Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Locked On Jayhawks - 12.16.19

Episode Date: December 16, 2019

Jayhawks run past the Roos, sit atop new AP Poll Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, Jayhawk Nation? Welcome in to this Monday 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. Of course, Jayhawks pick up a victory on Saturday at Sprint Center against the Kansas City Roos, 98-57. And we're going to talk about that as the day goes on. We're also going to hear from Bill Self and KU players talking about the victory. And Coach is going to touch on where he thinks this team is.

We'll hear from Coach and the guys throughout the week. And then, of course, at the end of this week, Coach will have another press conference. We'll hear fresh sound from him and some guys ahead of KU's next test. It'll be Kansas and Villanova in Philadelphia on Saturday. That game's an early one. 11 a.m. tip from Wells Fargo Center on Saturday. So we'll talk about that, of course, as the week goes on. But in this show, we'll recap the Kansas City game, and then we'll take a look around the Big 12, the Top 25, a lot of action over the week'll take a look around the Big 12, the Top 25.

A lot of action over the week. Take a look at NBA Jayhawks, of course, as well. But first off, let's start by talking about the new AP Top 25 poll. And our Kansas Jayhawks sitting atop for the first time this season. Jayhawks are ranked number one as they received 47 of the 63 first place votes. So the Jayhawks are going to be taking that number one ranking into Philly, and they will be battling the 18th ranked Villanova Wildcats of Jay Wright. Kind of look through some of the major names in the top five of this poll.

Kansas is followed in the poll by number two, Gonzaga, who was ranked sixth last week. The Zags picked up a victory over Arizona this weekend. They are 11-1. Louisville was number 1 last week. They lost to Texas Tech, so they are 10-1. They come in at number 3. Duke back in the top 5. They are number 4.

And Ohio State, who just lost yesterday to Minnesota, they still check in at number 5. A couple other notables. Kentucky checks in at number six. Oregon, who defeated Michigan and Ann Arbor this weekend, they are eight. And Baylor, they are in the top ten. The Bears are ranked number ten. They've put together a pretty good resume as well this far in the Big 12. Undefeated Auburn checks in at number 12. Dayton, who has just been on an absolute roll. They move up one spot to 13. Michigan, after a pair of losses this week, drops from 5 to 14. Tom Izzo's Spartans are number 15. I mentioned Villanova. They're at 18. A couple other notable ones. Washington is back in the top 25

at number 22. And Penn State, for the first time in 24 years, the Nittany Lions are in the top 25 poll in college basketball. They're ranked 23rd. And two Big 12 schools are back in the top 25, checking in at 24 and 25, respectively, Texas Tech and West Virginia. Tech, of course, with the aforementioned victory over Louisville and New York last week. And West Virginia, they've been on a roll. They picked up a couple impressive victories over mid-majors this week as well. But our Jayhawks, they're going to be number one.

And we're looking forward to hopefully then continuing to keep that ranking for quite some time. Tough test coming up immediately, of course, with Villanova. By the way, North Carolina lost again yesterday. They lost in Chapel Hill to Wofford for the second time in three years. UNC has been without Cole Anthony, who was really their only offense the first month or so of the season. UNC is out of the top 25. Wichita State, they are three spots away from being ranked as well. So a lot of interesting names. We are, of course, very happy. It's always cool seeing that one next to your name, and that's where Kansas is at for the first time this year.

All right, well, the Jayhawks took care of business against two mid-majors and two teams that they just needed to take care of business against last week, Milwaukee and Kansas City, as the Jayhawks picked up that 27-point win at Allen Fieldhouse against the Panthers and then took care of the Roos 98-57 yesterday. Kind of go through this one. It wasn't as big of a start for KU as the Milwaukee game was in the fog. UMKC actually went on a 9-0 run and at the under 12 media timeout, the Ro were up 13 to 10 but after that it was all Kansas

the Jayhawks won on a 60 to 20 run UMKC got really sloppy even some of the KU players said after the game that it felt like they stopped playing after a while the Roos just because they're kind of down and out and couldn't handle the depth the athleticism and talent of this KU team. Kansas would respond when they got down by three with a 13-0 run. That was ended by Devon Dotson's two for two free throws that put Kansas up 23 to 13 with just over seven minutes to go. And then it was all about big Dave's big day. David McCormick in this game set a career high with 28 points, and McCormick did it in just 16 and a half minutes of play. He was 11 of 14 from the field, 6 of 6 from the free throw line, and had 7 rebounds in this game. He also had an assist and 2 steals, and we'll talk more about

that a little bit later, but McCormick got KU's offense going. He was 2 of 2 from the line to put Kansas up by 9 at 25-16. He was finishing at the rim. He was hitting 18-footers, offensive rebounds, and finishing. He even had a spin move in there. The spin move was before the first half ended, and it was 43-22 following that with 40 seconds left. And at half, Kansas led 43-24. Big Dave already had 16 points.

