Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Locked On Jayhawks - 12.12.19

Episode Date: December 12, 2019

Bill Self's two keys to winning; D'tae drops 40 for the Hornets Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, Jayhawk Nation? Welcome in to this Thursday edition of Locked On Jayhawks. I'm your host, 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 everyone's having a great day. We're going to hear more from Bill Self and Devon Dotson following the Jayhawks' win on Tuesday against Milwaukee. Of course, Kansas' next battle is taking place on Saturday. It'll be a 4 o'clock tip at Sprint Center,

an opportunity for some people in the local Kansas City area to get out to a game maybe for a little bit better price than they normally would at Allen Fieldhouse. So that'll be the next test. And then it's basically a week off and another week off. A week off, Kansas will then play on the 21st against Villanova, and then the 29th against Stanford, and both of those are road games. So a little bit of a football schedule here with a week in between games.

And then, of course, the Jayhawks, after the new year, will hit it pretty hard with a couple games a week in Big 12 play. So it should be fun once we get past the next couple games, get back to having more basketball more often. Throughout the show today, we're going to hear from Bill Self and Devon Dotson. We'll recap a couple monster performances from Jayhawks in the NBA last night. Take a look around the Big 12 and the Top 25 action last night and going on tonight as well. A little bit of a quiet week, but there are still some exciting games without question. All right, so Kansas won 95-68 over Milwaukee.

It was a game which Kansas led big time, 45-15 with 5.56 to go. So Kansas essentially controlled this game throughout. There was a part in this game where Milwaukee cut it from that 30-point deficit down to about 16 with four minutes to go, 82-66 Kansas led. So Milwaukee actually outscored the Jayhawks by 14 points in that stretch, but Kansas was able to finish strong, which is good to see, especially since they did not finish very strong on Saturday against Colorado. But nonetheless, Jayhawks pick up the big victory.

Devon Dotson and Ochai Obagi both had 22 points. Dotson dished out a career-high 9 assists, and Yudoka Azubuki 15 points and 17 rebounds, a career high in the rebounding category for Doak. A couple other numbers we didn't get to in yesterday's show. Points in the paint, Kansas 32. That's a little bit lower than what we've seen, but part of that is because Kansas hit 12 threes.

KU is 12 of 28 for a 43% clip. They got 5 out of 8 from Obagi, 3 out of 6 from Dotson. Isaiah Moss was 2 out of 5 as well. Chris Tehan and Christian Brown each hit a 3 for Kansas. KU also pretty much controlled this game. I mentioned the fact that they led by 30 relatively early. Kansas never trailed in this game as they got up 11-0. Three threes from Ochai got this thing going.

On the other side from Milwaukee, they got a good performance as well. Shout-out to Darius Roy. He had 25 points in his only game at Allen Fieldhouse leading the Panthers. Panthers fall to 5-5. Jayhawks improved to 8-1. They've won eight consecutive games. And one thing that we know is that this was the final game in Allen Fieldhouse for the 2010s decade, with the final three games in this decade taking place, of course, away from Lawrence.

So Kansas picks up their 300th win of the 2010s. Really an incredible accomplishment. It means you're averaging 30 wins a year. Kansas finishes the decade at Allen Fieldhouse 151-7 at home. Incredible, incredible stuff for the Jayhawks program that just is a model of consistency regarding college basketball. Bill Self met with reporters after the game, and he talked about that 300-win plateau. Of the power, you know, six conference teams to have the most, I think that

speaks volumes of the type of players you've had in the program, and certainly, you know, hopefully the next decade will be just as productive beginning in January, but it's a testament to consistency, and of course we're very proud of that. Well, it's a testament to consistency, and, of course, we're very proud of that. Well, it is a testament to the many great players that Kansas has had in this decade, the 2010s. You can go up and down a laundry list of guys who have made an impact, but it's also a testament, of course, to a Hall of Fame coach in Bill Self and the coaching staff that he surrounds himself with, the support staff.

Everybody who's had an impact has been important. And, of course, you can't forget about the most electric atmosphere in college basketball, maybe the most historic venue in all of sports in Allen Fieldhouse. They've played a part as well of Kansas being so excellent this decade. Like I said, a model of consistency. Kansas has won 26 consecutive games. That's how they end out the 2010s decade. 26 straight at home.

