Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - PETERSON WATCH: Impact of DP's Status for Jayhawks vs Tigers | Kansas vs Princeton Preview

Starting point is 00:00:00 Are we going to see Darren Peterson versus Princeton and KU's final tuneup before their Duke game? 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? Derek Johnson here, this is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. And thank you every day. There's catch in each in every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And thank you for making the Locked-on Podcast Network, your number one sports podcast network.

Starting point is 00:00:42 On today's edition of LOJ, we're talking a little Darren Peterson. We're talking a little KU basketball preview against Princeton. We're getting into the Princeton Scouting Report players to watch matchups of the game. Areas KU could be tested as their final tune-up before the Champions Classic and the Duke game. Let's start right there with the Darren Peterson stuff because this will be very interesting to me if he plays or not in this game. Obviously, from a standpoint of where things are at right now, it feels like he hasn't played in the less meaningful games. But then again, he did play in the Green Bay game, right? Is it more of an every other game?

Starting point is 00:01:17 Is it more of a load management thing? And this would be the one that you'd want to, you know, you'd rather play in this one that's closer to the Duke game to get you back in tune before the Duke game as opposed to, you know, shaking the rust off. Now, is the injury serious? If he misses this game, the conversation around the injury becomes more of a thing. If he misses this game and plays in the Duke game, then it definitely feels like load management. If he misses this game and misses the Duke game, then you start getting into the conversation of, could this be a multi-week thing. Again, we went over some of the calf strain stuff.

Starting point is 00:01:49 Like, it could be a day-to-day thing. It could be something that is six to eight weeks. It just depends on the severity of the, or not the calf, the hamstring strain. It just kind of depends on the severity there, right? So it's going to be very interesting to see if he does play or not in terms of the future of the season for KU basketball and what it means for Darren Peterson. Outside of that, the importance of this game for KU, I think it is kind of continuing to establish chemistry and continuity with each other. And that's why it is important that if he can go, he does. Obviously, if he is feeling it and hurt, you don't want him to risk it in a game like this.

Starting point is 00:02:21 You'd rather be healthy long term. But if it is something where, you know, it was more load management than, you know, yes, you want him to play because these are the types of games where you have a wider margin for error to make mistakes and get used to playing with each other and playing with different lineups and playing with different teammates in real game situations to establish that on-court chemistry that's going to matter. It's a, you know, compared to the NBA season, college basketball season is a sprint with how little games comparatively that it does have. You're getting two games a week as opposed to maybe three or four a week. And so I think

Starting point is 00:02:55 continuing to establish those things. Ideally, you lead to some sort of chemistry or momentum that carries into that Duke game on Tuesday night against the Blue Devils. That would be certainly nice. But, you know, continuing to gain confidence for guys, right? Like, as we look for Col Rosario, he just had his breakout game, but a breakout game is only as good as your next game. And the biggest thing with young players is sometimes consistency. So, you know, Cole Rosario having another good game would go a long way in establishing consistency, which is where the real value is, right, of having the strong season. It's can you consistently do it, right?

Starting point is 00:03:32 I think the next importance of the game, you know, the thing about it is playing against an Ivy League opponent, it really can be a good test for the NCAA tournament. Let's say KU ends up as a five seed in the NCAA tournament. Most likely, like a lot of times the winner of the Ivy League, they're getting a 12 or a 13 or a 14 seed, right? There are a lot of times in that range. I know Princeton made that run is a 15 seed a couple of years ago, but sometimes that can be the case. A lot of times the Ivy League is putting forth the team that has a chance to win a game or two in the NCAA tournament. And so playing a game like this, it could be important come in CAA tournament time, right?

Starting point is 00:04:10 It could be a team that ends up in the field. It could be a team that, you know, it just gives you the idea of what playing an Ivy League school and their kind of motion offenses and cutting offenses wants to do for later in this season. But I think the top storyline is coming into this. Number one, again, we go back to the Darren Peterson stuff, which we just touched on. We don't need to again. The other one is, here's just a little bit of, I guess, fun trivia.

Starting point is 00:04:32 Do you know what KU's record all time is against Princeton? They've only played twice, actually. And if KU's played, it seems like they're playing a different Ivy League school every year now, right? Whether it was Cornell in the late 2000s or Harvard's been kind of the recent one for KU. They played Penn in the NCAA tournament is the best. 16 seed in 2018, but Kansas is 2 and O all time against Princeton. And maybe here's a little bit of good juju for KU. The last time they played was 2001 and KU won that game, 78 to 62.

