Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - PAYCHECKS ON THE LINE: Kansas Jayhawks vs Tennessee Volunteers Players Era PREVIEW | Who Takes 3rd?

Starting point is 00:00:00 KU's playing for an extra 100 grand on the line in KU, Tennessee, another volunteers, Jayhawks, Rick Barnes, Bill Self-Matchup. We're going to break it all down on this little bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on? Thank you for making the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network. Derek Johnson here with Locked on Jayhawks. We're going to be doing a shorter episode today, kind of quick fire preview of the KU Tennessee game. That is our third place game between these two opponents.

Starting point is 00:00:46 We're going to get to what's on the line, matchups of the game and some of that quick stuff in a Tennessee scouting report. And as always, you can find a show anywhere at your podcast, including on our YouTube page. We are brought to you by Game Time. And with Game Time, You can download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase with game time. So KU takes on Tennessee. It's the 6 o'clock game. KU ends up getting the essentially the four seed where third place, fourth, first plays second. And so Kansas plays Tennessee, who's third.

Starting point is 00:01:17 It's all silly. Like honestly, if we're being honest, like Iowa State played a tougher schedule probably should be in this. Tennessee should probably be in the championship based on who they've beaten to this point and how everything went. But honestly, it doesn't really matter. Well, I guess it doesn't matter for us. It matters for the players because there's some extra dough on the line. So Kansas, by being in the top four, has already guaranteed they're going to get $200,000 in NIL payouts, which if you, I'd assume the walk-ons are going to get it to. If you split it evenly, it'd be like a little over 12 grand per player.

Starting point is 00:01:48 That's a nice little, you know, Thanksgiving bonus here. But there's an extra 100K. If you get 30, 300K, you get 400K. You get fourth, you get 200K. So an extra 100K divided by 16 people, you know, you're looking at some extra extra. extra funds in there to boost up that check. So, you know, they're going to be playing hard. Both teams are to try to win a little bit of that money here in this one

Starting point is 00:02:09 between these two teams. Now, it is funny because it's just like we've had so many of these Feast Week matchups between KU and Tennessee. Obviously, you've had so many matchup between Rick Barnes and Bill Self, whether it was when Rick Barnes was at Texas or now with him at Tennessee. You know, going back, I was chronicling it. They played in the 2014. I think it was the ESPN Orlando Invitational.

Starting point is 00:02:29 KU kind of beat them up pretty good. Cliff Alexander had 16 off the bench, Perry at 24 and 13. Then they played in the 2018 NIT for the 18, 19 season. And that was when they were healthy with Diedrich and Doke. And they ended up beating them in overtime. That was a Tennessee team that they got a two seed and made the Sweet 16. And obviously, Kansas didn't stay healthy the rest of that season. But that was a fun moment at the time, winning that one in overtime.

Starting point is 00:02:53 There was the 20, I think it was 22 or, yeah, 22 Bahamas. and KU got destroyed, and that one, that one did not go well for them. I think DeWan Harris fouled out in like under 20 minutes. Joe Yesafu had like 14 off the bench when they only scored 50 points. And looking back, it's like, how do that happen? And then the next year, they played in the Maui Invitational and Hunter Dickinson and I'd like 17 and 20. He was unbelievable. And KU ended up winning that one.

Starting point is 00:03:18 Now, in between, we've also seen some matchups like they played a home and home as part of the Big 12 SCC challenge as well. So these teams have met a good amount of times. and like I said, Self and Barnes have as well. And now we get another meeting specifically during Feast Week here. Now I think the importance of the game is this. Like for the players that, of course, they want to win an extra, whatever, six grand or whatever it is to possibly win this game.

Starting point is 00:03:41 Like I would if I were playing, right? And you said that was online. That'd be kind of cool, right? From perspective of evaluating this team, I think it's really interesting here. This isn't the worst case in there where like Tennessee looks really good. They just beat Houston. they demolished Ruckers, and you're without Darren Peterson. This is kind of like the Duke game a little bit here, just in terms of, you know,

Starting point is 00:04:03 if you play a close game, if you compete, you perform well, you continue to walk away thinking, okay, I feel pretty good about this team around Darren Peterson once he comes back, right? If you win the game, can you mind? You win the game without Darren Peterson, it's going to be like, man, Bill Self found some dogs and really built the roster to his liking and was able to, make it work, right? If you get blown out, you know, then there's a little bit there, but you still are going to, at minimum, walk away from this tournament without Darren Peterson at two and one and guarantee that if you do lose, it's going to be to a top 10 team in the

Starting point is 00:04:39 country. So, you know, this is kind of a good cherry on top situation for KU to get to play this Tennessee team. And I think that's a good scenario to be in for Kansas, right? Now, it doesn't add to the easy part of this guy, right? Like, you're going from playing Tennessee, Yukon and then you have Missouri on a neutral site, then you've had NC State, right? This is a pretty brutal four-game stretch starting right here for Kansas. I don't know. What's the record you would take?

