Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Locked On Jayhawks - 11.25.19

Episode Date: November 25, 2019

KU football edged in Ames; Hoops previews Maui Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up Jayhawk Nation? Welcome in to 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. Hope everybody had a good weekend. It was certainly an action-packed weekend. There was no basketball in terms of our Jayhawks, of course. Big-time tournament coming up beginning tonight in the Maui Invitational. But, of course, we had an exciting football game yesterday. Off the top, I want to give a shout-out to the KU soccer team.

They had their season come to an end in the Sweet 16 yesterday with a 2-0 loss in Columbia, South Carolina to South Carolina. The Jayhawks had previous victories in the NCAA tournament over Iowa and Xavier and had punched their ticket to the Sweet 16. In that 3-0 win over Xavier, Katie McClure had a hat trick, all three goals, for the Jayhawks. So a very exciting season for the team crowned Big 12 champions, our Jayhawks. Unfortunately, it came to an end yesterday, but a lot to be proud of for Kansas soccer. All right, for this show, we're going to, of course, break down the KU Iowa State football game on Saturday. And we're going to hear a lot from Bill Self and KU players as well in advance of the Maui Invitational. First game against Chaminade tonight at 8 o'clock.

First thing, though, let's talk about this football game. This is a game in which Kansas was a 26-point underdog when the line closed, and it really was, for the most part, an action-packed, high-intensity game. Kansas was able to put up some numbers against the team that was second in the league in scoring defense in Iowa State. And actually, Kansas had two leads in the fourth quarter. They led 24-21 following a touchdown and two-point conversion, and then again at 31-27. But it was Iowa State who ended up scoring on each of their last three drives. They got touchdowns, and they won at 41-31 in Aims.

Cyclones improved to 7-4, and the Jayhawks followed to 3-8 with just one game remaining. Gotta give credit where credit's due. Brock Purdy and this Iowa State offense, Purdy showed a lot of Todd Reising I thought. He made the throws, he kept plays alive, scrambled when need be and really, unfortunately, it was at the expense of KU's defense that could not get a stop. We did see KU force just their 7th turnover all season when Jay Dineen deflected one of Purdy's passes in the 3rd quarter

and it landed in the breadbasket of Mike Lee. That was just the 7th, as I said, takeaway for the KU team. They entered 4th to last in the FBS in terms of takeaways. So that at least helped, and it did lead to Kansas points, but not good enough. So let's take a look at this one from the beginning. Kansas was able to get a couple big-time stops on their first two possessions. They had two third-and-one stops, which is good because that is another category that the KU defense is in the bottom five of all of FBSN, and that is third down conversion rates for the opponents. Unfortunately, Iowa State would excel in that category following the first two

stops by the KUD. We did see KU's offense sort of put things together, though. They actually took an early three to0 lead. A big play on that drive was Carter Stanley finding Daylon Charlotte for 31 yards, and it was 3-0 Jayhawks. Purdy picked up a big 3rd-and-9 conversion to Deshante Jones and eventually found LaMichael Pettway over the middle for a 25-yard touchdown to put the Cyclones back on top 7-3. Kansas finally got to see some of that Puka magic.

Puka on the ensuing drive had a couple 15-yard runs. KU unfortunately had to settle for a field goal again. Liam Jones hit it from 37, and we had a one-point game at 7-6. Iowa State, who also has one of the best offenses in the Big 12, ended up scoring again eventually, but they really couldn't get out of their own way. They were having penalties. They were dropping passes. All of that was going on for the Cyclones in the first half, but they led 14-6 following a Purdy touchdown, and then KU fed their man, Puka Williams, who was over 100 yards rushing in the first half alone. Puka got a 46-yard run, and Kansas had another chance. Again, they couldn't get it done.