Starting point is 00:05:05 Obviously, it was that win, that win for those 2001 to 2002 Jayhawks that propelled that team to being unbeaten in Big 12 play and making a final four. Without that Princeton win in 2001, I don't know if they would have got either of those things done. So you hope for some similar energy and carry over this go-around. If you can beat Princeton to what happened last time in the 2001 to 2002 season. Let's get on to our Princeton Scouting Report. We'll get to our players to watch for both teams as well as our matchups of the game. And more, this is Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:05:42 Thanks for joining us on this episode of the show. You can find our show anywhere. your podcast, and we were brought to you by DoorDash. It is almost the weekend. Let's look back in Crown this week's MVP on who delivered, powered by DoorDash, just like you can win every Saturday with DoorDash Streaks, saving more every time you order. These players delivered when it mattered most. Let's break it down.

Starting point is 00:06:01 For Kansas, we're going to go with, I guess we'll go to the basketball. I was like, do we go basketball? Do we go football? We're going to go Colrosario delivered in a big way earlier this week. He had 16 points that led KU in scoring. He just didn't seem to hesitate. He just was going after it. like he seemed like a much more confident player.

Starting point is 00:06:19 And we've kind of been waiting for that breakout moment for Cole Rosario. It felt like he delivered that, but can he back it up this next game? Either way, he did deliver for Kansas earlier this week against Texas A&M, Corpus Christi, and just like DoorDash delivers your Saturdays. With DoorDash streaks, you save every Saturday you order, stack it up all season, and you could save up to $250, including $100 in DoorDash credits. Order this Saturday, keep the streak alive, fuel your game day only with DoorDash. Terms Apply promo period through November 18th.

Starting point is 00:06:51 Thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Again, you can find a show anywhere you get your podcast, including on a YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And thanks for making Lockdown the number one sports podcast network. Okay, so Princeton comes in one and one on the season against Division One competition. The reason I say Division I competition, actually, as of time of recording here, they are playing against a division two team called John Jay. Actually, it looks like it just went final.

Starting point is 00:07:20 John Jay, they won 100 to 59. So impressive effort for Princeton where they shot 60% on twos, 38% on three, 88% at the foul line. They grabbed 18 off its rebounds. The other team only grabbed 19 defensive rebounds, and they only had nine turnovers. That is impressive as a performance as you can imagine for Princeton. But again, you would expect that against,

Starting point is 00:07:42 them. So anyway, they're two and one on the season overall, but one and one against D1 competition. Last year, Princeton went 19 and 11 on the season. And that was actually the first year that they underperformed their preseason Ken Palm rank since 2021. They went 24 and five the year before. And then they made it to the Sweet 16 the year before that. If you remember, they were the 15 seed that they beat Arizona on the first round and then the one that people probably here remember even more. They beat Missouri in the second round. But it's still the same coach as then with Mitch Henderson. They are just outside the top 200 on both Ken Palm and Bart Torvik. They lost both of their star guards. One of them is red shirting this year so that

Starting point is 00:08:26 he can transfer next year. And then Xavier and Lee, although he might have graduated. You just don't get like a graduate year at the Ivy League. I don't know. I don't remember exactly. But he goes to Florida. So losing some good guards. They're still basket under review, picked them second in the Ivy League, which as we talked about earlier, like the Ivy League is a team that typically puts together one of the better opportunities for a mid-major school to upset a high major school. So, you know, that does become at least a little bit interesting to me.

Starting point is 00:08:54 You look at the four strengths for Princeton. Number one is defensive rebounding. They have been top 60 nationally so far this year in defensive rebounding. So they've been solid at it, small sample size. But still, here's the big thing, though. Last year, they were top five in the country. in defensive rebounding rate. And it was their fourth straight season of a top 30 defensive rebound rate nationally.

Starting point is 00:09:17 This isn't going to be your biggest team in the world. But a lot of times defensive rebounding, it can come down to having good positioning, having good effort, having good strength, having a good idea of like angles and where the ball is going to come off. And it seems like whatever Mitch Henderson is teaching and running the scheme-wise there, he's doing a great job on the defensive glass where they've consistently been one of the best teams on the defensive glass. I would also say, okay, you think it's Princeton.