That's the third longest current home win streak in the country. Tennessee's at 31, and Gonzaga is at 26. And there's some sophomores on this team who have never lost at Allen Fieldhouse, so we'd love to keep that going. Devon Dotson, David McCormick, and Ochai Abadji all have perfect records in the fog. And Ochai, he's had back-to-back really good games. Ochai had 20-12 on Saturday against a top 20 Colorado team, and then of course Ochai putting forth 22 points and grabbing eight rebounds on Tuesday against Milwaukee. Bill Self after the game talked about his stud sophomore. What I see is a guy that's going to the offensive glass every time. I see a guy that

is focusing on guarding his man and doing all the little things that you can control. And when you do those things, you naturally make more shots. And his confidence level is sky high because of it. So I don't think, to me, his shot doesn't look a lot better, but his confidence level looks a lot better, which obviously lends to making more shots. He's really rebounding the ball. Well, the shot making is coming as Oche is averaging 21 points in those last two games. And like Coach said, really rebounding the ball 10 rebounds a game the last couple games and like coach said really rebounding the ball 10 point 10 rebounds a game the last couple games for Ochai and as we saw in the lob dunk that he finished with the reverse

slam from Devon Dotson Ochai we know he can jump out of the gym so anytime he's able to get in and contribute on the boards for Kansas is a plus we know they've got the bigs that need to take care of the lion's share of the rebounds but Ochai he's a guy who can certainly put up numbers in that category as well. Anytime Kansas can get extra possessions on the offensive end or make sure they clean things up on the defensive end, that's just going to improve KU's chances of getting extra possessions, more opportunities to score, and, of course, better chance to win. A little bit later in the show, we're going to hear Bill Self's secret to winning basketball.

He's got two things he's going to bring up. He's also going to talk about the prospects of this Kansas team being number one, as it looks like the Jayhawks will slide into that number one position in the AP poll should they take care of business against Kansas City on Saturday. We'll also hear from Devon Dotson talking about how the locker room might be a little bit different from last year's locker room. So all that is coming up next. This is Locked On Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, the local experts on the biggest stories.

Two Big 12 games last night, K-State and TCU were in action. Wildcats improved to 6-3 with an 86-41 victory over Alabama State, a team that entered at just 1-8, but K-State picks up a much-needed victory. They've had a lot of losses recently. Xavier Sneed led the way, 20 points, 6 boards, 4 assists for the Cats. Aaron Gordon and DeJuan Gordon for K-State had 13 points, and Cartier Jada dished out 10 assists for K-State. TCU was also victorious. Frogs improved to 7-2 on the season with a 70-60 victory over Winthrop. RJ Nemhard had 15 15 points and Desmond Bain a little bit of everything

with the preseason all-big 12 selection. Bain 11 points, 7 boards, and 6 assists for the Frogs. A couple games tonight as well. Austin Peay is at West Virginia at 6 o'clock and then a big game. It's not necessarily a top 25 game but always fun to watch. Iowa at Iowa State, whether it's basketball or football, those teams hook up. It's always a competitive game. It should be fun. The Cyclones open as minus four. They're four-point favorites against Iowa. Remember the football game before those two teams ended up being a Hawkeye victory in Ames. It was 18-17. I remember that explicitly because there was a muffed punt from Iowa State at the very end of the game that Iowa recovered and ended up picking up the victory. So bragging

rights for the Hawkeyes on the football field and Iowa State will look for redemption tonight at 7 o'clock at Hilton Coliseum. Other games from the top 25 last night. Arizona had no problem with Omaha. The Wildcats improved to 10-1 with a 99-49 victory. And their top freshman, Nico Mannion, a double-double, 13 points and 11 assists. And then technically an upset that wasn't surprising to too many people, but Michigan was in Champaign to take on Illinois. And the Fighting Illini won 71-62 over the fifth ranked Wolverines. Illinois now seven and three on the season. Michigan now eight and two. So they only dropped from fourth to fifth in the standings did the Wolverines following their last loss but now two out of three from

Michigan and wouldn't be surprised if they're out of the top 10 next week. Although that's not a bad loss to Kofi Coburn and company, the Jamaican seven-footer for the Illini, 19 points and 10 boards, so a double-double for himself. Those are the only games in action in the top 25 last night, and no top 25 action tonight in this quiet week of college basketball. Our Jayhawks took care of business on Tuesday against Milwaukee, 95-68. Ochai and Devon led the way with 22 points. And Bill Self, after the game, met with reporters and talked about a variety of things, talking about, of course, the 300-win plateau for the decade of the 2010s.

But another thing he talked about was kind of this team rebounding the ball and how that is a key for him in regards to basketball in general. Listen to this clip from Coach Self talking about the second half of this game and the rebounding battle and how that relates to KU picking up victories. They out-rebounded us the second half, if I'm not mistaken, but it was 29-9 at halftime, and we shot a lot of threes, so long shots mean long rebounds, and they did too. But we did, for the most part, did a good job of running them down. But, you know, we haven't punished people with our size.