This time, in settling for a field goal, the field goal missed off the left upright, and it was still 14-6. So we went to halftime. Kansas was able to add another Jones field goal. So four field goal attempts from Liam Jones all inside the red zone. He converted on three of them, and that was KU's offense. So you're down 14-9. You feel good about being in the game against a team that you're huge underdogs against,

but you left a lot out there. Kansas was not able to finish off any of their first-half drives with touchdowns, and perhaps that would come back to bite the Jayhawks. Iowa State got the ball from Kansas quickly in the second half because KU had a chance to score on back-to-back possessions but punted on a three and out on their first drive. And then Iowa State went down and scored. This time it was Purdy to Petway for the second time,

and it was 21-9 Cyclones. So now you're kind of in a spot as a KU fan where, all right, it's early in the second half where you're down 21-9. Is this going to be the same deal we've seen so often in the past decade? KU's just going to fall over and die compared to what they could do and come back. And luckily, it was the latter. Kansas was able to make a big fourth down stop. Matt Campbell opted to go for it from KU's 38-yard line.

It was fourth and inches, so it made sense for the Cyclones to give it a shot. But KU got a big fourth down stop, and they kept that momentum going. Finally, they put together their touchdown drive. KU picked up three third-down conversions on their own, including a crucial third-and-six jet sweep run by Stephon Robinson. That set the Jayhawks up for success. Carter Stanley found Puka Williams over the middle behind the defense for a 27-yard touchdown.

KU was in business down just 21-16. And then that crucial takeaway happened. Kansas was able to get that deflection from Dineen and the interception by Lee. 21-16 and KU was taking over in Iowa State territory. Again, KU took advantage. They kept their momentum. You saw the wherewithal that we've seen in games that Kansas has been down throughout this year. And Carter Stanley again led the Jayhawks to a touchdown score. This was Carter Stanley finding Lawrence Free State high product Spencer Rowe in the back of the end zone, which Carter said after the game, he's never once thrown that pass when they run that play. Rowe was his third option in his progression, but he was open.

And when Rowe caught the pass, Kansas went up 22 to 21. Then Kansas converted on a third down, or on a two point conversion, Stanley found Parchment in the back of the end zone. All of a sudden, Kansas was ahead in this game 24-21, and everybody at Jack Trice Field and Ames is a little bit scared. We're not going to lose to Kansas, are we? Well, Purdy, who many people think can be a Heisman candidate next season, put together another big-time drive. He found Brees Hall for the scoring play, and and ended up 7-play, 73-yard drive

in which, again, Iowa State picked up some crucial third-down conversions. It was 27-24. Conner and Sally missed the PAT, so that meant the Jayhawks were only down by a field goal instead of the full four points. Again, Stanley and the Jayhawks offense did not miss a beat. It was a seven-play, 73-yard drive. KU picked up third-down conversions of their own, and KU was primed to either tie with a field goal or take the lead with another touchdown. When they had the ball first and 10 at Iowa State's 40, Stanley went over the top to Stephon Robinson, KU's top touchdown score in 2019, and Stephon hauled in the 40-yard touchdown. Kansas was up 31-27, and for Stephon, that was his eighth touchdown reception of the year, which ties Kerry Meyer in 2009 for the most touchdowns by a KU receiver in any season. So

Robinson has certainly been one of the top performers for Kansas. Most importantly, at this time, it put the Jayhawks on top 31-27. Unfortunately, KU needed that stop from their defense and could not get it. Purdy made the plays. He finished off a touchdown drive for the Cyclones, the 5-yard run himself. And after O'Salley's PAT, it was 34-31 in favor of the Cyclones. Kansas had a chance to go down and score. It felt like whoever had the ball last was going to win this one, but the Jayhawks stalled. They went for it on fourth and five, could not convert, and then at the end of the game, KU's defense, it appeared how to stop,