Starting point is 00:09:44 They're running the Princeton offense, so to speak, right? That's kind of the, you think of like the classic Ivy League offense, where there's a lot of cuts, there's a lot of ball movement to kind of get, I don't know, open shots. And, you know, if you bleed the clock before you get the open shot, you bleed the clock. But to find those open shots, whether it's from three or whether it's on cuts or finding an open passing lane. And I think what that means is KU's off ball defense is going to be. be tested in this game.

Starting point is 00:10:12 Like I think back to like the Louisville exhibition, that would more so, I think, be on ball defense would be tested. I think in the North Carolina game, your off ball defense was tested a little bit more and it didn't show up as well as the Louisville game, for instance. So that's where I think this game becomes interesting is the off ball defense for KU being tested a little more after it wasn't very good against Carolina. Can you improve against it and show improvement against Princeton? They do launch a lot of threes over 50% of their shot attempts.

Starting point is 00:10:40 are three balls in their 2D1 games and they shot over 30 of them in that D2 game. So a lot of the, that's the percentage, that's the amount of their shots. So more than, you know, if they're taking two shots, at least one of them is from three. But what that means is if they get hot, they can hang around, right? If they're going to shoot a high percent or high volume of threes, if they're going to shoot 30 of them and they get hot and they go 12 of 30, this might be a game that you're kind of sweating out at the end, that you're up six at the under four minute mark and then you have to pull away to win by 12, right?

Starting point is 00:11:08 Like, if that's what they shoot from three, that's a distinct possibility. And then the other thing they do well is get to the free throw line. They are taking 24 and a half free throw attempts per game in the early going. Again, those are through their two division one games. If we look at what they just did against John Jay, they got to the free throw line 17 times. So not as much as the first two, but they did convert them at a high rate at going 15 of 17. Four weaknesses for Princeton, they do not score in transition. Now, I'd imagine without, you know, seeing the number, they probably got some transition buckets against John Jay in route for, you know, 100 points there.

Starting point is 00:11:45 But in their first two games, their D1 games, they scored a total of five transition points. Kansas had like 17 transition points at the half against North Carolina, which was built on some of those turnovers. But like point being, Princeton does not score in transition right now. So that's not something that I think is going to be tested too much by Kansas. struggling inside they again shot over 60% on twos against the d2 school but in their 2d1 games just 43% total so far on two point shots they are averaging just 18 paint points per game that is only in the second percentile nationally that means 98% of college basketball is better than them through a small sample size in scoring in the paint and they're just 53% at the rim

Starting point is 00:12:31 that is bottom fifth in college basketball they are just two of 13 in the floater range. They've really struggled inside against a lengthy Kansas team. You figure that could change. But if they do get those openings off cuts, that's where it does change in this one. So kind of a, you know, both ways there. They do not get steals or forced turnover so far, 34th in the country in steel rate. And they're outside the top 300 in turnover rate defense. And then I would say youth is the other thing here. They had an opportunity to be an older team. Right. If Xavier and Lee and, and I think it was Caden Pierce's the name of the other kid who's redshirting is a really good player. If they both

Starting point is 00:13:08 came back, they'd have a couple more upperclassmen. Those would be two of the best players in the conference. They'd have a real chance of being honestly like an 11 seed or something, like having a really special season and maybe even getting like an at large bit. But those guys leave, you have zero seniors on the roster. And of the nine players with double digit minutes played in the two D1 games, only three or even upperclassmen. So it is a young team overall with Princeton. What does that mean coming into? You know, sometimes Youth can be a good thing for that because you don't realize the magnitude of the moment and you're just going to launch up a bunch of threes and that could work in your favor.

Starting point is 00:13:42 The flip side is if you're spooked a little as a young team by the environment of Allen Fieldhouse, then that becomes a problem for Princeton in this one. Players to watch, let's start with the Kansas player to watch. That would be one, Flory Budunga. Florey's been a little up and down so far this season. I want to see him be up in this matchup. I think it's going to test him on the defensive end because, again, go back to the North Carolina game, and it's kind of testing KU's off ball defense and what Florey can do as a backline protector for KU defensively.

Starting point is 00:14:11 If Princeton's going to be bringing the big man out to try to bring Flory out, if Princeton's going to be cutting around a bunch, doing a bunch of off ball stuff, how can Flory help anchor the back line of the defense for KU? I think he's going to be super interesting, but also knowing that Princeton has gotten to the foul line a good amount, can Floree avoid foul trouble? Because we've seen him in the Louisville game, he's in foul trouble. The Green Bay game, He picks up some fouls in, obviously earlier this weekend, Texas A&M, Corpus Christi, he's in foul trouble with three foul in the first half. So can he do all of those things?

