Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Recap: (1) Kansas Jayhawks Move To NCAA Tournament 2nd Round with Win vs (16) Howard

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

Recap of the #1 seeded Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team's first round NCAA Tournament victory over the 16th seeded Howard Bison. KU was without Bill Self as Norm Roberts filled in again, while all five starters in Jalen Wilson, Gradey Dick, Dajuan Harris, KJ Adams and Kevin McCullar scored in double-figures. Takeaways and GOATs of the game as Kansas now awaits Illinois or Arkansas in round two.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, recapping KU's first round NCAA tournament win 96-68 over the Howard Bison. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts.

And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're recapping what happened in the Kansas Howard game. Jayhawks moving on in the NCAA tournament. The one seed will go on to face the winner of the 8-9 game between Arkansas and Illinois. Try to get a preview of that game maybe later in the week for you here. I am out of town. I am out in Lake Tahoe right now.

So apologies if the audio doesn't sound maybe quite as good with some of the studio audio. But wanted to get this out with the recap a little bit quicker of an episode today with Kansas taking down Howard 96 to 68. It was kind of an uncomfortable game a little bit early. I mean, you're still playing a 16 seed, so you still just kind of expect to have a lot of success. And, you know, Kansas ended up being fine, but you were down one point at the six-minute mark in the first half. I mean, you're getting, you know, I don't know, you're quite to the nerves level of maybe if you think back to other past, like, first-round

matchups where KU was a little too close for comfort. You think back to Utah State, was that 0-2 or 0-3 Holy Cross the other year, where those were a little too close for comfort. You think back to Utah State, was that 0-2 or 0-3 Holy Cross the other year? Those were a little too close for comfort, even down the stretch. This one was one where even if you're only up a point, if you're tied at half, you're like, eh, that's not good, but we've still got plenty of time here. So there still was plenty of time, but the longer it went, the longer it was like, all right, when are you going to put them away? And the more it becomes, this is getting a little nerve-wracking there.

But that means over the final 26 minutes of the game, Kansas outscored them by 29 points. They were able to get out in transition at will. And when you let this team get in transition at will, it's going to be a problem for the other team. They're so good at scoring in transition. They did a good job guarding the three-point line for the most part, I would say, from Howard.

I'm not going to say overall. There was still a decent amount, handful or two of open threes for Howard that they had in the game. But overall, you hold them to 10 for 31. They came in shooting over 42% from three in conference play and 37% for the season. And you did a pretty good job on the outside. The defense kind of struggled through the first 14 minutes of the game. Again, you had given up 31 points through that point. That means the final 26 minutes, you have 37. So the defense got a lot better as the game went on. You forced a lot of turnovers, which is when KU's at their best,

both defensively and helping their offense to get out in transition. You forced 18 turnovers in the game. We saw KU dominate on the offensive glass, which you like to see when you're playing against a smaller school opponent like Howard. So that was nice to see when you're playing against a smaller school opponent like Howard. So that was nice to see for KU. And it was kind of the recipe that we've seen so well when KU has played at their best. When KU's played at their best, four or five of the starters have stepped up. Well, really, everyone was good, at least offensively, for KU in this game, even the

bench. DeJuan Harris, double figures. Grady Dick, double figures. Jalen Wilson, double figures. Kevin McCuller, double the bench DeJuan Harris double figures Grady Dick double figures Jalen Wilson double figures Kevin McCuller double figures KJ Adams double figures all five year starters had double figures in this game and the bench even played well for you Joe Yesifu looked really good he had eight points and that is uh certainly going to be interesting takeaway if he can follow it up like maybe extended playing time in the big 12 tournament could help him and maybe coming back to Des Moines, where he did so well at Drake, what if that unlocks something in him, a bit of confidence, a bit of comfort,

that if he can go off in the second round, that would be huge for KU. And when I say go off, if he has eight points again, that would be kind of classified as that. He went two for four from three, looked confident, dribbling into that one three. He also got eight points off the bench from Ernest Uday, who just continues to terrorize rims. He got a couple points late from Zach Clements and Zubi Adjafar.