and it looked like they were going to hold Iowa State to a field goal, but fourth and goal from the five, Matt Campbell opted to go for it, and Purdy was able to convert, finding Sean Shaw Jr. in the back of the end zone, and that iced the game as the Cyclones won it 41-31, and again, as I said at the top, the crucial parts of this game, the offense at the beginning, unable to convert, touchdowns, and having to settle for field goals, and then the defense at the beginning, unable to convert touchdowns and having to settle for field goals, and then the defense at the end. Three consecutive drives, the final three drives of the game for the Iowa State offense ended up being touchdowns for Purdy and company, and Iowa State, big-time favorites in this one, had to sweat it out, but they still beat our Jayhawks 41-31. If you look at some of

the final numbers in this one, Carter Stanley was 23 of 44, 328 yards and 3 touchdowns. Puka Williams had 19 carries for 154 yards. He also had 2 catches for 52 yards in that touchdown, so Puka 206 yards from scrimmage. That was good to see because he's been struggling, been bottled up a little bit the last couple games. Parchment was the top receiver, 8 for 86, and Stephon Robinson had 5 catches for 75 yards in that touchdown. Of course, Spencer Rowe had that touchdown as well. KU won the turnover battle, which is not something they've done often at all this season, but again, it was not good enough.

Iowa State, after not converting those first two third and shorts, converted 10 of their final 14 third down conversions, and one of the ones they did not convert, they ended up converting on fourth down. Of course, that was the final play that put the Jayhawks away. Iowa State won it 41-31, so now Kansas sitting at 3-8, obviously cannot get to a bowl that has kind of been put away for a week or so now, but the Jayhawks have a chance to face off against Baylor, who knows already that they're going to be taking on Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship

game on December 7th, so maybe the Jayhawks can catch a team that's not horribly motivated on Saturday. We're going to talk basketball after this break, but later in the week we'll get to hear from Les Miles and some KU players as well as we prepare for that game against Baylor and hopefully end the season with a shocking upset as it would be to National Pundits and end it on a high note for this Kansas program who appears to be trending up. They're showing a lot of fight. They're fighting for their teammates and their coaches, but again, unable to get it done yesterday as Iowa State wins 41-31. So we're going to have basketball talk after this.

We'll hear from Bill Self and KU players in advance of the Maui Invitational. With Roman, you can get a free online evaluation and ongoing care for ED, all from the comfort and privacy of your home. Just go to GetRoman.com to get a free online visit and free two-day shipping. If you can't visit Roman right now, you can find this and all other offers from Locked On sponsors at LockedOnPodcasts.com slash offers. This is Locked On Jayhawks, a product of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Let's recap the action that went on in the Big 12 this weekend,

busy weekend with football and basketball, and then we'll get into an extremely successful Friday 5 week for me. So hopefully everybody out there in Jayhawk Nation has been sticking with me if you've been checking out these lines and throwing down on them because it's been very successful the past couple weeks. Going to start in Morgantown. Oklahoma State upended West Virginia 20-13. Go through all these football scores first.

Of course, Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State's quarterback, is out for the year. Chuba Hubbard, the bell cow, he ran for 106 yards and he caught 88 yards worth of reception. So Chuba Hubbard continuing to be a Heisman candidate without question. Texas fell at Baylor. That game was 24-10. Saw an interesting article come out today that said something about how Baylor is everything that Texas wants to be, and it's hard to argue with that.

They've got athletes all over, and they're taking care of business, and Baylor, of course, clinching their spot in the Big 12 championship game against Oklahoma. Denzel Mims in that game, seven catches, made a couple unbelievable ones, 125 yards and a touchdown. Kansas State, 30-27, they picked up the victory in Lubbock over Texas Tech. Skyler Thompson threw for two touchdowns in that one. And the last Big 12 game, aside from our Jayhawks, was Oklahoma and TCU with the Sooners winning 28 to 24. How about this? Jalen Hurts, he was 11 of 21, two touchdowns and one interception, but he ran the ball 28 times. I just cannot get over how much he's running.