Starting point is 00:14:43 And then at the other end, you know, with Princeton being such a good defensive rebounding team, what if his offensive rebounding ability is cut off? What does that do for his offense, right? So I think it's going to be a really interesting game for Flory Bedunga here. And then for Princeton, we're going to go with their guard, Dalyne Davis. He was a second team all conference pick in the preseason by Underbasket Review. after he put up nine points per game last year on 35% for three. It was a solid player for them who was a little inconsistent once they got to conference play.

Starting point is 00:15:12 But so far this year, 18 points per game in their 2D1 game so far. He's been scoring at a high rate for Princeton so far. And in that most recent game against John Jay for the Tigers, Davis added 13 points going three of four from three. He also had five assists. So he's a good player, good guard overall. And as I mentioned, just zero seniors, three upperclassmen. and basically the rotation, he's one of them. He is a junior on this roster who can provide a little steady level of play for them.

Starting point is 00:15:42 So he's a good player and somebody to watch out for Dailen Davis. Let's get to our keys of the game for the KU offense, KU defense, our player matchup of the game, Hawks to Soar, all that and more. This is Locked on Jayhawks. In today's episode of LOJ is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook. You can get in on the action for the KU Princeton game. over on Fanduel, including being able to make your own same game parlay. Plus, the NBA is back, and there's no better place to get in on the action than with Fandul,

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Starting point is 00:16:33 Obviously, KU football and by week, but you've got the Chiefs against the Broncos. There's some awesome college football games this weekend. Feels like the college basketball season starting to ramp up. We've got a bunch of top 25 matchups coming through the rest of the week. KU's got Duke next week. And right now, Fandual is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins.

Starting point is 00:16:50 So head over to fanduel. Sign up and play your game with Fandual, the official sports betting partner of the NBA and the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thanks again for joining us on. the number one sports podcast network, and thanks for making it your first listen every day here with Locked on Jayhawks. So we'll have a postcast of the game later on your Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening for KU against Princeton, and then we'll be back the following week with all sorts of Champions Classic, KU Duke content. We'll get into the KU Iowa State game for football

Starting point is 00:17:20 as well. So busy week coming ahead here with Locked on Jayhawks. Our keys to the game for KU against Princeton. The KU offense, I think get the ball down low. Princeton is in the 26th percentile in preventing shots at the rim. They are also below average in the percentage that they've held opponents to there. So there are going to be opportunities for KU to score on the inside. And that's where I look to Florida Budunga,

Starting point is 00:17:44 who's not the most pristine offensive player out there, or does have at least a little bit. Like, it's more than like Ernest Uday had, for instance, at Kansas on the block, but it's not quite Hunter Dickinson, for instance. What can he give for KU against Princeton? And then can the guards, you know, find lanes to the rim and get some easy buck

Starting point is 00:18:02 gets for KU. Can we see a Melvin Council do that a little bit more? Can we see a Marco Jackson do that a little bit more? But Kansas does have a size advantage. Princeton does have a six foot eight freshman. He's played 44 minutes. They've got a six foot eight junior who's played 41. These are the two D1 games. Six foot seven forwarders played 37. He grades out as a really good defender and just had a good game in the D2 game scoring. And then they've got a six nine sophomore at 33 minutes. So it's it's solid size, but it's not like huge size, right? They don't have like a big behemoth or two. And overall, they're below average nationally or round average nationally and blocking shots.

Starting point is 00:18:37 I want to see Kansas pound the rock inside. I want to see the big men score buckets on the inside. I think they should be able to do that. But it'll be interesting. Does Prince unpack the paint and say, hey, Kansas, we're going to try to make you beat us from the outside? Early on, Caves actually shot well from three. So I don't know if they'll do that or not. But that is something that I would be doing if I were facing this Kansas team,

Starting point is 00:18:55 especially if Darren Peterson's out, right? Okay, KU defense. I think the key for them is guarding cuts and above the break threes. As far as the cuts, we go back to the Princeton offense. They're going to be moving off ball. We saw KU struggle off ball, pick and roll, right, setting screens, and then guys roll into the basket, getting easy buckets. It's going to be a little different than that,