The Jayhawks got out and ran in transition. Another thing we'll touch on. They had 11 fast break points at halftime alone. It was all about the Jayhawks early parts of the second half. A lot of David McCormick, a lot of Devon Dotson. Dotson had 18 points in this game, and he recently, today, was named Big 12 Player of the Week once more. Second time this season that Dotson has been named that.

Just a consistent, steady force for Kansas on both sides of the ball. I've got a couple notes in here about KU being able to play with two bigs. David McCormick had a finish on a pass from Yudoka Azubuki that put the Hawks up 50-26 with 18.5 to go. My note says this is how it's supposed to look with two bigs. Another one, McCormick, a left-hand finish from Yudoka, 59-31. KU was up with over 16 minutes to go. Doak dished out four assists in this game. A lot of Devon Dotson as Kansas continued on, and Isaiah Moss, finish in transition cap to 13 to nothing Kansas run that made it 72 to 33

and it was just coasting throughout from the Jayhawks we got to see a lot of guys get a lot of minutes late in this one so happy to see that Silvio De Sosa ended up playing 20 minutes he had seven boards and three blocks to go along with nine points coach will talk about Silvio as well Christian Brown got 21 minutes and he pulled down 7 rebounds, dished out 3 assists. Tristan Aruna, 16 minutes. He had 5 boards. Isaiah Moss played 19 minutes in this game. He had 5 points. But the story of the game offensively, of course, was David with his 28 and 7. And Dotson, he had 18 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Marcus Garrett also had a great game quietly. He had 13 points, 3 of 3 from beyond the arc.

Great to see that from Marcus. 4 assists and no turnovers for 0. Quiet night for Ochai. He had 5 points. He only took 3 shots, but Kansas didn't need him on this particular night. I mentioned Doak. He had 4 assists in this game. He also had 9 points, 5 boards, and 3 blocks.

So 3 blocks apiece for both Silvio and Doak. He had four assists in this game. He also had nine points, five boards, and three blocks. So three blocks apiece for both Silvio and Doak. And we even got to see the walk-ons get some run in this one as well. E.J. Elliott had a two-point basket. Michael Jankovich hit a three as Kansas won 98-57 at the Sprint Center over the Roos. We'll talk more about David McCormick, and we'll hear from Bill Self and KU players in our next segment. Kansas, the number one team in the country, improves to 9-1. They've won nine straight following their victory at Sprint Center over Kansas City.

If you're a Spotify listener, use Spotify Wrapped to show us your top Locked On podcast for the year. Take a screenshot and tag us at LockedOnLive and LO underscore Jayhawks on Twitter, and we will share and retweet. This is Locked On Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, the local experts on the biggest stories. Well, I think the best kept secret in sports betting is right here on Lockeddown Jayhawks.

My Friday 5, I have an unbelievable week. 4-1 over the weekend, including 3-0 on NFL games and 23 wins now on the season. 21 losses and 2 pushes. So for the first time this year, I am over 500 and feeling pretty good about it. A couple college basketball games on Friday night, Colorado minus six. They won at Colorado State by eight. Indiana was the big loser. Indiana survived at home in overtime. They were 17 and a half point favorites. They defeated Fred Hoiberg in Nebraska 96 to 90. So Indiana nowhere near covering that 17 and a half. That

was a big loss. But the three NFL games, all victories for me. The one that I kind of lucked into was Carolina plus seven at home against Seattle. The Seahawks led that game by 20, but Carolina, a couple late touchdowns. They got another monster game from Christian McCaffrey, an MVP candidate, and the Panthers lose by just six, covering that seven points. Seahawks, by the way, picked up their 10th win this year in games decided by seven points or less. That's an NFL record. Houston plus three. They took care of business at Tennessee against what was then the hottest team in the NFL, the Tennessee Titans, but Deshaun Watson leaned on DeAndre Hopkins late, and the

