Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Locked On Jayhawks - 11.6.19

Episode Date: November 7, 2019

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What's up, Jayhawk Nation? Welcome in. Wednesday edition here on Locked on Jayhawks. I am Sean Kellerman, happy to bring you the show today and every day, Monday through Friday, here on Locked on Jayhawks. Remember, you can follow me on Twitter at Sean Kellerman. Follow the show on Twitter at LO underscore Jayhawks. I'm a Learfield IMG College broadcaster, and I'm a 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. Well, it's been a rough three or four days here in Jayhawk Nation. You lose the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday to K-State, a home game,

and that was a game that the Wildcats dominated on Saturday to K-State, a home game. That was a game that the Wildcats dominated throughout and won 38-10. Last night, of course, all the build-up going on with the Champions Classic, as there is every year. It's an event that Kansas has won three straight years until they fell last night. Final score from the Garden in New York, Duke 68, Kansas 66. KU falls to 4-5 in the Champions Classic, and now 0-1. They start 0-1 under Bill Sell for just the second time in his 17 seasons at the helm as head coach, and we all know what the story was of the game last night. It was the KU turnovers, and've got to credit Duke's defense, absolutely, but for Kansas, just uncharacteristic.

I mean, that's the bottom line, particularly guys like Devon Dotson. He had six turnovers in this game and just one assist, and that's very unlike Devon. Devon generally is a very good floor general in terms of keeping the ball with his guys, and he's good at getting to the rack good defender and he displayed some of that a couple late drives in this one but overall disappointing effort for the Jayhawks turning it over a near school record number of times those 28 giveaways for Kansas is second all-time behind the 30 giveaways they had in a 1988 first-round NCAA tournament game against Xavier.

Now, that was extremely interesting, not only because Kansas ended up winning that game against Xavier in 88, but they also, of course, went and won the national championship that year as a sixth seed. So Kansas hopefully has much brighter times ahead, similar to that 88 team, following a disastrous performance in terms of taking care of the ball last night. Kind of recap this game, go through it, and then a little bit later in the show, we're going to get a chance to hear a lot from Bill Self. We'll hear from David McCormick, Marcus Garrett, and Devon Dotson as well,

following the loss in the Champions Classic. By the way, if you turn the TV off out of frustration or just went to bed early following the loss, the nightcap one versus two is Kentucky taking home the victory over Michigan State. So both higher ranked teams fall and now Kentucky and Duke are going to be probably the two highest rated teams in next week's poll. But obviously a long way to go. We knew that some teams were going to fall in the Champions Classic and fall in the rankings, and that's obviously what happened last night with Kansas and Michigan State. Alright, so this game got started kind of sloppy, and my first thought was, well, that's a sloppy start. This is pretty much par for the course for any beginning of a game.

First game, jitters, big scene, big crowd out there, and it just continued the rest of the night, unfortunately, for the Jayhawks, with maybe a six- to eight-minute stretch in the second half that was an exception. But Matthew Hurt and Vernon Carey hit back-to-back threes for Duke to put the Devils up eight to five early and that was always a key always a big key against Duke is making sure they don't get loose from the perimeter but back-to-back threes from Hurt and Carey gave the Blue Devils the early lead a little bit later it was Ochai Abadji tying the game at 15 and out of timeout design play by Bill Self got Ochai open for a three, and that was piggybacked by Tristan Inaruna, KU's freshman. He hit a three that was nothing but net in his first shot attempt at the collegiate level, and KU led 18 to 15. And I noted in my notes while watching this game that

with 8.45 left in the first half, Duke had 20 field goal attempts, and Kansas had just 10. So KU just 10 field goal attempts in over 11 minutes of gameplay. And I also have just a note written down, we can't even get shots up. That's kind of how it was for the majority of the night for the Jayhawks. The Duke pressure defense was limiting KU's offensive attack very much, and they really turned to nothing but driving downhill toward the basket as their lone offense as this one went on. I also have written down some missed dunks, more turnovers for Kansas,