Bobby Pettiford I thought actually looked pretty good. He had a couple steals in there. He had a nice pass. He made two free throws. He had a couple steals. One of them kind of late in the first half, which was a nice play for him. I thought even though the stats weren't great, I thought that was the – and this is with a grain of salt because I think it was four, five,

six straight games for Bobby where he had like zero points. But that was probably the best he's looked in a month, albeit against Howard. But sometimes it's nice to just get rolling again in the NCAA tournament. So all good for KU. Obviously, the big storyline coming in was what's the status of Bill Self? And it turns out that he did not coach in the game. But according to Norm Roberts, he had coached the team in the last three practices. He was still in the film study for the team.

He was still getting in contact somehow, probably, I don't know, texting one of the maybe director of ops or assistant coach or something like that on the sideline, getting in contact maybe during halftime, postgame, pregame, all that stuff, that he's still part of the process, the coaching process, just not for the actual on the floor, maybe calling out plays, which is still super valuable for Bill Self because he's so good at it. But at the very least, you're getting still big contributions from Bill Self more than maybe you were in the Big 12 tournament or at the beginning of the season during that four-game suspension when on game day, he could not do anything with the team.

So that is a positive. And because of some of those things he's been doing elsewhere, it does make you feel like he is on the road back to recovery, to coaching again. But also because it's only two days away from you playing a second-round game, if you're asking me right now, I'm just kind of under the assumption it'll be Norm Roberts again, but that Bill Self will continue to help them set up the game plan and get ready for the game but overall impressive first game victory for ku as you kind of expect kind of a

victory um but that's kind of the point whenever you're the one seed you're playing the 16 seed the point isn't for you to all of a sudden people to go man that team is the best team in the world no the point is for you to have a ho-hum victory and not have a game where somebody goes, that didn't look good. And for the first 14 minutes, that was kind of the case, but you pulled away in the last 24. Certainly we'll see how KU, if they can get their bodies rejuvenated and rested because Norm Roberts said in the post game, like guys were tired. They were playing at a, I think he called it a rat race kind of pace where they were running up and down the floor playing really fast. You don't have a super deep bench.

And so some of that stuff benefited KU because they're so good in transition. But also, you just got to make sure you kind of get the energy back for your next game with the quick turnaround on Saturday, which will be against either the eight seed Arkansas or the nine seed Illinois, who we do not know at time of recording here. We're going to take a timeout and then get back into our goats of the game. But first, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The midway point of the NBA season is here, and now is the perfect time to download FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook app. Because new customers get a no-sweat first bet up to $1,000.

That's bonus bets back if your first bet doesn't win. Just download the FanDuel sportsbook app. It's safe, secure, and super easy to use. Then you can bet on everything from money line to point scores to three-pointers drained. You can bet on the next KU game. I saw an early line. If they play Arkansas, it could be around three, four points. If it's Illinois, I bet you it'll be around five maybe, if that would be the case.

If I'm looking at maybe a player prop that I would like, obviously we don't know what the prop specifically would be coming into that game. But I look at either one as being a game that Jalen Wilson is going to try to grind you through and expect it to be a close game. I could see Jalen getting you 20, 25 points in a game like that if the kind of second half of the game. Grady Dick kind of struggled a little bit defensively

through the early portion of the game, but then he got it going from offense and everything. I could see him continuing on with a really good weekend and that kind of setting up for a big three-point shooting game. So those would be the two guys I would – I know those are KU Star players, so nothing crazy. But FanDuel even lets you combine your bets for a chance at a bigger payout with same-game parlay.

Don't miss your chance for your no-sweat first bet up to $1,000 in bonus bets when you go to FanDuel.com slash LockedOn. That's FanDuel.com slash LockedOn to learn more. Make every moment more FanDuel, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. We will try to get to a preview. Maybe we'll do that like tomorrow or something, or I don't know, have it set for Saturday or something for when we figure out the opponent with Arkansas or Illinois. But KU takes down Howard, 96-68. They move on to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Goats of the game. I guess first, Norm Roberts gets the NCAA tournament