Texans win that game outright, 24-21. They cover the plus three. And the other one was an easy victory, Dallas plus one and a half. They're now 5-2 with Dak and Zeke when they are at home and underdogs. The Cowboys disposed of the Rams 44-23. Cowboys now tied with the Eagles atop the NFC East at 7-7. Those teams will do battle next week. So four in one week in the Friday five and now two games over 500 on the year. All right, take a look at the Big 12 games that happened this weekend. Of course, we know our Jayhawks defeated Kansas City 98-57 at Sprint Center. For K-State, it was another loss. The Wildcats fall to 6-4 on the year, losing 67-61 to Mississippi State.

Cats led that game by 12 early before they blew it. Cartier-Jada led the way with 20 points, but K-State continuing to kind of weed their way through some struggles here in the non-conference season. Texas got 23 points from Jace Febris and 20 from Courtney Ramey as they defeated Central Michigan 87-76. Horns are now 9-1, as are the West Virginia Mountaineers. I mentioned last segment they are freshly in the top 25.

9-1 Mountaineers defeated Nichols 83-57. They got a pair of double-doubles from a pair of bigs. Derek Culver had 16-16. Oscar Shibuye had 15-11. That'll be KU's first Big 12 opponent on January 4th. That'll be a big-time game. TCU defeated Lamar 79-50. Frogs are 8-2.

P.J. Fuller had 17 points. Oklahoma lost to Wichita State, who swept the two Big 12 Oklahoma teams. Shockers won it 80-75. Christian Doolittle for the Sooners had 22 points and 7 boards. Sooners are now 7-75. Christian Doolittle for the Sooners had 22 points and 7 boards. Sooners are now 7-2. And Oklahoma State, they picked up a much-needed win on the road at Houston, 61-55. Cowboys are 8-2. They got 18 points and 8 boards out of Yor-A-Nay. And by the way, Quentin Grimes, the shooting guard for Houston in that game, 0 points, 0 of 7 shooting. Only Big 12 game tonight, Southern Miss at Texas Tech. 12 game tonight southern miss at texas tech that

game is at six o'clock against the now ranked 24 texas tech red raiders games in the top 25 over the weekend louisville disposed of eastern kentucky 99 to 67 oregon went to ann arbor and defeated michigan like i talked about the 10th ranked then Ducks defeated the then 5th ranked Wolverines 71-70. Gonzaga defeated Arizona 84-80. Kentucky over Georgia Tech 67-53. Auburn stayed undefeated. The 12th ranked Tigers defeated St. Louis 67-61. Memphis won at Tennessee in a rivalry game, low scoring game, 51 to 47. Dayton stayed hot. They defeated Drake, 78 to 47. Michigan State over Oakland, 72 to 49. Rutgers, who was not ranked, defeated a ranked Seton Hall team in an ugly affair in Piscataway, 68 to 48. Xavier lost as the 23-ranked team in the country to Danny Manning and Wake Forest, 80-78.

And I mentioned the two Sunday games yesterday. 17th-ranked North Carolina, they have fallen out of the polls now officially as they lose at home to Wofford, 68-64. And the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes lost at Minnesota yesterday, 84-71. So in the past week, all of the top five, aside from the Jayhawks, lost at least one game. There's been a lot of changing in polls here early in the season. We expect that likely to continue. So Kansas takes over as the number one team in the AP Top 25 today. And the Jayhawks, of course, will take that into Villanova next week at Wells Fargo Center in Philly.

No top 25 games on the slate tonight, but that's a look around the Big 12 and the top 25. 98-57, the Hawks over the ruse at Sprint Center. Bill Self met with reporters after the game, and here's Coach. I thought after about the eight-minute mark of the first half, I thought offensively we pretty much got what we wanted. And defense wasn't poor by any stretch. And I think we held them to like eight or nine points the last eight or nine minutes of the first half.

And then second half, we got off to such a good start offensively. It seemed like we, you know, made everything in tighter to start the second half. So we did fine offensively. I thought we were pretty good. Kansas certainly was good offensively in this one. They ended up shooting 38 of 66, good for a 58% clip from the field.