and at 428 mark in the first half, KU was already up to 15 turnovers, and yet they trailed by only three at 25-22. KU would cut it to within one at 31-30 before the break on a Devon finish in transition. Perhaps where KU excelled the most was getting out in transition, although there were certainly some mistakes on that front as well. But at halftime, it was 33-30. You talk to any Kansas fan watching that game, and everybody in Jayhawk Nation is pretty smart. They've watched a lot of basketball. I mean, you're thrilled to be down by three points when you have 18 first half turnovers, the most ever by a Kansas team in a single half,

and part of that was a credit to Kansas defense. They forced nine Duke turnovers in the first half, but again, that shot differential in the first half was a big one. Duke had 35, and Kansas had 21. Despite the sloppy play, not surprising that it was a back-and-forth close game throughout, and in that first half, the biggest lead was a four-pointer by Kansas and a five-point lead by Duke. All right, second half began, and that's when KU's big run happened. It was a 14-0 run that actually capped with a Devon free throw to make it 46-37 in favor of the Jayhawks. As a part of that big run was a McCormick dunk, a Doak dunk on an alley-oop, an Ochai three, an Ochai finish in transition, and an Ochai backdoor.

So Obagi was right in the middle of all of it. And Kansas was up by nine, and at that point, with how sloppy the game was, you're feeling pretty confident about that. In fact, you turn the ball over over 20 times, and you're up by nine points in the second half against a top-five team. That just does not happen very often, but as Duke does, they hit a couple big shots from the perimeter. Vernon Carey and Jack White hit back-to-back threes to cut the KU lead to three, and it was back and forth throughout. KU regained a four-point lead after two Silvio De Sousa free throws that made it 52-48, and then Kansas had an opportunity in transition. I thought this was

potentially a turning point. KU had that 52-48 lead, and Ochai Abadji had an opportunity in transition, and it was three on one, and Ochai threw it away, and that led to a run out for Duke on the other end, and Cassius Stanley, who had a big second half for Duke, hit a three to cut the KU lead to one. Back and forth throughout, it was 59-59 with under four minutes to play after Marcus Garrett hit one of two free throws KU had the lead by two after a Devon Dotson take with his left hand but then Duke regained the lead Cassius Stanley and and one made it 62-61 Dotson missed a take to try to take the lead and then Trey Jones hit a short jumper, that one that bounced and hung on the rim. That gave Duke a 64-61 lead.

Marcus Garrett made it 64-63 Duke, and then, of course, after Trey Jones hit two free throws to go up 66-63, Kansas had two opportunities at six-footers. Marcus Garrett and David McCormick both missed, and this was the possession after McCormick had that turnover, the final of the 28 turnovers on the night for the Jayhawks. After Jones' two free throws, like I said, it was a three-point lead, and then two more free throws from Duke made it a five-point lead.

Devon Dotson banked a three at the buzzer to end the scoring, but that was that. It was 68-66. Duke wins it in a sloppy first game for the Jayhawks. So we're going to get into the box score. We're going to get into some of the sound from Bill Self and KU players and try to look at this big picture. It was an event Kansas had won three straight times.

It's a team Kansas had beaten three straight times in emotional wins, and I think if you ask any KU fan, they would trade losing last night for that win they got in the 2018 Elite Eight in a heartbeat. But certainly Sting's, you never like to start below.500, particularly at a Blue Blood, but that's kind of how it goes. Two of these teams in this Champions Classic are going to lose every year, and unfortunately the Jayhawks this year are one of those two teams. All right, a lot from Bill Self.

We're going to get more reaction, and hopefully we can right this ship. Remember, right back at it, Friday night, UNC Greensboro. It's an 8 o'clock tip at Allen Fieldhouse. You're listening to Locked On Jayhawks, a product of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Alright, let's take a look at some of the final numbers before we hear from Coach Self and some of the guys. KU falls to Duke 68-66 in the Champions Classic. The 28 turnovers, it's going to be mentioned over and over again,

at least until KU gets another opportunity, honestly, against a big-name opponent. A couple opportunities on that front upcoming for the Jayhawks. November 27th could be a matchup in the Champions Classic title game against Michigan State, who was the preseason number one. They're not going to be number one anymore after they fell as well last night in round two of the Champions Classic. But you never know.