win, so good for Norm. Certainly, when KU goes up 13 at the break after having that really strong run to finish the first half, how are they going to come out in the second half? Are you going to let Howard hit a couple threes, get right back in it? No, they put their foot on the gas pedal, and they went from there. Credit to Norm for being able to do that and weathering through for another game without Bill Self for KU. Jalen Wilson gets a good go. 20 points. He was 8 of 16 from the floor. He missed a couple open threes. He was just 2 of 7, maybe saving some of those threes for the second round, but he was really good from two-point range, 6 of 9 as you'd expect against a lower conference opponent. Had seven rebounds to go with it, and he was just kind of good from the start. Even in the early going, when KU was kind of going back and forth with Howard,

he was your main guy. I think he had 11 of the first 30 points, something like that, for KU. Nine of the first 30, 11 of the first 30. And then he got in foul trouble, and then it kind of slowed down a little until a late spurt in the second half. But he was really good for KU, as you would expect. Grady Dick, I don't think it would have trended this way early in the game because, to be clear, at the beginning of the game,

he was getting picked on defensively. They were going after him. They were running sets right at him, whether it was a guy off the dribble taking him to the hoop, or they were trying to get him to fall asleep and have somebody get open from the side or something from three. And they were also taking advantage of him on switches that he would have miscommunication and guard the wrong guy. And then somebody else would be open from three. There was a lot of not great tape defensively for Grady Dick. And that sort of continued throughout the entire game, but it didn't become as apparent as the

game went on. And because of the offense and the rebounding, it more than neutralized here. So he ended up with 19 points, 7 of 13 from the floor, 3 of 5 from 3. He had 11 rebounds. It was his first ever double-double. He also had 5 assists. That one play where he kind of got the offensive rebound save

and passed it to Kevin McCuller cutting through, that was a really nice play, showing good feel. He also had 3 steals. So even though some of the defense wasn't great, at least he did that, which leads a lot of times to easy baskets for you the other way. It's kind of like a corner giving up a touchdown, but then he gets like a pick six, you know it's ideally you'd rather have just like the guy that locks it down every single time. But you know, sometimes you need the little feast and famine as well. I think DeJuan Harris gets a good goat sort of in the same vein as Grady Dick. It wasn't the typical Grady Dick good goat game

in terms of there were still some flaws. It wasn't the typical DeJuan Harris game in terms of usually the turnover numbers are so down. He had four of them. He had a couple out of control passes, but overall 11 points. He had seven assists, three rebounds. He also had four steals. I thought he was really good in defending Howard, whether he was switched on to Dockery or switched on to Hawkins. I thought he did a really good job on that end. And just any time you put up 96 points and you have a point guard as good as DeJuan, there's probably a reason why he was so good on the floor. I know plus-minus numbers are kind of pointless in in single game samples, but he also had the best plus minus

on the team. So take that for what you will. Kevin McCuller, I think gets a good go. Coming back from the back injury, did he have to shake any rust off? He was just good. He was efficient. He scored 10 points. He was four of seven from the floor. There were a couple of times he could have shot like a maybe semi-contested sort of open three-point shot but he he ended up saying no you know what i'm gonna try to work for a better shot and i think that's really important to have that self-awareness but also something i've noticed he's actually pretty good from the mid-range like that little elbow spot he can hit those pretty consistently it's just from three that he struggled a little bit more he also had seven rebounds for KU. He had five assists. He had two steals in a

block, just filled up the stat sheet, and he did it all in 25 minutes. So that makes it even more impressive and was good to see him coming off back injury, but also good to see him not have to play as many minutes to strain as much in case anything would have happened there. I think KJ Adams, so basically I've just given good goats to the entire starting five, which I think is fair. KJ had 13 points. He went 5-10 from the floor, hit a couple big lob plays. That one from DeJuan was really fun. He hits the one and one to start the second half to kind of keep that momentum going.

He had four rebounds for you. He also had two assists. He had two blocks and a steal. Played 28 minutes. I thought he was good. It's funny, though, because every one of the KU starters, I don't think I would say they played a great game. All of them got good goats here, but I don't think anyone played a great game. But you're playing a 16th season because everybody played a good game.

It's enough to win the game by nearly 30 points. I think Joe Yesifu probably deserves a good goat here, too. He had eight points, three of five from the floor, two of four. As I mentioned, I loved the confidence, him dribbling into that one three that was open from kind of straight on. That was the confidence of the guy we saw at Drake. And you wonder if him being back in Des Moines gives him some comfortability that he can go off here down the stretch. He also had two assists for KU.

