansas going to play with DeSosa and Doak or McCormick and Doak or Sosa and McCormick. It's just going to be a crowded frontcourt for Kansas. But let's talk about the backcourt first. Kansas did not have Dotson and Moss, so they ended up going with Marcus Garrett. He's a guy who has been known as a wing and has played wing the majority of his career. He played a lot of point guard in high school though and he was asked to step in and take the first team reps in the past couple days without dots and practices at point guard and here's what Marcus said about his performance last night. I just try not to turn over the ball. That was my biggest key to try to protect the ball

don't turn it over and try to run the team. There's Marcus Garrett talking about his main goal as point guard of this team, try to protect the ball, and that's exactly what he did. Five assists, no turnovers for Marcus Garrett. And in fact, Christian Brown, who had some reps at point guard as well, he did not turn the ball over either. Brown in 24 minutes had three assists and no turnovers. Of course, he was playing a lot on the wing as well when Marcus was out there, but Brown had second-team reps as point guard in this game.

And I was really impressed with Marcus Garrett. He ran the show. Of course, it helps when you hit shots, as Bill Self always says. Garrett, 4 of 7 from deep, and he also just controlled this game defensively. He had three steals, and Ochai Abadji also had three steals to tie for the team lead. But Ochai is saying in the post-game press conference, he had three steals because of Marcus. Marcus' on-ball defense was just impressive.

So I like Marcus obviously contributing offensively. He finished second on the team with 15 points. He had that 5-0 assist-to-turnover ratio and controlled the game defensively. And it's just a different look that Kansas can go out with when Devon is not available, which hopefully is no more games the rest of the year. But if Devon needs a blow, then Marcus, you can put in as a point guard and it's a different look than we're used to under Bill Self, since Bill is used to those smaller point guards running the show like Dotson or Graham or Mason. But you got a six foot five Garrett who can handle the ball

and is such a good on-ball defender, you might as well utilize that. So with Marcus Garrett providing the yang to Devon Dotson's yin, perhaps that'll be a bigger plus than most fans realize, whereas fans were concerned about KU not having a true backup point guard. Well, maybe the 5'11 six foot Dotson being just different enough from the 6'0", Garrett will end up being a good thing for Kansas in the future. Obviously, it was a good start. Christian Brown played point guard for a handful of minutes when Marcus Garrett was not out there,

and he was asked after the game, was Christian, if he likes getting second-team reps as point guard. For sure. Handling the ball against Devon is really good for my game just because I dribble high. Normally, I start dribbling low and I'm being tighter with the ball. So being the backup point guard and having Devon and Marcus Howell and me all practice is really good for my game.

So I like it. That's Christian Brown, CB they call him, being made available to the media after the win last night. And Brown was impressive. I mentioned 24 minutes. He did not turn the ball over on his first true game action at Allen Fieldhouse. He was 3 of 8 from the field, 2 of 5

from three-point land, and he also had three rebounds and three assists. A very good start for the freshman from Kansas City, Christian Brown. Talk to Ochai and Marcus after the game about CB. He also ran that point guard spot.

I thought he did well at that. He was also aggressive, too. We need that either coming off the bench or whatever position he's going to play this year. He did great. We see it in practice every day. He can do a little bit of everything, and that's what he was able to show. That's Ochai Abadji and Marcus Garrett talking about one of the newcomers

for this year's team, one of the freshmen, Christian Brown, who was impressive in his debut last night at Allen Fieldhouse, an 86-56 Kansas win over Fort Hayes State. Got a lot more to get into here on Locked on Jayhawks. We'll hear a ton more from Bill Self. He's going to chime in on who he liked last night, the freshman, and he's going to talk about which of the freshmen, if any, he expects to start on this team a little bit later in the season.

We'll also have more audio from Garrett Brown and Abadji as the Jayhawks were made available to the media after the win last night. We want to hear from them as much as possible. And perhaps the hot topic after the Kansas win last night is what's KU going to do with these bigs? Because Fort Hayes State was sagging on Yudoka Azubuki and whoever was playing the five for Kansas last night. And the bigs were essentially being double and triple teamed and had to kick the ball out. Didn't become much of an offensive presence at all. So how is Kansas

going to be able to have their best players on the court and utilize the depth they have on the interior while at the same time getting production and the necessary space they need on the offensive end? So we'll actually get into that a lot next week. We'll hear from Bill Self and some of the guards as well on what they saw between the Fort Hayes State defense and how this Kansas team can react and go to the

four guard lineup perhaps if they need to when they're facing similar opponents in the future. A lot coming up. We'll also of course at the end of the show talk Kansas football and the Friday Five as we do every Friday here on Locked On Jayhawks. The Locked On Podcast Network your team every day. So let's take a deeper dive into the box score from last night's win. 86-56 Kansas over Fort Hayes State, the exhibition opener at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas actually was only leading this game