That could be the big marquee matchup. I'm sure that's what they're hoping for down in Maui. But KU would have to get past Chaminade and then either UCLA or BYU, and of course Michigan State would have to win a pair as well for that to happen, but that could be a potential November 27th blockbuster, and then another top 10 matchup could be December 21st in Philadelphia when Kansas gets the second of that home-and-home with Villanova, and that's an 11 a.m. tip on December 21st. So there's still opportunities for Kansas not only to get wins, but some non-conference marquee wins still very much a possibility for this KU team.

Last night, of course, a disappointment, just a two-point loss despite all those turnovers. Take a look at the box score. Duke themselves, they had 17 turnovers in this game, and that would certainly be more of a story if Kansas hadn't turned it over so many times on their front a lot of missed free throws for both teams in this one Kansas was 16 of 26 for a 61 and a half percent clip Duke 14 of 23 for 60.9 percent clip Kansas shot 10 percentage points better from the field than Duke, but they had 14 fewer shots. Kansas 46%, Duke 36%. And in terms of three-pointers, officially Kansas was 4 of 9.

That's it. They couldn't get much going at all from beyond the arc. They just struggled getting shots up as a whole. Duke 8 of 24, so Kansas was 10% better from the field and 11% better from behind the arc, but it did not matter because of the number of shots that Duke got up and extra possessions they have. That ended up being key. Another misleading stat, rebounds Kansas 40, Duke 30.

A couple individuals did a good job rebounding the ball for Kansas, such as David McCormick, but more defensive opportunities, you're going to get more opportunities for rebounds, and that was the case last night. All right, individuals. McCormick led the way with 13 rebounds, and that was the case last night. All right, individuals. McCormick led the way with 13 rebounds for Kansas. He also had six points. He started, and the majority of the second half was the five starters for Bill Self.

McCormick, six points, 13 rebounds. And I'm not even going to go through the turnovers for all these guys. Just assume everybody had three or more. Yudoka Azubuki, eight points, eight boards. He did have four assists, did Doak, and a block, but he only had four field goal attempts, and that's a problem when it's a guy that you want to establish, a guy that statistically shoots 70-75% from the field in his career.

He did the same last night, three of four, but only four shots. I'm sure not what Bill Self and company had in mind for the big man. Two of three from the free throw line. That was good to see Doak showing some confidence from the charity stripe. Marcus Garrett. We'll hear Bill Self talk about Marcus and how he was happy with him a little bit later. Marcus had 12 points, five boards, five assists, and two steals in this one. How about somebody who filled the stat sheet? Along with his five turnovers, Ochai Abadji had 15 points, six boards, four steals, and two assists in this one. And then Dotson rounding out the starting five.

He had 17 points and 10 boards, an assist, and a steal. And mentioned the six turnovers. One assist, six turnovers. Very uncharacteristic of Devon Dotson. The other thing for Kansas in this game, aside from the turnovers, just basically no bench play at all. Silvio De Sousa only played seven minutes. He had three points and four rebounds. And De Sousa, we got to remind ourselves at times, you know, did not play at all last year. He played 20 games his freshman season.

And Yudokazabuki is another guy. He didn't play very much last year, just nine games. Obviously, Doak's got a couple more years under his belt than DeSosa, but these guys, you know, it's clear to me, at least, watching these games, these guys aren't quite where they are going to be come season's end in regard to comfort level and execution. So, Silvio only got the seven minutes. McCormick played 29. Coach Self, obviously, happier with the sophomore. Jalen Wilson played just two minutes in this game, a missed shot and a turnover. Christian Brown played four minutes. He had a missed shot and that was it. A couple fouls as well for Brown. And then Tristan Inaruna rounds out the nine who played for the Jayhawks. He was the best bench performer. He got 16 minutes. He had a couple jump pass turnovers that are going to sting, but Inaruna did hit a three, his first

attempt as a collegiate player. And then he also had a pair of rebounds and a going to sting, but Inaruna did hit a three his first attempt as a collegiate player, and then he also had a pair of rebounds and a driving layup, but that was it. Just eight points from KU's bench, and after we saw so many guys in the exhibition games filter in and out, and so many different guys get double-digit minutes, we knew it wasn't going to be the same because

