Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Recap: #14 Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Gets 'Butt-Kicking' Win vs K-State Wildcats on Senior Night

Starting point is 00:00:00 Is Kansas coming alive just in time for a final push of the season? Or was this just a random blowout when we discuss Kansas dominates Kansas State 90-68? 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. Give me a follow on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. You can find our show with Locked on Jayhawks anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube

Starting point is 00:00:38 page. Thank you for subscribing. Thank you to the everydayers tuning in to each and every episode. On today's episode of Locked on Jayhawks, we're discussing Kansas Kansas taking down Kansas State on a Tuesday night in the Big 12, their home finale senior night for KU, and they crushed Kansas State 90 to 68. What do we take away from the game?

Starting point is 00:00:56 Because Kansas came into this one on a two-game losing streak. Are they fixed? Are they turning the corner at the right time? Or was this just a really good performance that we'll look back on as just kind of an aberration? We're going to discuss all that and more. Go to the game next up with the Houston game coming up on Saturday on this episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:01:13 First, we're brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase with GameTime. Kansas wins 90-68. Blowout win for Kansas after kind of a mess start and very easily was a game that could have been a little bit closer, but KU had a decent enough lead at halftime and then just kind of ballooned their lead from there. Jerome Tang in the postgame Kansas State head coach kind of put it best. He said, they kicked our butts. So this was just a butt kicking for Kansas. Again, you win by 22 points.

Starting point is 00:01:49 This was one of KU's better performances of Big 12 play. I mean, obviously there's going to be wins that mean more in terms of who you beat when you look at the Baylor game and the Houston game and, you know, even games like TCU and Oklahoma. Like, those are better teams. But getting blowout wins and having everything click, that's not something we've seen in a ton of games for KU this season. It's been like the two Oklahoma State games and the home Texas game and now kind of this game as well. And obviously the home Texas game didn't lead to a turning of the corner.

Starting point is 00:02:20 They lost the next two games. There's no guarantee that this blowout win is going to lead to something better, but it did feel like there were some tangible things, and maybe it's just the idea of this is your last stand, this is your last hope, show me something, and they did, but that does remain to be seen on Saturday with Houston. Kansas led for over 34 minutes of this game, and even despite Kansas State going six of seven of their final seven shots, Kansas won by 22, so that easily could have been a situation where Kansas ends up winning by 25, 30 points, even more, if that doesn't happen.

Starting point is 00:02:53 Odd part about the game was both teams shot 45% from the floor. It wasn't a game where Kansas shot 60% and Kansas State shot 40%. Wildcats actually made more three-pointers, two more of them than Kansas did, though KU was solidly more efficient from three on unlimited attempts and volume. The blowout came on the tails of getting to the free-throw line of time. Kansas was aggressive getting to the free-throw line. It came from making said free throws. That was a huge difference.

Starting point is 00:03:22 Kansas took advantage 90% on free throws in this game. Kansas State only shot 48% said free throws. That was a huge difference. Kansas took advantage 90% on free throws in this game. Kansas State only shot 48% on free throws. It came with Kansas having just six turnovers for the game. Kansas was plus five in the turnover department. They were plus six in points off of turnovers. It came from being plus 10 on the glass. They had an eight to two edge in offensive rebounds, which led to a nine to0 advantage in second chance points.

Starting point is 00:03:47 It came from being plus four in points in the paint, despite the fact that Kansas missed a bunch of layups for the second straight game against Kansas State. It came with 16 assists, a good number there. It came with six more steals, 9-3 for Kansas. It came with two more blocks, 6-4. It came with Kevin McCuller and Hunter Dickinson putting up big stat totals it came with DeJuan being DeJuan it came with KJ throwing down monster dunks after monster dunks it came with signs of life from Nick Timberlake and even although it was a very limited amount of minutes played on Marco Jackson and most of all it came with a 21

Starting point is 00:04:19 to 5 advantage in fast break points I really thought that was something, by the way, that KU seemed to emphasize in this game that I really liked, that they were trying to make sure in transition that not just as a whole they were going to work their way down the court, but that KJ Adams was going to be the guy that he had to sprint down the court quickly and that they were going to try to get it so that he got down the court so and that they were going to try to get it so that he got down the court so fast with his athleticism that against a Kansas State team that basically plays a lot of two big lineups with David and Gesson kind of at the four a lot of times