Roos shot just 42%. Kansas was 8 of 23 from 3. They hit a couple ones late, so just 35% from beyond the arc. Interestingly enough, the Jayhawks lead the Big 12 in three-point field goal percentage, but Coach talked after the game about how inconsistent they have been up and down in that category. KU also 14 of 18 from the line, 78% in this one, and they out-rebounded the Roos 39-24. Maybe the most impressive stat for me was Kansas' off turnovers, 30 points, 30-4 in the points off turnovers margin for the Jayhawks against the Kansas City Roos, and that

was a big thing that UMKC head coach Billy Donlan was worried about before the game. He was worried about what he called pick sixes, or as I like to call them, scooping scores, as Kansas would take the ball away. They would have those live ball turnovers is basically what we're talking about and able to finish at the rim. Devon Dotson, three steals in this one. Obviously, many finishes at the rim for Devon, as always. But the player of the game was David McCormick, 28 points, seven boards, a couple steals for

Big Dave. And here's Coach talking about him. I think a lot of it was effort and energy, but I think a bigger part of it was skill set. I thought he shot the ball. He made some 15, 18 footers. He backed guys down and scored over them. It wasn't like he got layups as much. He made a couple, but that's encouraging that it's the first time all year long it looked like he and Doak were actually comfortable being there together,

passing to each other and kind of keeping away from each other. So that was encouraging. That's been a big story this season is can Kansas play with two bigs? And like I said last segment, it was definitely encouraging to see David and Doak be able to work together as one, be on the court together, and be productive offensively. Next segment, we're going to take a look around Jayhawks in the NBA. We'll hear more from Bill Self, and we'll also hear from David McCormick as he talks about the game continuing to slow down for him.

This is Locked On Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Jayhawks in the NBA outlook from this weekend. A couple guys played a pair of games. Ben McLemore for the Houston Rockets had a couple games, averaged 15.5 points. He had 18 and 13. Devontae Graham, a couple low-scoring games for the Hornets over the weekend, but D-Tay still put up pretty decent

numbers. He averaged 14 points, 5.5 assists, and 5.5 rebounds in those two games. One was a Hornet win, one a loss. Andrew Wiggins played just one game. He had 34 points, three boards, and two assists. So Wiggins, back to being who we know he can be. He can be a pure scorer in the league, and Timberwolves are looking for some answers, though. They're just 10-15 this season. Marcus Morris for a struggling Knicks team. He played two games. He averaged 16 points and five boards,

two and a half assists as well for Mook. Kelly Oubre won games, 17 points and eight boards. And Markeith Morris for the Pistons. He had 15 points, eight boards, and dished out two assists. So that was the NBA action for our Jayhawks over the weekend. And tonight's games, Svee and Keefe and the Pistons host Washington at 6. Ben McLemore and the Rockets host the Spurs at 7. And Oubre, Diallo, and the Suns host Portland.

That game is at 8. If you want to check those guys out. No top 25 games, like I said, going on tonight. So maybe an opportunity to check out some of our old friends who are doing work at the next level. KU defeats UMKC on Saturday, 98-57, so yet another victory Monday, and of course we hope that's going to be the same a week from today

when we're recapping KU in Villanova. Villanova, kind of interesting, they have a home court, the Pavilion, in Villanova, kind of interesting. They have a home court, the Pavilion, in Villanova, Pennsylvania, but they play a lot of their games at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and that's where the KU-NOVA game will be. We've had a bad experience there with the Bill Self-Coach team. We've also had some good experiences facing Villanova. We do know, though, they've knocked us out of the NCAA tournament

both in 2018 in the Final Four and then 2016 in the Elite Eight. So never really truly feel like you get them back until you face them in that setting again. But Kansas did face the Wildcats at Allen Fieldhouse last year and defeated them 74-71 behind 29 points from LeGerald Vick and 28 points from Dedrick Lawson. Yudok Azubuki was injured, did not play in that game. Remember, Doak missed a few games. He would come back at the beginning of the year

and then ended up having to miss the rest of the year with that wrist injury. So happy to see Doak back and healthy this year. Story of the game on Saturday in which Kansas went on a 60-20 run, ended up pulling away big time from the Roos was big David McCormick. McCormick, 28 points and seven boards. And David talked to reporters after the game, and the big thing for him last year was the game slowing down for him, and it looks like that's continued to happen for him here in his sophomore campaign.