28 times for 173 yards and two touchdowns for Hurts, another guy, obviously, who's in the Heisman conversation. Hurts and Hubbard both representing the Big 12 very well. Take a look at the basketball action that happened this weekend. Most notably, Baylor yesterday taking down Villanova in the Myrtle Beach Invitational in Conway, South Carolina. Played on that Coastal Carolina Chanticleer Court.

Baylor won 87-78 in the championship game over Villanova. That was a Baylor team ranked 24th in the country. Villanova was ranked 17th. The Bears are for real this season, and I expect Baylor, Texas Tech, and Kansas to be the top three teams in the conference. Another game yesterday, Texas Tech defeated Long Island without issue 96-66. You go back to games on Friday that were taking place in terms of men's basketball. Baylor had that victory. Texas won in a consolation game against Cal in Madison Square Garden, 62-45.

West Virginia defeated Boston University by 25. And Oklahoma State snuck past Western Michigan, 70-63. That's your Big 12 outlook. And in terms of tonight, of course, the Jayhawks and Chaminade. But early start, K-State is going to Fort Myers. They are going to take on the Pitt Panthers. That'll be an interesting game. Televised on FS1 at 5 o'clock Central Time.

And Hall of Fame Classic at Sprint Center, 8.30 p.m. tip. Oklahoma against Stanford. We'll recap those games, of course, on tomorrow's show. Friday 5, very successful. Start with those two Big 12 football games. I actually ended up winning one of those and losing one of them. I ended up going 4-1 this week on my Friday 5, which makes me 7 wins, 2 losses, and 1 push in the last two weeks. That brings my total record this season. Hopefully you've stuck with me. 14 wins, 15 losses, and 2 pushes. So not bad.

Getting a little bit of momentum on a bit of a heater here with the Friday 5. The one loss was the Oklahoma game. It was not even close, really. Oklahoma was favored by 18.5, and they were up by 11, and they almost blew this game away. This is three straight weeks now that OU hasn't covered. They beat TCU when they were 18.5 point favorites. They win by just four. The game I won, of course, in the Big 12 was K-State. I was getting 2.5 points at the time, and I said K-State probably wins this straight up, but I'll take the points.

They ended up winning it straight up. It was 30-27, K-State easily getting 2.5 points, picking up the victory. The one NFL game that took place yesterday that I liked was Carolina plus 10 at the Saints. That game was kind of scary early for the bet as the Saints were up 14-0, but Carolina twice in this game fought back. They ended up losing late. Will Lutz, game-winning 33-yard field goal, gave the Saints the 3-point win. They do not cover the 10 points, so I win the Carolina plus 10.

Basketball game Friday night, Georgetown against Duke. That was in that 2K Empire Classic. I had Georgetown plus 13, and they lost by 8. And then the other game was another college football game that took place on Saturday. This game was also close. Navy minus 3.5, hosting SMU. And the midshipmen won by a touchdown 35-28. So four and one record. Can't wait for this Friday and hopefully continue to right the ship after starting pretty slow on the Friday five. But four in one week, not too bad. All right, so now we're going to transition

to Kansas basketball. Big game tonight. Got to take care of Shamanah, and then you get a chance to face either UCLA or BYU tomorrow. And if everything goes as planned, it could be KU Michigan State on Wednesday for the matchup that I think everybody wants to see in the championship game of the Classic. Bill Self and KU players spoke to media members on Thursday, and Coach was asked about what kind of positives can this team potentially take from a trip like this, aside from hopefully winning three games. I really think when you get away, and there's, you know, we'll have a few family members going, but not a lot, and you get away, and it's just us. I think it's a great opportunity to move forward to becoming a team

because we're not a team yet, and nobody in America is a team yet. But there's going to be some things that happen throughout a season where you actually kind of come together and become a team. And most of those things are usually done away from home where there's really not that much else going on. Coach would continue to say, yeah, maybe it seems like there's a lot going on with the beach and ESPN there and everything. Really, for these guys, they're not worried about school.