And, you know, Ochai should be a guy that goes every single possession, and I don't think he's done that consistently until last week or so so. And, and, uh, you know, it's, that's what basketball is in my opinion. Well, two things, it's a game of who gets easy baskets and who doesn't and who can play, who can create, you know, five or six or 10 more possessions a game than their opponent. And if you do those things, you're going to win because, you know, you score on half those possessions that you get extra and there's 10 more points that you didn't, you know, basically start with. And so I think our team has become pretty good at that of late. There you go, straight from the mouth of a Hall of Fame coach.

The two tricks to being a great basketball team or to winning basketball games is who can get more easy baskets and who can create extra possessions. We know that that's always what Bill Self goes for offensively. Of course, he wants the easy baskets to be created one way or another, and defensively get those extra possessions, get you a chance to get in transition and get those easy baskets. So Coach Self talking about that and how that's really a key to picking up victories. Another thing Coach Self really liked about this team

and has liked the entire season is the energy. The fact that Kansas has come out strong majority of their games, even all of their games. Here's Coach talking about that. One thing that we've done, knock on wood, every game that we played this year, we came out, we've come out with good energy to start a game. I mean, even Duke, great energy. Chaminade, great energy. You know, we just didn't play great early. But we have started games with good energy.

And even at home, you know, we haven't always played well. But I thought Greensboro and East Tennessee State, I thought we played with good energy early. So that's one thing that we have done maybe better than last year's team. Better than last year's team. I think that goes without question. There's no disrespect to a couple guys who are no longer part of the program, four or five actually, who contributed to last year's team.

But it's just a little bit of a different feel to this year's team. And Devon Dotson, in our final segment, is going to talk about that. He's going to talk about how this team avoids complacency. We'll also hear from Bill Self on his thoughts on potentially being the number one team in the country as that looms for Kansas. And if they beat Kansas City on Saturday, then it'll be number one KU traveling to Philadelphia to take on Villanova on December 21st. So certainly going to be a lot of Wildcat fans pumped up for that one. Villanova, of course, knocked Kansas out of the NCAA tournament in 2016 and 2018, crushing losses for Jayhawk Nation.

KU did pick up a regular season victory over them last year in Allen Fieldhouse, although it doesn't quite feel the same. Bill Self would say that after that victory. It's all about the NCAA tournament in regards to those top programs, but it's never a bad thing to get a big-time resume win and feel a little better beating a program that's maybe caused some hardships for yours. If you're a Spotify listener, use Spotify Wrapped to show us your top Locked On podcasts for the year.

Take a screenshot and tag us at LockedOnLive and LO underscore Jayhawks on Twitter, and we will share and retweet. More Bill Self and Devon Dotson coming up after the break. We'll also take a look at a couple monster performances for Jayhawks in the NBA. This is LockedOnJayhawks, part of the LockedOn Podcast Network, your team every day. Devontae Graham has done it again. D-Tay last night for the Hornets scored 40 points. He hit seven threes, had five rebounds, and five assists. And when the game was a two-point game with 25 seconds left Devontae one-on-one on

Joe Harris hit a 30-footer in his face to ice the game in Brooklyn for the Hornets as they win by five 113 to 108. Devontae has been setting records left and right this man should be an all-star he should be the most improved player and he honestly is the talk of the NBA right now. He's the best player on the Hornets. And it's amazing, honestly. A second-round pick, second-year guy, who has come in and basically was a fringe roster player last year, up and down with the G League and the Hornets.

The Hornets say goodbye to Kimba Walker. They signed Terry Rozier, which is a huge contract, to come in and run the show for this team. And while Rozier has played and he's been a moderately effective and efficient player, it's been nothing like what Devontae Graham has done for the Hornets. DT, 27 games in, has hit 100 or more threes. One of three players in NBA history to do that. Only other two, James Harden and Steph Curry. So Devontae Graham continuing to impress. Love to see it for one of the all-time favorites at KU.

He was just in Lawrence for the Colorado game Saturday and got an unbelievable ovation. Man, and then he's just back out there doing his thing. DT leading the Hornets to yet another victory. Another monster performance from Jayhawks in the NBA last night came from Marcus Morris. It's the Knicks and the Warriors, two teams that now both have five wins on the season. The Knicks improved to 5-20 with the 124-122 win. The Warriors, without Steph Curry, are now 5-21. Mook had 36 points, 10 boards, and 3 assists.

A couple great performances from our Jayhawks in the NBA last night. Three other guys were in action. Ben McLemore had 6 points in the Rockets' 116-110 victory at Cleveland. Andrew Wiggins, he had 26 points, six boards, and three assists. The T-Wolves lost at home to the Jazz, and Phoenix lost at home to Memphis, but Kelly Oubre got in on the double-double fun. Oubre had 14 points and 13 rebounds. That's a look at your Jayhawks in the NBA. Embiid is in action tonight at 7 as the 76ers are at Boston, and Sfee, Keefe, and the Pistons host Dallas tonight at 8 o'clock. If you want to check out those guys and our Jayhawks in the NBA.