Here's David giving an example of what that really means when the game slows down. When you get the ball, instead of trying to rush and make a quick pass or just trying to make an open look, just wait for the open looks to come to you. People are going to be moving. Defenders are going to be on their toes. As a player, you're going to know when to drive, when to shoot, when to pass, or when to go after the ball, and those moments are just going to hit you and you're going to see it more clear when the game slows down.

Well said by David McCormick as he had 28 points on 14 shots, see it more clear when the game slows down. the most impressive thing to me because you make that out to a 40-minute game, and granted, it's not really realistic to do that, but then you're looking at 70 points, 7-0 points for McCormick and about 18 rebounds over 40 minutes. So, David, unbelievable numbers in his limited time. And ask Bill Self after the game, Coach, should David have played a little bit more? He should have played more, but the game was where it was and we wanted to let everybody play the same amount of minutes. It is encouraging. He can shoot the basketball.

He's worked hard. He can shoot the basketball. His range isn't three-point range consistently, but 18-foot and in, even free throws, we go from being a team that i felt like when we play duke that how can they play together and today's encouraging that you know maybe they can't you know as long as we can guard and that was really the key david had his points from the free throw line he had his 18 footers early which seems to be kind of a thing like clockwork that happens the beginning beginning of each game when Kansas is going with two bigs. You get David McCormick taking his 15, 16, however long jumpers,

and he's going to sink those. He's going to do it relatively consistently. But also we saw in the second half, Kansas stuck with McCormick. Obviously, he had 16 points at the break. KU stuck with the two big looks coming out of the second half, and they were able to see Doak and David, like Coach talked about, able to see them working together a little bit. Mentioned Doak had four assists, and he just seemed to be more patient

and seemed to want to pass the ball. And here's Coach after the game talking about Yudoka's mindset, maybe this time not being the top scorer in the game. I thought he was great. You know, David scored all the points.orer in the game. That was great. David scored all the points. Deserves credit for doing that. But I thought you're seeing the guy kind of grow up when he's wanting the ball just so he can be a passer today.

So I thought Doak did pretty well. He obviously went after balls, trying to block shots and stuff. So we can certainly guard a lot better than we did, but having Doak as a rim protector like that I think is a big step for us in the right direction. It's easy to get excited about this team, the new number one team in the country, for a lot of reasons, but I think the game against Kansas City on Saturday really showed that. You know, not only does Kansas have the one-two punch of Devon Dotson and Yudoka Azebuki, but now if teams are going to have to worry about really guarding the four-man, KU's other big,

and David McCormick, then that's going to be a problem as well, because David can score from about 18 feet in, and is a pretty good free-throw shooter as well. Ochai Obagi, I talked about, he only scored five points, took just three shots in this one, but Kansas didn't really need him today. We've seen a lot of that throughout this season, this team showing their versatility and their depth, and it's been really, really impressive. I think if you're a KU fan, you've got to be excited about being number one. A lot of people feel different ways about that, but I think this team has certainly earned it. Haven't lost in about a month and a half now with rolling off nine straight

victories. And now it's about taking that on the road. First true road game against Villanova on the 21st. And then Kansas has another one about a week from then when they faced Stanford in California that came on the 29th. So back-to-back road tests for this KU team. It should be fun to kind of see how they respond. But you've got to love what you see. You've got a little bit of everything from this Kansas team. Hopefully everybody stays healthy. There's talk about even getting Jalen Wilson back sometime the beginning to middle of January.

So that could be another piece as well. And we've seen, of course, bright spots from the bench over these past couple games last week as well. So looking forward to the opportunity to face a top-20 team again, this time on the road in Villanova. As the week goes on on Lockdown Jayhawks, we're going to hear more from Bill Self following the victory. He's going to talk more about Yudoka Azubuki. We'll also hear from Christian Brown and more from David McCormick and Devon Dotson as well as we get excited for this week of preparation for the Wildcats.

Always a good rivalry game between KU and Villanova. Turned into that rivalry here in the past eight or nine years, so it should be a fun one on Saturday. Thanks so much for listening. This is Sean Kellerman signing off. Locked on Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And Rock Chalk, Jayhawk.