it's a much more talented team that you're going up against, but still you wish there was a little bit more production on that front. Four up against, but still, you know, you wish there was a little bit more production on that front. Four guys in double figures for Duke, led by Trey Jones, 15 points. He needed 14 shots to get him and missed all four of his shots from beyond the arc. Cassius Stanley had a really good second half, 13 points, two boards, a pair of steals. He also had four turnovers. And then Kerry and Hurt, they had just 11 points. The over-under on this game was 154.5, and in total it ends up just being 134 points, Duke 68, and Kansas 66. So just some ugly numbers across the board for

the Jayhawks. It's something that is not going to matter come march the bottom line is this game is not going to matter um it may matter in terms of the tiniest of margins maybe you know are you a number one or number two that would maybe be a big deal but maybe not so much i mean by the time you get to the tournament and then how high are you if you're a two seed are you the highest two seed or the second highest two seed? So it may matter on that front. But overall, you know, games are games. Kansas is likely going to be a high seed in the NCAA tournament.

It's going to come down to that matchup that day with that team. So this won't matter as much for that front. It has no impact, obviously, on potentially winning the Big 12 as well. Here's Bill Self after the game talking about his reaction. We had ourselves in a really good position midway through the second half, and then things got away from us and they made some big plays. But, you know, it's a learning experience. I don't know that a game, win or lose, on November 5th is going to count much in March.

But still, yeah, there's a lot of things that we can learn from this game. Coach Self then reiterates that while it stings for now that Kansas lost this game to a fellow Blue Blood, reiterates that this is something that Kansas can learn from and grow upon. I do believe that we can learn a lot from this. We've lost in this thing five times and been a one or two seed every time we've lost in it. I believe that's true. So we're capable of rebounding from it. But I don't want to ever say there's good losses

because it remains to be seen if something good comes from this. But I hope we have the mindset that something can't good. I think that's going to be the mindset for all the coaches, all the players, and everybody in Jayhawk Nation. They can get something good out of this. You know, you go an entire offseason when you're a highly ranked team. You are bringing so many guys back, so many veterans, so much talent. You've got incoming talent.

And at a place like Kansas, everybody loves you. Everybody's so excited to see you play. You kind of pump yourself up. You see where you're at with all the preseason accolades and the high rankings and everything. And maybe it doesn't hurt this team that this year they're kind of getting knocked down to reality and gonna have to peel themselves back up after dropping this first one duke a two point winner in the champions classic over our jayhawks last night much more from bill self and

ke players after this break 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 get roman.com locked 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. The Locked On Podcast Network, the local experts on the biggest stories. I saw Vernon Carey coming over, and I could have had a shot, but I thought a was, I thought Dope was open for a quick dump, quick layup, but I just misread the pass. That's David McCormick talking about KU's 28th and final turnover in their loss last

night in the Champions Classic to Duke, 68-66 in favor of the Blue Devils. KU 4-5 in the Champions Classic, now all-time in the nine-year history of the Blue Devils. KU 4-5 in the Champions Classic. Now all time in the nine year history of the event. Of course they were 2-0 against Duke in this event prior to the loss last night. Disappointing, not really what we were used to seeing. David talking about that last turnover. KU against obviously much weaker competition in the exhibition. Turned the ball over just four times against Pitt State and just seven times against Fort Hayes State and that was actually something that we highlighted heading into this Duke game was the ball security of the Jayhawks and that was not there last night

to say the very least Bill Self after the game spoke to the turnover issues I think we played uncharacteristic I think we got out of character. I think we made easy plays difficult many times. And certainly, I think a lot of that's the nerves and the environment and guys wanting to do well so bad. But we'll take better care of the ball moving forward. But certainly, that's inexcusable. One of those staggering stats in terms of turnovers was the individuals. I mentioned a couple times Devon, one assist and six turnovers, very uncharacteristic. And Ochiai Abadji, he had five turnovers. So, you know, two of your starting guards account for 11 turnovers. And what was frustrating is he was doing enough on the defensive end, like I said,

getting in the passing lanes, forcing turnovers. Everybody was, you know, making their presence known defensively. Marcus Garrett had two steals in this one, and Ochai had four. So KU was doing some good things defensively, but then even in transition, while there were some bright spots, KU also, I mean, mentioned at the top of the show, the three-on-one that they had, and Ochai threw it away on an attempted bounce pass.