He had a steal. He had a rebound. He only played 14 minutes, and he was a plus 13, which was really good for KU. And honestly, I could probably just give good go to the entire bench. Bobby Pettiford, Joe Yesifu, Zach Clements, Ernest Uday, Zuby Ejifer all scored off the bench. The only one of your bench players that did not score was Michael Jankovich. And I get it. Zach Clements, Zuby Ejifer, they scored kind of garbage time buckets. But if you combine it all together, that is 23 points from the KU bench.

That would more than enough do it, and it's very good efficiency too. And you look up and down the lineup, like Bobby Pettiford was a plus 13. Joe Yesifu was a plus 13. All these guys were pluses. You got some big-time dunks from Ernest to give you momentum. I just thought they looked really impressive. And even if we take away those, again, kind of late game minutes from Zuby and Zach Clements and Michael Jankovich and even the late minutes from Bobby

Pettiford, if you just look at like the first half minutes from Bobby and the entire game for Joe Yesifu and the entire game for Ernest Duday, you still saw some really impressive stuff. Ernest didn't get any rebounds, which you don't love to see, but he got a block. He was imposing his will interior defensively. He got all those lob plays with those eight points. Joe Yesifu, as I mentioned, talking about his offense. Bobby Pettiford, like I said earlier, I thought this was his best game

in maybe a month or so of the season. He only finished 0-2 with two points, two rebounds, one assist, two steals, but his impact, I thought, was felt in some key moments of this game, especially down the end of the first half when you did start to pull away. He was kind of on the floor for that run, and I thought played pretty well for KU. Let's finish up with our bad goats here with Locked on Jayhawks. Finishing up with the bad goats, that would be anyone who has not stopped at Mr. Fong's Pizza yet if you are out in Des Moines. What are you doing?

Go get some Crab Rangoon Pizza. Also, I mentioned this on RCST earlier this week. If you want a good spot to get maybe a little bit nicer dinner, maybe a big place you can get a good beer and get something good to eat. Hessenhaus, highly recommend that in downtown Des Moines if you're looking for somewhere to go for a good meal down there. I know a lot of people will talk about like Zombie Burger and stuff. I think Zombie Burger is good, but I think there's a lot of people will talk about like zombie burger and stuff. I think zombie burger is good, but I think there's a lot of other good places too. There's a cool little bar scene downtown as well.

If you're into that sort of stuff, as far as the players, I don't really have any bad goats here. I think early in the game, you could have said KU's defense and maybe overall for the game, there were too many defensive mistakes that you would like against a 16 seed. I also noticed there were a couple of times Howard ran this inbound play when they were doing the baseline out of bounds kind of near the corner that they basically worked a pick

to get the guy the ball into the corner, throw him the ball so that it led to an auto switch from KU and that they got one of their lead guards, one of their good scoring guards immediately off the inbounds pass, switched on to KU's center, which was like Ernest Uday or KJ Adams. I wonder if that'll be an adjustment for KU, but just like little things like that, leaving guys open for three, maybe a little bit too much. The early going of the game, like I said, they scored 30, 31 points in the first 14 minutes. You did clamp down a little more after that, giving up just 37 points in the final 26. And certainly in

a high tempo game like this was, you get 68 points. That's not a bad game, but also when you compare to the opponent, it's not a great game defensively either, but that would be kind of the one flaw they showed earlier in the game was the defense. I know Norm Roberts also mentioned in the post game that he didn't love how up and down they were playing. They like to get in transition and play fast, but not all the time. Sometimes they want to slow it. Also, he mentioned in the postgame, if we're just going to kind of copy off Norm's notes, which he knows more basketball than I do, so I'm totally cool with that.

KU missed outs on some screens and didn't do a good enough job setting screens offensively. So I guess we'll just go with those as the possible bad goats there. All right, that's going to do it for this episode. A little bit of a shorter episode of Locked on Jayhawks here. We will maybe get to a preview of the Arkansas game and possibly a recap of that over the weekend as well. But KU is moving on to the second round of the NCAA tournament. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks.

You can subscribe wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can find us on YouTube. Give us a like if you could. It certainly helps us out. You can hit me up on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. You guys also hear me, not the rest of this week, but next week on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 on KLWN. Have a good rest of your day.