Starting point is 00:19:13 but there will be certain things that'll be similar to that. And if Kansas can't defend off ball or on cuts, they are going to get beat up a little bit by Princeton. But if they can do a good job at that, I think it would show real growth for this defense. Beyond that, we know that Princeton over half of their shots come from three. And they're at over 35% on above the break threes so far this season, which has accounted for 43% of their shot attempts. So basically two out of every five of their field goal attempts

Starting point is 00:19:39 are above the break threes, and they're shooting them in a good percentage at 35%. Specifically, look out for Jackson Hickey. He is four for seven in that zone. Dalin Davis, who we mentioned earlier, is three for nine. Jack Stanton is three for ten. But that's an area you have to guard kind of at the top, which means, you know, if they're coming off a pick and roll at the top of the Got to go over there, right? Because they'll gladly shoot it. But maybe a little more emphasis on the above the break threes than the corners rees in this game.

Starting point is 00:20:06 Our player matchup, we're going to go Dalen Davis versus Melvin Council. So Davis, who we mentioned earlier, he's in the 96th percentile for usage rate right now. That means he is handling the ball. He has taken a lot of shots. He's doing a lot for Princeton at this point in time. He is the everything for the offense. And if he has a good game, that's going to be great for Princeton. But here's where Melvin Counsel.

Starting point is 00:20:28 can make a huge impact. Like, part of me putting Melvin counsel here is that I do want to see him eventually, like have a good offensive game. And I'd love to see that in this one. I'd love to see, you know, a three point shot go down, for instance, for counsel. But from a defensive perspective, Melvin counsel, you know, what he did to Michael Brown in the Louisville game and Brown has just completely gone off ever since then, I think certainly stands out to me as the opportunity of counsel to be kind of a game wrecking guard on the

Starting point is 00:20:54 defensive end. This would be a moment where he has an opportunity to do just that. if he is a game wrecking guard on the defensive end and makes Davis have a high turnover game or a very low efficiency shooting game or whatever it is or combination of the two, I think it's going to be really, really hard for Princeton. I mean, it's going to be hard for Princeton regardless. They're going to come in as over a 20 point underdog. I would imagine or somewhere around there and being on the road and stuff like that. But that would make it like, you know, very, very, very, very difficult. So I want to see that match up because that is one of the ways Princeton, you know, hangs around, so to speak. You know, it is. is, like I said, an eight-point game at the under four mark or whatever it is, right, that he wins those matchups. But if counsel is a game record defensively, I think it's going to be really hard for Princeton to win as often because Davis is one of the few guys who can kind of, you know, create his own shot and beat two off the bounce.

Starting point is 00:21:45 Okay, Hawks the Sworn in this one. Princeton gives up a fair amount of shots at the rim. And they've also allowed a bunch of shots above the break from three. They are in the fourth percentile in person. preventing those, so to speak, like, I mean, there's been a heavy diet of team shooting threes above the break on them. Darren Peterson's five for 11 on such three so far. Is he going to play?

Starting point is 00:22:08 If he does, then that would be somebody to circle, but you'd probably circle Peterson regardless. Trey White's three for six there. Maybe this is a game for Trey White. Then again, Princeton's best defender is probably going to be guarding him. And then Cole Rosario is three for nine on such situations, just had a good breakout. So maybe I'd go with a follow-up game for Cole Rosario. I will say Melvin counsel, as we try to, you know, can he make a three? He is over on those above the break three so far.

Starting point is 00:22:32 And then the other one would be just a five-man spot for KU. So whether it's Florey, whether it's Tiller, whether it's Mbia. Akron's starting five had 16 points, six rebounds in just 20 minutes on four or five shooting against Princeton. So really carved him up. And then Bucknell's starting five is a freshman. He had 12.7 rebounds. He did have seven turnovers. That'll be something to, you know, are they doubling?

Starting point is 00:22:56 the post causing turnovers. But I think there's going to be an opportunity for whatever big man for KU to score in this game down low on Princeton and then I'll go with Cole Rosario as the other one, Darren Peterson, if he plays. I don't know for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks, you can find our show anywhere to get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. Don't forget to check out. We did a signing day episode talking about KU's signese for the class of 2026. We did a little football episode where we talked about what is causing KU's late game struggles. And we've got plenty more content that you can check out

Starting point is 00:23:28 anywhere podcasts, including on our YouTube page. We'll see you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - PETERSON WATCH: Impact of DP's Status for Jayhawks vs Tigers | Kansas vs Princeton Preview

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