It's been all about DT thus far. We love to see it. And as always, keep you updated on anything that our guys are doing at the next level. KU defeats Milwaukee on Tuesday, 95-68. And they look forward to taking on Kansas City, which is now referred to as Kansas City. I always thought of them as UMKC growing up, but I guess they've officially switched to being called the Kansas City Roos, kind of similar to the Team Kansas beat Tuesday, Milwaukee.

It was always UW-Milwaukee, but we're kind of getting rid of those U schools, I guess, getting rid of the University of part at the beginning. So it's Kansas and Kansas City in Kansas City at Sprint Center, and we'll preview the Roos tomorrow. Bill Self and KU players are set to meet with the media a little bit later today. They'll talk about the Roos and kind of where this team is at. We heard in the last segment Bill Self talked about maybe a little bit better than last year this team is at coming out and having energy

no matter who the opponent he mentioned the Duke and Chaminade games two very different opponents but Kansas came out with the same energy I talked to Devon Dotson after the game and I asked him is it different from last year a little bit of the energy in the locker room yeah I mean I think you know I mean guys last year locker room we were hungry too but i mean i feel like i mean it's a different type of energy um you know what just of you know more mature um that's uh another year at it um you know we're hungry we're all uh want the best out of each other yeah devon is a good guy he's not going to throw any former teammates under the bus but i guess from a fan's perspective your your thought is, yeah, these guys that were on the team last year, they are now a year older, they're more mature, they've gone through some ups and downs, but also, you know, personnel-wise,

it's a little bit different this year. There were a few guys on the team last year that maybe didn't, maybe, I guess, more were energy takers than energy givers, and I really don't get that vibe, and I'm hoping Bill Self will talk about that soon, maybe team chemistry of this team, because it sure seems a little bit different than what it was last year with a couple of guys who are no longer with the program. But Kansas kept up the energy on Tuesday against Milwaukee. Of course, second half was a little bit harder to keep up that energy, kind of coasting,

trading baskets. But they came out, they got that 30-point lead, which was good to see after having back-to-back marquee victories over teams that were in the top 25 in Dayton and Colorado. Here's Devon talking about how this team has avoided complacency. I mean, I think it starts in practice. Coach really, you know, pushes us in practice. And, you know, in practice we go hard.

You know, it's no, like, complacency like you said. It's challenge, you know. We go hard. We get things. We know we need to improve and we work on it each and every day. And, you know, all these guys in here are competitive and they want the best. They want the best and maybe they will be the best, according to the polls, come Monday as Louisville has lost, Michigan has lost again,

Maryland has lost this week, Kansas at number two. They're the only team that's on a little bit of a run aside from Ohio State. Now, yeah, the Buckeyes have a shot at being number one as they have not lost a game, but Kansas naturally at number two. You would think if they beat Kansas City on Saturday, they would slide into that number one spot. As I talked about, Bill Self was asked after the game on Tuesday about the prospects of being number one. I don't think being number one is exactly where anybody really wants to be because they haven't stayed there very long. But I would certainly welcome it with our program. I think anytime you can do that. Of course, later in the season is far better than now. If you do it in January and February, it's far better than now, or even March would be the ideal time to do it.

But we've still got to take care of business Saturday, but we'll be in the discussion if we take care of business. But I think this early in the season really doesn't matter much. It's always cool to say that you play for, you're a coach of, you're a fan of the number one team in the country, but like Coach alluded to, there have been four losses from teams ranked number one. Michigan State, Kentucky, Duke, and Louisville have all lost as the number one team in the country.

And how about this stat? The number one team in the country this year is just 6-4. So you never know. And Kansas, should they get the number one ranking, they will have a tough test right away in Philly against Villanova a week from Saturday. But you never know. It's good to know that this team is among the nation's best. I think we all envision that coming into this season.

But it's always good to see that. Of course, last year, Kansas started 10-0, and everybody was healthy. Everybody was on the team on the same page. They were ranked number one with that unblemished record. And then of course, we won't go into details, but there was some adversity going on with injuries and guys leaving the program and maybe team chemistry not being where it should be. Hopefully that's not the case this year. I think Jayhawk Nation deserves a year. All the guys deserve a year of being healthy and really getting a chance to get after this come March Madness.

Tomorrow's show, we'll hear more from Bill Self and KU players. We'll preview Kansas City, talk a little bit more about this team as we're in the thick of it here, college basketball season. We've got three more non-conference games before the conference slate starts on January 4th against West Virginia. All that's coming up. Thanks so much for listening. Sean Kellerman signing off.

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