They're not worried about anybody in their social life. You kind of are playing in this compact high school-sized gym, this small arena, and you've got to get in your locker room and then get out because another team is coming for you right after. So it's really an opportunity for these guys to just focus on basketball and a good chance, as Coach said, to become a team. Here's Ochai Abadji talking about his excitement for Maui. It's going to be fun.

It should be a great experience for all of us, especially new guys and all the people that haven't had this opportunity. But we're there for one reason, and it's to win. And everybody has that same goal in mind. Yeah, it'll be a new experience for all these guys. Yudoka Azubuki and Mitch Lightfoot went to Hawaii when they were freshmen. When KU played in that Honolulu Classic against Indiana, that was a 103-99 Hoosiers win.

That was a crazy game, one of the highest scoring games I remember ever watching. But, of course, that was a one-day thing, nothing like three games in three days on an island with all the press and everything going on there. So it's going to be a new experience for just about everybody. And like Ochai said, for all the new guys, it'll be an awesome experience as well. Kansas generally gets to go to this event about every four years. They were in it in 2011.

Well, they were in it 2015, 2011, and then before that it was 2005, the last time that the Jayhawks had participated in Maui, and of course they defeated Vanderbilt in the championship game last time they were there in 2015. One of those new guys is Tristan Inaruna, and we're going to hear his coach's thoughts and his teammates' thoughts on how Tristan's done so far this year, doing a little bit of everything for this Kansas team. This is Locked On Jayhawks,

product of the Locked On Podcast Network, the local experts on the biggest stories. Let's take a look at Jayhawks in the NBA before we get back to our current Jayhawks. A lot of the guys had a couple games this weekend. We'll just give you kind of the average over the two games. One guy only had one game, Andrew Wiggins, on Saturday. 21 points, four boards, and three assists for the T-Wolves. Sfee McIluke and Markeith Morris play for the Detroit Pistons. Keefe averaged about 12 points a game over the weekend. Sfee about six. He's playing 26 minutes a game, though, or at least

he did this weekend, so that's good to see for Sfee. Devontae Graham keeps on producing for the Charlotte Hornets. He averaged 19 points and dished out 8.5 assists. Joel Embiid averaging the double-double, 22 points and 12.5 boards in the two games for the 76ers. Marcus Morris had a very good weekend, averaging 23 points in his two games for the New York Knicks. Ben McLemore averaged 26 minutes, about 8 points a game for the Rockets. And then a pair of Suns late last night.

Shaq Diallo put on a good show, particularly in the second half. He ended up with 22 points and 6 boards in the game last night. So Shaq averaging 14 points over his two games. Kelly Oubre was the Jayhawk who plays for the Suns that had the good game on Saturday. And Oubre had 25 points and 11 boards in that game before a 10-point effort last night. So overall, pretty solid numbers across the board for our, say, eight or nine Jayhawks that are getting regular minutes now in the NBA. Hopefully that continues. And that's your look at the NBA Jayhawks.

Now let's transition a little bit. Kansas basketball is set to do battle with Chaminade in the first round of the Maui Gym Maui Invitational tonight at 8 o'clock, and should the Jayhawks win, they'll take on either BYU or UCLA tomorrow at 9.30 in the semifinals. Let's take a closer look here at one of the KU freshmen, a guy who has made his presence known in a variety of different ways already, even though he's played limited minutes, Tristan Inaruna from the Netherlands. In the game against ETSU, fours were wild for Tristan. He had four points, four boards, four assists, and perhaps most

impressively, he had four steals. You can tell even when you see him out there, he's not playing starter minutes, but he's a presence when he's out there because of his length, his athleticism. We've already seen a crazy windmill dunk that he threw down with his left hand. We see a lot of things that he can do, and a lot of those traits can translate very well at the next level too. So perhaps he could be one of the more successful Jayhawks on this team eventually in the NBA. Bill Self at his press conference last week talked about how he was really impressed with Tristan's defense, especially the game on Tuesday. The other