by two points early in the second half. Fort Hayes State scored the first nine points in the second half and cut it to 36-34, then all of a sudden you look up and KU's up by 30, and that's pretty much what happened. Kansas, by games in, pretty much dominated the important numbers, as you'd expect. In the paint, KU, despite Fort Hay State sagging, KU is 38-16 advantage there. Second chance points, this was a number I really liked. Kansas 28, Fort Hay State 3. Fast break points, Kansas 14, Fort Hay State 3. Marcus Garrett and Ochiai Abadji getting out on the perimeter,

running through passing lanes, kind of jump-starting this KU offense, which kind of hit a little bit of a lull. There were definitely times without Devon Dotson in this game where I thought, all right, well, Kansas needs Dot because they need somebody who can get to the rim and make a basket when everything else is breaking down. So they didn't have Dotson, but I think the defense sparked the offense in this one, particularly with Marcus Garrett,

who had one of his better games as a Jayhawk. Of course, it won't count. His 4-for-7-3s performance will not count. Neither will Yudoka Azubuki's 1-for-5 performance from the free throw line. Luckily, I'm sure Yudoka is happy about that as he continues to try to work on his improvements. I mentioned next week we'll talk a lot about the bigs and where Kansas goes from here, and if we'll see a lot of the four-guard lineups that we saw a lot of in the second half last night.

Doak played just 17 minutes. He was two for two. That's all, just two field goal attempts, both dunks from Doak. So five total points for Doak. Four fouls, actually. He did haul in eight rebounds. Silvio De Sosa paid 18 minutes. First game action, just great to see Silvio back out there after all that kid's been through.

He ended up with 11 points and seven rebounds, so ended up being a very efficient night for Silvio. Jalen Wilson got the start. Wilson had six points and three rebounds. He hit his first three, missed his last three. The leading score for the Jayhawks was Ochai Abadji. He had 21 points on three of nine, three point shooting, eight of 15 shooting overall. Abadji had six boards and an assist to go along with those 21 points in the aforementioned three steals for Ochai. Tristan Inaruna chipped in six points. McCormick had seven, and KU got actually

eight points out of Christian Brown, as I mentioned, and a late three by Michael Jankovich. That the offensive numbers for the Jayhawks without Devon Dotson and Isaiah Moss. Coach Self talked after the game about Dotson and Moss. He said he hopes that Dotson will be back this weekend, and Moss might be a little bit longer. I'd love to get those guys healthy before the Duke game which is coming up hot a week and a half away. A week from Tuesday at KU Duke. First to two at Madison Square Garden between the four top teams in the country are doing battle there at the Champions Classic. That'll be an exciting night

for sure and you'd love to be fully healthy for the first regular season game. One thing I noticed right away about this KU team, the 2019-2020 Hawks, the new brand of Hawks, was just the size and the length. I mean, you obviously have a lot more of that when you have Marcus Garrett out there running the point instead of Devon Dotson. Garrett, a much longer guy. But all these freshmen provide things for these Kansas Jayhawks. And Gochai Abadji, after the game, talked about that length and the depth for this team. Seeing those different rotations going in, the mix-ups we had with the freshman guards and obviously the veterans and the bigs too. We got out in the passing lanes uh got out got out to them on

defense and i think that turned it up um to another level that's ochaya bhaji talking about this new brand of jayhawks and all the depth athleticism they bring to the perimeter mentioned went through the numbers from a lot of these guys bill self after the game obviously he never loves how his teams look in these exhibition games, these early season games, but he did point out a few guys, a few performances that he really liked. Marcus was terrific and Ochai once he got in the flow was okay and played well and I thought our freshmen did fine. So you know playing without Devon and Isaiah and you know those two would probably be you know in our top three both as far as three-point shooters and to have them out there

not have them out there when a team backs off like that and defends the post I think could have made a little bit of a difference as well. Of course there have been a lot of games where Kansas has sported new freshmen, a new crop of freshmen and this one was no different in the first exhibition game here this season. But Bill Self as you heard was not too down on how his guys performed, particularly Christian Braun who had no different in the first exhibition game here this season. But Bill Self, as you heard, was not too down on how his guys performed, particularly Christian Braun, who had a very solid first outing. He shot the ball, you know, he made two threes, but I thought he was fine. I thought he

was fine. You know, I've never seen a guy guard a side out of bounds like this, you know, though with one second to get to cross half court, that wasn't the smartest play. But, yeah, I thought he did fine. And I actually thought, you know, Tristan, as you guys can see, he's so long. If he could just amp it up another, you know, gear, he could really be effective defensively and keeping balls alive. But he's got that pace that doesn't allow him to get there. But he will. And, you know, Jalen's aggressive. He didn't shoot it well tonight, but he's got that pace that doesn't allow him to get there, but he will. And then Jalen's aggressive. He didn't shoot it well tonight, but he's a good shooter. So