Starting point is 00:04:55 with maybe like a Will McNair at the five or a Colbert, even though he got hurt at the five, to where they're playing some two big basketball. So they're basically saying, hey, KJ, you're faster than their other big. Beat them down the court. And if you do that in transition, they're going to have to put a guard on you to stop the pass from coming in at the rim. And Kansas made a concerted effort to get the ball down quickly in transition

Starting point is 00:05:16 and say, okay, we've got the matchup. We worked it down quickly. KJ Adams is guarded by a guard. We're just going to kind of lob it up to him quickly in the post, and he's going to have the advantage. That happened a couple times in this game. I thought that was really impressive for KU. In the end, again, you win by 22, and that's always nice to see on senior day.

Starting point is 00:05:34 They haven't lost a senior day game in like 40-something years at this point, 41 years at this point. Some years we get emotional senior day speeches, and I always say that senior day is when things get real. The season, the journey is so fun. Usually senior day is when things get real because you start to realize that, yeah, this season, this team, some of these players, this is it for them, right? You're're counting possible single-digit games or games on, you know, one hand of how many more games you're going to get to see them at KU. And in some years, it's a little different than others.

Starting point is 00:06:11 Some years you don't really have a bunch of seniors. Some years you have seniors that meant so much to the program, right? You think of guys like Frank Mason and Devontae Graham and, you know, going back, Kirk Heinrich and Nick Collison. I mean, pick your senior day or senior player or, you know, a senior day speech. You think like the Jamari trailer one. We've had so many great ones and moments and memories and so many emotional ones, too, that, you know, the Sfee one was great, too. This time we didn't really get as much of that.

Starting point is 00:06:41 It was more like basic senior day speeches. I did say it was kind of refreshing that, hey, if we're not going to get that, like, let's get something different. Hunter Dickinson went for more of the laughs, which was kind of a nice change of pace. And I thought that was a little bit more unique to this team, but still provided a little bit of something there. Obviously, though, this game was important for a lot of reasons. It snapped a two game losing streak for Kansas. And with the next game being at Houston, you lose this game tonight. All of a sudden, it's three straight. You're looking down the barrel of four straight into the Houston game. Obviously, beating rival, getting revenge, and coming back

Starting point is 00:07:14 from an earlier loss that you had on the road in Manhattan. That's important. Keeping the senior day a streak alive, right? You're always trying to build on things as a program with what some of these great foundations have laid for you. And you did that in this game. Importance of seeding times two. Importance of seeding in the Big 12 tournament. Importance of seeding in the NCAA tournament. Right now, Kansas is kind of projected to be a three seed.

Starting point is 00:07:34 But, you know, if they finish the season strong, they can still work their way up to the two line. But you really want to avoid that four seed. You know, the further the list you fall down, the less likely it is that you're going to be given one of those first or second round pods of preferential treatment for where you're going to be. And so if Kansas can get probably on the three line, I would assume they'll send them to Omaha, which will be helpful for the first and second round. You get into the four or five seed line. Remember last time Kansas was a four seed, they shipped them out to Salt Lake City. And I don't remember where the locations were that year.

Starting point is 00:08:08 Maybe there weren't any obvious ones nearby, but that is something that tends to be important. So, you know, also you don't want to have to play the one seed in the sweet 16, right? If you're the three seed, yeah, two seeds still really good. And there can be a difference there, but you want to delay as long as possible, the best team you would have to play. So there is, to me, a big difference, maybe not as to delay as long as possible the best team you would have to play. So there is, to me, a big difference. Maybe not as much between being the two and the three seed, but there kind of is between being the three and four seed. So winning these games is going to be important to try to fend that off. And then, yeah, if you can work your way into the top four in the Big 12 for a top four seed to get that double buy, that would be huge, especially with a team that's thin and isn't very deep to last four games in four days.