day was a highlight. You know, he had four steals and seven deflections, which, you know, that's 11 times that, you know, he's able to get his hands on balls. So I was happy with him. I think he could become a terrific defender. I don't think he's there yet, but I think he could become a terrific defender. And last game, he did a really good job. They had East Tennessee State guys good. They're good. And they have guys that are hard to guard. And for him, you know, especially guarding, you know, we switched so much and him, you know, guarding a little six foot or six one guard, it isn't an easy assignment. So I thought he did very well. Bo Chayabaji was asked what specifically about Tristan makes him such a good defender. How long his arms are, you know, how active he is and his ability, you know, just to get hands

on balls and, you know, deflect and disrupt the passing lanes. I think that's some really key that he brings to our defense. Ochai is not the only of Tristan's teammates who's impressed with his ability particularly on the defensive side and here's what Devon Dodson had to say when asked about Tristan's traits. His length he he's very active he can you know discourage a passing lane just gets hands on a lot of basketball. So I feel like he's helped out the defense a lot, and he's only improving. I really don't think it would be a stretch to say that Interuna could have the highest potential of anybody on this roster.

You just put everything together for him. He can do a little bit of everything. He has the length, the athleticism, and we know he's got the size listed at 6'8 some have said he's even 6'9 he can shoot the ball a little bit and he's still so young he can grow into his body more everything like that really a prototypical NBA wing with these days but we're not going to be talking too much about the NBA for Tristan and Aruna we want him to stay a Jayhawk for a couple years for sure but he brings brings a lot to this team. With Jalen Wilson going out with the unfortunate broken ankle, it's kind of come down to which of these freshmen is going to step in off the bench. Is it going to be Inaruna or is it going to be Christian Brown? There was

a time where we thought we would have four guys freshman class with Jalen Wilson before he went out with the injury. Then, of course, he had Mackie McBride before he decided to leave the program during boot camp, but now you're down to two, so you've got the five guys who are going to start, you know, it's either Sylvia or David coming off the bench, along with Isaiah Moss, and then these two freshmen, Christian Brown and Tristan Inaruna, and Inaruna has done great, Brown's had some hot starts as well, I mean, he went 4-4 in a game earlier this year. It was against Monmouth, 3-3 from deep, so he's been good as well. Inaruna got that length. He's wiry, and he's provided a lot for this KU team already, and he can do a lot and will need to do a lot if this team

wants to reach its aspirations and have a very deep run in March, as well as bringing that Big 12 title back to Lawrence. Here's Bill Self talking about how good Tristan's instincts are. I think pretty good for a young guy. I do. I think he gets his hands on a lot of balls. I think that when he kind of figures out positioning and that kind of stuff, I think he'll get his hands on more balls because offenses will just throw it to you, not anticipating that length and everything.

So I think he's doing well. I think he can rebound better. I think he obviously can play tougher. But defensively, I thought the other day he looked pretty good. And then he's a guy that we hadn't really seen it. When you make a mistake, he's a guy that can correct the mistake with his athletic ability. I think that'll be something we'll see moving forward. We hope to see a lot of that tonight and during this Maui Gym Maui Invitational. Excited to get

it going. Busy week of KU Hoops. I'll have it all covered here on Locked On Jayhawks. Tomorrow, of course, we'll recap the Chaminade game and we'll look ahead to tomorrow night's game against either BYU or UCLA. Should be a fun one. Should be a fun three days. Guys have had a chance to relax a little bit, hang out on the beach, and now it's time to get to business, and I'll have

all the coverage, of course, here on Locked On Jayhawks. Thanks so much for tuning in. This is Locked On Jayhawks, a product of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And Rock Chalk, Jayhawk.