I thought they all did fine. So maybe it was a small blessing in disguise that Kansas was without those two guards because you could see a little bit more out of Brown, Wilson, and Inaruna in this one. That being said, Bill Self said, despite the talent that this team have, it sounds like the starters are pretty well set. Here's what Coach Self said about potential starters after the game. None of the freshmen will start as long as we're healthy, at least initially. I mean, I'm not saying that couldn't change, but when we line up to go play in the garden, none of those guys will start. And I wouldn't think that Isaiah would either. It would be hard to take Marcus Garrett off the floor.

But they will all have roles and all be part of a rotation. But I think with the freshmen, it will be at least early on, whoever is performing the best those particular nights will probably get the most minutes. So I think it's pretty safe to say after hearing that, that we know who the starting five will be as long as Kansas is healthy. You're going to have Dotson, Garrett, and Ochai in the backcourt and DeSosa and Azubuki in the frontcourt.

But again, next week, we'll dive deeper into Coach Self's comments and talk about how often this team realistically is going to need to go four guards and why Coach Self thinks that that may be necessary for this team, despite all the depth and all the talent that Kansas has down low. So maybe the starting lineup isn't, in fact, set in stone, but Self pretty confident there that Brown and Aruna and Wilson will not start, and neither will Isaiah Moss, mainly due to the receivers, the guy who, the returners rather, the guys who have been in the program and their ability to know what to do to set an example for this KU team.

But needless to say, all those guys, freshmen who played last night, they're all going to play a big role, and it's nice to see Kansas have that depth, particularly on the perimeter. And it'll be interesting to track throughout the year who's going to be ahead of who, and it's always good to have internal competition, I would say. Brown probably had the best game of the three last night, but a lot of basketball to play. We'll be here for it here in Lawrence and here on Locked On Jayhawks. Coming up on our final segment, we're going to talk Friday 5.

And we'll also do our final preview of Texas Tech, give some keys and some predictions for Kansas football as they look to pick up their first conference win of the season tomorrow at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium against the Red Raiders. The Locked On Podcast Network, the local experts on the biggest stories. We'll be right back. Like we heard today from Bill Self and KU players regarding the status of the men's basketball team, of course, Thursday is the final of the two exhibition games as Kansas will play host to Pitt State on Halloween night at 7 o'clock. Certainly hoping to see Devon Dotson out there as we were without him and maybe even Isaiah Moss, although Bill Self saying yesterday that it might be a little bit longer of a timetable for Isaiah Moss. Exciting times, of course, to be here in Lawrence, beginning of basketball season, and now we'll transition to some football talk.

We've talked a lot this week about the status of this program. Of course, they're 2-5 and 0-4 in Big 12 play. But Les Miles is doing what he needs to do to right this ship. Kansas fell at the buzzer to a top 15 ranked Texas team in Austin last Saturday. KU had the 48-47 lead with under a minute to go, but just could not hold on. Not enough defense. Kansas put up 569 total yards, including 190 on the ground from Puka Williams and two touchdowns from the super sophomore. Carter Stanley 27-47 310 yards and four touchdowns in that game and what's impressive

is as high scoring as that game was Kansas scored 48 points and their offense did not turn the ball over. Stephon Robinson was the leading receiver on the day. 7 catches, 67 yards and 2 touchdowns. And now KU has a real chance for their first Big 12 conference win as they welcome Texas Tech. The Red Raiders who are without, who they believe to be their starting quarterback this season with Allen Bowman. The sophomore suffered a shoulder injury in game 3 of the year against Arizona, and Bowman has been out.

For the second straight year, Jet Duffy, Bowman's backup, has come in and been the bell cow for Texas Tech in terms of quarterback position. They've also got a really good running back. He's top half of the Big 12 in yards per game, so Roderick Thompson and T.J. Vasher is their top receivers. That's kind of the scout on Texas Tech. One thing we know about them is that they are good at taking the ball away. And Tech is plus six in conference games alone,

including four interceptions in conference games alone from D-back Douglas Coleman, who's got six interceptions on the year, leading the conference by a wide margin. So Tech's going to come into this game as a five-point favorite. Kansas has not beaten them in football in quite some time, but I think that Kansas has an opportunity to do that. Tech is last in the Big 12 in total defense and in passing defense, so I envision another big day for Carter Stanley. I think Tech's going to do what they can to limit Puka Williams, and that's going to open up the pass game even more. So I think Stanley is going to have an opportunity to find a lot of guys. He found nine different receivers in Saturday's game against Texas, and I think that he'll have an

opportunity this weekend, tomorrow's game, to do the same, to spread the ball around and move this KU offense down the field. We saw a lot of offense. I went over a few of the numbers. And Brent Dierman's first game as offensive coordinator of this team. And this is another opportunity for Kansas to go out and do the same thing as the Hawks' battle of Red Raiders tomorrow in Lawrence. All right, keys to the game.