Starting point is 00:08:43 If you make it that far, they're going to need some help this week and or to win at Houston on Saturday, which is a very difficult chore, but you had to win this one to get to that point too. Above all, though, you're running out of time to find that requisite level of play that you need to go deep in an NCAA tournament. And things looked pretty impressive with maybe kickstarting some individual performances. Like think of what Nick Timberlake did in this game. If that is kickstarting something that's going to carry over and we get a, you know, Nick Timberlake type run of, again, I don't want to go this far, but Remy Martin and Malik

Starting point is 00:09:21 Newman, I don't think it'd be to that level, but a light version of that, that would be very imperative and would completely change how this team could finish the season. And so from that standpoint, from what you saw from Nick Timberlake tonight, that's why this performance is one of those where you can have bigger takeaways than just what the game itself was. But also I go back, they won their game against Texas in a blowout fashion. It did not carry over into the next two games about them, you know, hitting their stride as much as I wondered if it would. You lost the next two games to BYU and then Baylor.

Starting point is 00:09:55 Now maybe that's different because the BYU game, you're without Kevin McCuller. And in the Baylor game, it was his first game back. And, you know, you just lost to a good team on the road. So I think it will be very interesting because all of a sudden, if you lose at Houston by 10 on Saturday, we're not going to look back on this one and be like, see, flip a switch. Now, maybe if you go to Houston and win, we are going to view it that way. What about if you go to Houston and lose by like three points, though?

Starting point is 00:10:18 I think at that point, we might be like, yeah, maybe they are flipping a switch, and that would, even though it's Kansas, there are no moral victories for this basketball program. That would be as close as you could kind of get to those one. So I think as much as the hope is this KU team is flipping the switch the last moment, like the Kansas City Chiefs did. We heard that comparison from Hunter Dickinson this week and that things will now click for Nick Timberlake and the team. The wake-up call is you do have to play Houston Saturday, which in all likelihood, you're going to see Bill Self be maybe as big of an underdog as he's ever been in a Big 12 game at Kansas. I don't know. But before you can have that opportunity and

Starting point is 00:10:53 what's after that, this was the first part of finishing strong for Kansas, and you passed with flying colors in one of your better overall performances in Big 12 regular season play. Let's continue on to our goats of the game on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. First, we were brought to you by GameTime. Buying tickets to your favorite sporting event shouldn't be stressful. GameTime is the fastest and easiest way to buy tickets for all your sports, music, comedy, and theater near you. With killer deals on last-minute tickets and their best price guarantee,

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Starting point is 00:11:50 Yeah, I don't have tickets. Well, just pull up the GameTime app and boom, you can buy your tickets, walk across the street, you're going into the Big 12 tournament. I'm seeing tickets for this thing as low as like a dollar, although those are different sessions than maybe KU will be in. But point being, you're going to be able to get in with GameTime. Snag the tickets without the stress. Download the app today with GameTime.

Starting point is 00:12:09 Create an account and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code LOCKEDON for $20 off. Download GameTime today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. On to our GOAT goats of the game if you're new to the segment our good goats are the current adage of the word greatest of all time our bad goats are the old adage of the word more of the scapegoat let's start with kj adams on the good 16 points five of ten shooting he was

Starting point is 00:12:39 six of six the foul line had five rebounds so you, you know, again, I, I guess after a game where he had zero rebounds forever, it was nice to see at least get a handful there. You had one assist two steals and he had a game high plus minus was plus 35. No one else was even above plus 20 for Kansas. So by far he had a big impact in this game. And I really liked that they got to play him a bit at the five. You know, I thought that Parker Brown, who was obviously celebrating senior night, the thought was he might not go in the game because he rolled his ankle in the Baylor game.

Starting point is 00:13:15 We saw him in the last minute of the game. Now, I don't know if that was indicative that he was available to play in this game and that, you know, they just didn't want to or if it was indicative that Parker Brown they just played him in the last minute because the score was out of hand and even though he was kind of hobbled there was a minute to go and he wasn't going to really be asked to do much so it was fine you know it's not like his leg got chopped off and he can't like you know walk or anything at all so I don't know what that was but I did like having the trimmed rotation where it was just Hunter's going to play whatever, 30 minutes at the center.