They had a couple questionable at-best shots in transition, and it seemed like every time something good happened in favor of the Jayhawks, they turned around and did something bad, and that was certainly frustrating. But one guy that Bill Self was happy with was the junior Marcus Garrett, who's kind of turned into a rock of this team and this program under Coach Self. Here's Self talking about Zero. I thought Marcus was, you know, David rebounded the ball, but other than that, Marcus was our best performer today. I thought he played both ends well, and he drove it and got downhill. He had five assists also, and you know, he's our best defender

regardless of position. So yeah, Marcus played well. He'd be the first to tell you he didn't do quite enough, you know, because that's what winners should think like. But I thought he did some nice things. Marcus himself says the key is pretty simple for this KU team moving forward. Just staying together. Like I said, 28 turnovers and lose by five points. It's a good ball club, so you just got to stay together.

The other thing I wanted to touch on, I mentioned the eight bench points. Let's not forget that Kansas was still not at full strength in this game. Obviously, no excuses for the turnovers, the lack of production between some guys in particular, but Kansas still without Isaiah Moss, and they brought him in for a reason, folks. He is a career 39% shooter. Those numbers were even better last year. He's a senior graduate transfer from Iowa, and we haven't gotten to see a lot of him. Just five minutes of action combined in KU's three games, and that was in that second exhibition game against Pitt State. He got four shots up, four threes,

made his first, but that was it. But he's been slowed by a tight hamstring for three to four weeks now, I want to say. And Bill Self, after the game, talked to reporters about whether or not Isaiah and his three-point stroke could have made a difference last night in the outcome. If we play four guards, I mean, you've got a guy out there that's, I mean, he's a, Mike, you've seen Matone, he's a legitimate college shooter. I mean, he's a 40% three-point shooter for three years at Iowa. And, you know, he's only been healthy one day since we started practicing. So I'm hopeful that another week or so, whatever, that we can actually see him.

He could have played tonight, but I thought it wouldn't be worth the risk, though. Well, we hope Isaiah can get back sooner rather than later. It was tough to really know what the problem was aside from the turnovers just because the volume of turnovers. I mean you couldn't even see Kansas try to get involved in their normal offense on very many possessions because they had thrown the ball out of bounds or to Duke. So that was a problem that was part of why Yudoka Azubuki only had four field goal attempts and we know this offense wants to run primarily through him but you didn't

see a lot of open threes because the ball was thrown to the other team you didn't see a lot of chances for Doak, Silvio, and McCormick to play with their back to the basket and try to beat Duke with their power and their size inside so you know a lot of question marks after this one but Devon Dotson talked to reporters after the game, and, man, he's a guy who hates losing. I think he will bounce back better than anybody from this. He hates losing so much. He's a Jayhawk through and through, and he's a big-time competitor. Here's Devon after the game talking about how this is a learning experience.

It's a learning experience, you know, compared to them. You know, they came out and, you know, stuck to the game plan. But this is a learning experience, and I'm going to try to get better. And it's a quick turnaround. That's the good news if you're a member of the KU basketball team or a member of Jayhawk Nation, as we all are. Quick turnaround, UNC Greensboro, Friday, 8 o'clock at Allen Fieldhouse, the Cathedral of College Basketball.

And it officially opens its season as fans will be packed to the tune of 16,300 as the Jayhawks battle the Spartans from UNC Greensboro on Friday. And coming up on tomorrow's show and, of course, Friday's show, we'll talk a little bit more about this game, but we're going to preview UNC Greensboro, of course, and we'll hear a little bit from Les Miles as well. We haven't had a chance to tap into his thoughts post-game from that disappointing loss in the Sunflower Showdown, but brighter times ahead for Jayhawk Nation. Looking forward to talking about it on Locked on Jayhawks. Remember, give me a follow on Twitter,

shoot me a message, let me know your thoughts, and let's pick up that first victory of the season Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse. All right, we'll chat with you tomorrow. Thanks so much for listening to this packed show. Got a chance to hear from a lot of guys after the game and looking forward to a lot of wins as we move forward. You've been listening to Locked On Jayhawks, a product of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.