Pretty simple ones. Just going to shoot two keys to the game at you, and one of them is the turnover margin. Kansas is plus one in Big 12 play, but they're minus six on the season, and Texas Tech is plus six in Big 12 play. It's very important that Kansas, if they want to win this game, wins the turnover battle. I think if they do that, then they should have no problem outscoring the Red Raiders.

Carter Stanley just needs to play anything close to how he played last week, not only in terms of ball protection, but in terms of production, and I think that he can certainly do that. And then number two for Kansas is going to be pressure on the quarterback, Jet Duffy. He is fourth in the Big 12 in pass yards per game, and I think if Azur Kamara and Darius Maraney and a bunch of those guys in the front seven for Kansas are able to pressure Duffy, then that's going to rattle him.

He has not played in Lawrence before, and hopefully there's a big crowd out there who's doing their part to rattle him, but I think that would be key because that is going to close up any passing lanes that Duffy can have, force him out of the pocket, make him uncomfortable. I think this is a quarterback that Kansas can beat and a team that Kansas can beat, so hopefully that comes into fruition tomorrow. All right, it's time for the Friday Five. Again, apologize for my voice.

Hopefully I'm back to 100% by Monday's show, but we're going to go over the Friday Five really quickly here before we sign off. A couple of Big Ten games off the top. Wisconsin, who fell in that shocker. 31-point favorites against Illinois. They fall in Champaign last weekend. They're 14.5-point dogs as they travel to Columbus, and I'm taking the points with Wisconsin, plus 14.5. I think this team was so dominant the first six games, maybe people forgot about that. I understand how talented, how good Ohio State is, but Wisconsin did not trail in any of their first six games of the season before losing that shocker in which they were 31-point favorites to Illinois, but I think Wisconsin is too strong to be a more than two touchdown dog in this one. Wisconsin plus 14 and a half. Kind of on the other end of that, staying in the Big 10

and staying with that game last week, Illinois is at home hosting Purdue. Purdue is a nine and a half point favorite, and I'm laying the nine and a half with Purdue. I think that Illinois is just not a very strong team. I don't know what got into the water last weekend, but I think that high that they were riding will fall. I think Purdue wins that one by double digits. Bring it to the Big 12 a little bit. Texas matchup. Texas is a one and a half point favorite at TCU. I like the horns in this one, minus one and a half. I think Texas, if there's any opportunity for their defense to get right, it's going to be against a TCU offense that does not pack a lot of punch. Yeah, they've got Shaywoo Alonolua, they've got Jalen Rager do the frogs, but I think Texas is overdue for a good defensive performance. Just too much talent, too much athleticism on that side of the ball, and I think Sam Ellinger and their offense

find a way to score enough against the TCU stout defense. A couple late games to close out the Friday at five and stand in the Pac-12, and this is a fade on the lower part of the Pac-12. Utah minus 21 against Cal. I like the Utes to cover at home, and I also like Oregon minus 14 against Washington State. Obviously, I like those lines a lot more. If they go down a half point, you get the hook in your favor at home.

But Utah and Oregon, two of the Pac-12's best. Utah is ranked 12th in the country. Oregon 11th. Those are late games. If you want to stay up and watch those, I think they take care of business. Both Cal and Washington State are just one and three in the Pac-12. So Utah minus 21 and Oregon minus 14. All right, that's my Friday five for the week. Again, Wisconsin Wisconsin plus 14.5 at Ohio State Purdue minus 9.5 versus Illinois Utah minus 1.5 at TCU

Texas rather minus 1.5 at TCU Utah minus 21 versus Cal and Oregon minus 14 against Washington State this week's edition of Friday 5 thanks for bearing with me today loved hearing from Bill Self and KU players following KU's exhibition opener win last night we'll hear a lot more from Coach Self and the

guys next week. One more exhibition and then before you know it, it's Kansas and Duke at Madison Square Garden on November 5th. We'll also recap the Texas Tech game on Monday and look forward all week next week to the Dillon Sunflower Showdown between Les Miles' Jayhawks and Chris Kleiman's Wildcats. Always a good one to get. Always one to circle on your calendar. Hopefully Kansas can have their first Big 12 win in their back pocket and have an exciting week ahead of them in preparation for that Sunflower Showdown.

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