Starting point is 00:13:48 KJ's going to play the backup five, and that's going to be it. Because I do think Parker Brown has served a serviceable job in being what he's asked to do is just don't mess up the game as the backup center. But now that you're in the Big 12 tournament, NCAA tournament, end of regular season mode, go with your best guys. And I can't help but wonder if that extra 10 minutes of playing kj at the five as opposed to or five to ten minutes whatever it ends up being in the game is the backup center minutes over parker brown for a team that has a smaller margin for error like this kansas team does does it make more sense to try to gain a little bit by having kj as the backup five and

Starting point is 00:14:23 playing four guards around him and then playing a little bit more of four guards around Hunter Dickinson to give KJ a little bit of break when he's not in as the backup five. I don't know. To me, it does kind of make a little bit of sense there. Kevin McCuller gets a good go. 19 points, just 5 of 14 from the floor, but 2 of 4 from 3. He just missed a lot of layups. So those are the ones you expect to follow.

Starting point is 00:14:43 It was good to see the three ball go in at a nice volume there. Three rebounds, three assists, three steals, and one block. Did a little bit of everything. And good to see him, what, that's 39 total points in his two games since coming back. So clearly you feel like he's not just back, but he's like back, back to where he is. Although the efficiency, I guess, hasn't totally returned. It was better in the Baylor game than this one. But again, this wasn't a situation where it was like,

Starting point is 00:15:06 oh, he's missing jump shots because he doesn't have enough lift in his legs. He was just missing layups. That feels like something that's not going to carry over game to game. Although weirdly, KU has had some layup issues over the back half of the Big 12 season. Hunter Dickinson gets a good go here. 15 points. Again, just 5 of 16 from the floor for Hunter Dickinson.

Starting point is 00:15:24 Makes it on here, though, with 20 rebounds, 2 assists. How about that 1 assist on the outlet pass to DeJuan Harris? For my money, he is the best outlet passing big man that Bill Self has had at KU. I mean, there have been some other good ones, too, and I don't want to go through the whole list of everything, but he's really good at it. Five blocks, too. He has a couple games now this year with five blocks, also a steal.

Starting point is 00:15:47 So he really impacted the game on the inside. But it is funny because Kevin McCuller and Hunter Dickinson, they both end up on here. They combined went 10 of 30. If I would have told you on Tuesday morning that Kevin McCuller and Hunter Dickinson would combine 10 of 30 against Kansas State, You would have thought that Kansas either got upset or that maybe they had to grind one out in a low-scoring, ugly type of game to win it. But no, they win by 22.

Starting point is 00:16:13 And I think that's credit to both those guys for, even though they weren't efficient missing shots at the rim, they still found a lot of ways to impact the game in a positive way. DeJuan Harris gets a good go. Eight points. He was three of eight from the floor. Seven assists to two turnovers. He had two steals. The most impressive thing DeJuan did, though, he basically was the Tyler Perry stopper. And this was something I brought up in the preview.

Starting point is 00:16:43 You go back to the game in Manhattan, it was more KU just switching everything, right? like there were times where Johnny Furphy was on Tyler Perry. There were times where DeJuan was on Tyler Perry. There were times where, you know, whoever was on Tyler Perry. And there were still some times in this game where Kansas switched. And yeah, it was Furphy, you know, guarding Perry on a ball screen. Or it was, you know, X player guarding him on a ball screen. It felt like a lot more in this game, though. DeJuan Harris just stuck with him.

Starting point is 00:17:01 And again, that wasn't every possession. There were some switches and some other players guarding him. But for the most part, it was DeJuan not just sticking with him. And again, that wasn't every possession. There were some switches and some other players going in, but for the most part, it was DeJuan not just sticking with him, but denying the ball from even getting in his hands to begin with. And Tyler Perry went 0 for 6. That was the guy who took over the game in the second half in overtime against you in Manhattan. Didn't do anything this game, and a big reason why was DeJuan Harris. Nick Timberlake gets a good go. 18 points on 6 of 7 shooting, 4 of 5 from 3 in 23 minutes of play. Is this the start of Nick Timberlake getting going in March?