Starting point is 00:05:05 Obviously, Darren Peterson's health kind of factors into that, like would you take two and two in those four games? Would you want three and one in those four games, right? But if you want three and one and you lose this one, that makes it a little bit tougher. So I think that's going to be interesting to say the least. Let's get into a little Tennessee scouting

Starting point is 00:05:21 report, though, and some matchups that could determine the game, players to watch as well. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the show and this episode of the show is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook. NBA is back, college basketball is back. We got Feast Week going on. We got college football going on later this week.

Starting point is 00:05:41 We got NFL on Thursday. NFL in the weekend. There's so much going on in all in the background. There's NHL and NBA as well. Macklin Celebrini, just scoring goals. It's super fun to watch. Anyway, you can combine live bets into a same game parlay for a shot of a bigger payout with Fanduel. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team's making that late push.

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Starting point is 00:06:31 Well, we'll get a postcast after this game as well for the KU Tennessee game. So what does Tennessee bring in the day? Well, they're 7 and 0 right now. They're ranked 10th on Ken Palm at the moment. You know, not necessarily the who's who of the first part of the schedule. It's Mercer, Northern Kentucky, North Florida, Rice, Tennessee State, Ruckers. A lot of those games, they're just absolutely demolishing their opponents, though. Ruckers, low-key, is not even top-120 team,

Starting point is 00:06:55 power team. That could be rough for them in the big 10. But they had the opportunity last game against Houston, 76, 70. Now, I will say this. I don't mind playing a team after they come off a really good performance, especially when they're playing a physical team. I think we saw that a little bit with Syracuse. Syracuse played a really good game against Houston, played a fiscal team, went to overtime. And I don't know that they were as good against Kansas. It's hard to replicate that, right? Especially who knows? Maybe you're up late in Vegas. But with the Houston game, it's like, okay, Tennessee, this was a huge match for them. It was a rematch of their elite eight loss.

Starting point is 00:07:30 So they're emotionally invested into the game. They pour into it. They play a great game. They win the game. I don't know. Maybe the hope is here for Kansas that there's a little bit of a letdown for the vols coming in this game, right? I think that would at least be a little bit of a hope there.

Starting point is 00:07:42 But low-key Kansas is top 20 right now on Ken Palm. So Ken Palm has it a 74 to 70 between the two teams, which would be pretty close, which, again, I think if you lose 74 to 70, like that doesn't take into account. Peterson's not playing. I'm not saying you want that. You still are Kansas. Go try to win the game. Win the dang game, right? But I don't think you would feel bad about the team, I guess point being. Now, they have the number 14 offense right now, number 10 defense. They are shooting the ball. I guess we're getting into some of their strengths. They're shooting the ball well, 36 and a half percent from three and they're 57 and a half percent from two. They are in the top

Starting point is 00:08:18 90 nationally. So basically like the top quarter of college basketball in three point shooting, two point shooting, free throw shooting. So they've been a good shooting team. which doesn't always add up with Rick Barnes teams. But that's been the case, at least early in this season, again, given outside of the Houston game, not the best competition. They're the number one offensive rebound rate team in the country. So KU has to be on their P's and Q's with their defensive rebounding. And that's also a little bit scary with the physicality Tennessee will play with down low. What does that mean to trying to avoid foul trouble?

Starting point is 00:08:45 We know that could be the killer for Kansas in a game like this. Now, beyond that for Tennessee, they have a top 25 two-point defense so far. They're only allowing 43% on two-point shots this year, which overall, their 14th and effective field goal percentage defense right now. And they're doing it without fouling a ton. You know, they've been pretty solid in that area so far. They're also a really good passing team, 11th in the country, and assists per field goal made.

Starting point is 00:09:09 And then the other strength that I would just quickly say is they have some dudes who can get them buckets. And that's kind of the big thing. Like it feels like, it feels like for so many years with Rick Barnes and Tennessee, it was, hey, we have this rugged defense. It might be a little bit of a slog on offense. these last couple years he's been able to find that one guy a couple years ago is Dalton connect they make it to the elite eight they have a good defense with a guy who can get

Starting point is 00:09:29 him a bucket last year they get another transfer in who ends up kind of being the same thing and this year they did it with two ways they did it with transfer with Jacoby Gillespie who's been awesome to start this season the transfer from Maryland he's one of the best guards in the country and then Nate Ayment who was a top five recruit in the class six foot 10 he can get shots off in a multitude of ways he's athletic he is an outstanding player. And whether it's Trey White or Bryson Tiller on him, they're going to have his hands full. So it's a very good Tennessee team. Like I said, their 10th in Kenbaum. It would not surprise me if they end up as like a top five team in the country. I think that highly of what this Tennessee

Starting point is 00:10:05 team is. Now, if you're looking for some cracks, so to speak, in the armor, you're looking for something that you could point to to be like, okay, is there something that Kansas can do here or here or whatever? One thing that's interesting, they're 148th in the country in defensive rebound rate. So, and again, that's not against the best schedule. You look at what huge. Houston did. Houston was able to get 15 offensive rebounds for 44% offensive rebound rate. Now, Kansas has not been the best offensive rebound team this year, but they ramped it up last game when they needed to against Syracuse of 13 of them. Maybe this is a game that you can, you know, get some more of those offensive rebound second chance opportunities. This also hasn't

Starting point is 00:10:42 been a Tennessee team that's forcing like a ton of steals or turnovers. They're not bad at it. They rank above average nationally at the moment. But again, given the schedule, they're not in the top 100 at either. And in that Houston game, Houston only wound up with nine turnovers compared to 16 assists. So for a game after Kansas had a bunch, too many turnovers against Syracuse, you know, maybe that's something that can ramp down a little bit in this game and help Kansas again. You're talking about trying to win the possession game, so to speak here. So far, Tennessee, they've been a better, you know, corner three point shooting team at 42% from the corner, 35 above the break. It's still good above the break, but maybe that's something if you can limit,

Starting point is 00:11:21 the corner. And then they're not a great mid-range team. So if you're able to say Florian Tiller are going to take care of the inside, again, you've got to avoid the foul trouble and you can take away the corner, can you make them more reliant on above the break threes in mid-range where the mid-range specifically, you know, they have struggled a little bit there. Defensive end of the floor, they've just been good in every zone. Like, this has just been a good defense so far this season. They are giving up a good amount of shots above the break from three, but teams aren't really making them so far. So that's certainly interesting there.

Starting point is 00:11:54 Let's finish up here. What are we going to be the keys for KU who are players to watch for both themes? This is locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by game time. College basketball is here. We got feast week going on. If you're in the area of a tournament, you can get tickets at game time. Plus college football is going on.

Starting point is 00:12:12 You can get tickets for the KU Utah game for pretty low. It's going to be cold. You're going to want to bundle up. But who knows? I mean, if they won the game, they're probably rushing the fields. That could be potentially a cool moment if they're able to get it done. And I'm looking right now. This is not a drill.

Starting point is 00:12:26 Like literally behind the Kansas bench, 40 yard line, row one, section 107 for $87. You're never going to get that good of seat again for that price against like a top 15 opponent when Kansas is, it's not like Kansas is 0. 11. Like they're still playing for a bowl game. So you can check that out over at game time. Take the guys work out of buying college football tickets with game time. Download the GameTime app, create account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase.

Starting point is 00:12:52 Terms apply. Again, that's promo code Locked on College, L-O-C-E-O-N-C-O-L-E-G-E-E-E-E-E-E-G for $20 off. Swipe, tap, Ticket Go, download Game Time today. Thanks again for joining us on the show. Don't forget you can check out our preview of the KU-U-U-T-U-T-A game coming up as well. Our players to watch for this one, so let's start with Tennessee. I'm going to mention two players real quick. I mean, Felix Okpara is a really interesting interior players, a good defender, rebounder.

Starting point is 00:13:23 He'll get them a few points here and there. J.P. Estreya is somebody in six games so far has missed one, but 12 points per game. But it's mostly the two-man show, Gillespie and Amit. And I will say, that is something where it's like, if they can avoid foul trouble, that's the big if, where he gets in foul trouble, you know, you're probably done so in this one. But the idea that you potentially do have a big man with good length that's mobile in Bryson Tiller and a senior in Trey White. a big man in Florey who maybe can make things a little more difficult on Nate Amit than

Starting point is 00:13:51 some other matchups. And you do have a good defensive point guard in Melvin Council that maybe you can throw on Jacoby Gillespie. And it feels like there's like one time a game where El Marco is getting blown by on the defensive end. But overall, his defensive numbers look really good this year. They look really good as a freshman. Are you able to like at least you're not going to shut them down because they're good enough players that it's more about can you just make them a little more inefficient? Can you make them take a couple extra shots? Make the field goal percentage go down a little bit more. And maybe Kansas matchup-wise is a little better fit to face Tennessee than some other teams, right? Doesn't mean you're going to stop

Starting point is 00:14:29 them or win, but it does at least mean that you're maybe a little better equipped than some other teams who would play against them. But those are the two players, I think, to watch for that. For Kansas, for that reason, I think it's Tiller and I think it's counsel. You look at both the defensive end, but also what can those guys give KU on the offensive end? This cannot be a game where counsel starts whatever it was 0 of 7 and finishes 3 of 15. I'm not saying he's got to shoot 50%, but at least 40%, you know, you're hoping a game like this. And then, I mean, Florey continue has to continue to be a dude without fouling.

Starting point is 00:14:59 And that would be one of my keys. Avoid foul trouble if you're Kansas, because otherwise it's going to be kind of problematic if that is the case. Try to slow down those two guys as much possible, much easier said than done there. And then for Kansas, it's just, you know, try to like, you know, it's interesting because Tennessee lives in making games ugly or at least has historically under Rick Barnes. I feel like that's kind of the case for KU so far this year. You've held your two opponents to like 60 and 61 points so far. So maybe an ugly game in years past against Tennessee

Starting point is 00:15:27 was going to be bad news for KU. Maybe it's actually good news for KU this go around. All right, we'll postcast whatever happens in the game and see you next time on another edition of Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - PAYCHECKS ON THE LINE: Kansas Jayhawks vs Tennessee Volunteers Players Era PREVIEW | Who Takes 3rd?

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