Starting point is 00:17:31 Boy, would that be big news for KU if that could happen. Also, walk-on moments get a good goat for KU here. There weren't a ton of them, but Patrick Cassidy got the layup off and got the goal-ten call, so he gets on the scoreboard there. Michael Jankovic hits the free throw. He nearly had that charge. That would have been certainly one that got Alan Fieldhouse pretty loud if he would have been able to do that

Starting point is 00:17:54 or if he would have been able to hit a three at the beginning of the game. I will say this. That beginning of the game when they were kind of like going at Jankovic and stuff, maybe that was a reminder that, and this is for me included, I definitely was part of the game when you know they were kind of like going at jankovic and stuff maybe that was a reminder that and this is for me included i definitely was part of the camp that like you know why not just give jankovic like five minutes out there and eat away from nick timberlake if timberlake's not hitting threes what's the worst thing that can happen between the defense of timberlake jankovic i think we found out maybe a little bit in this game but cool to see that they had some good moments there as As far as the bad goats, the layups, Kansas was just 11 of 28 on layups.

Starting point is 00:18:27 So think about that. If Kansas would have had a normal game from layups or a good game from layups, think about if they would have went 20 of 28, then you're winning the game by like 40 points, which would have been pretty crazy for KU to do. So layups bad, and that's something that has come up a little bit more often than you would like here, especially for a team that doesn't take a lot of threes. You better make your layups. And I would say it feels like almost once every other game kind of just on average,

Starting point is 00:18:55 like it's not really the case for KU right now. So I don't know if you're just ready to declare that they're bad at layups or if this is just kind of a weird stretch over the last like four weeks of the season. Some other nitpicky ones that i don't know i thought about putting on here i thought not whatever i still wish ku would shoot more threes in a game where he shot 46 percent from three can we get up more than 13 and that was only what 12 before michael jankovic shot like a 30 footer at the end of the game can we shoot a little bit more right because i'm not saying this team needs to shoot 30 threes in a game their bread and butter is scoring inside okay go with that i get it but especially in a game where you're missing layups and you are shooting well from three you up the volume a little bit there uh that's just

Starting point is 00:19:34 a nitpick one and then not getting bench guys more minutes despite winning again you could nitpick that jamar mcdowell only plays three minutes a marco jackson only plays six minutes and it's like oh you won by so much. Why would you not give those guys more run? I guess the counter to that, which I could understand this is we're so late in the season that if, if you would have gotten Jamari McDowell seven minutes or eight minutes, or you would have got a Marco Jackson 10 minutes or 11 minutes instead of

Starting point is 00:19:59 six, would we really be like, okay, everything's solved. They're fixed. Like they're trending in the right direction now they're going to be superstars by the time we get to the end soon no that wouldn't have happened so I guess that one is a little bit of a nitpick but I will say going back to the

Starting point is 00:20:13 rotation talk it looked more like a six-man rotation in this game Parker Brown only played one minute Amarco only played six McDowell only played three and I wonder if that's the plan come the postseason and honestly I wouldn't hate. Just do a six-man rotation. You got your starting five. You got Timberlake as the sixth. And then the other bench guys are more of like in case of emergency. And Marco's only going to play five to ten minutes just to be one extra body that you can throw out there to give at least a little bit of a spell to somebody else.

Starting point is 00:20:40 I don't hate it at all. All right, let's get on to what's next for KU basketball in this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. First, we are brought to you by eBay Motors, passion, drive, and patience. What brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance

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Starting point is 00:21:37 eBay guaranteed fit. Only available to U.S. customers. Finishing up on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks, what is next for KU men's basketball? Well, it's time for the regular season finale, which will come on Saturday. They'll be on the road against Houston. And on Ken Palm, the Cougars are favored by 10 points. Now, one thing that like Ken Palm, for instance, doesn't take into account is injuries through regular season, right? It's just kind of blind to say that uh well you know you were without this guy in this game so we're going to dock you for that so realistically

Starting point is 00:22:09 i don't think the spread will be that much and i don't think the books would feel comfortable saying we're going to make kansas with bill self a 10 point dog in in any game right um like that just wouldn't happen but realistically i mean I mean, they were, I think at one point, like a six and a half point dog against Baylor. I think it might've closed at four and a half or five and a half though, after it sounded like Kevin McCuller could be or would be playing in the game. So realistically, I could see the spread of this game being like seven points, eight points, maybe eight and a half, six and a half, somewhere in that range,

Starting point is 00:22:43 which is still pretty crazy considering just it's Kansas basketball and everything like that. But this is a real opportunity to show what you got, right? You win this game, it's going to feel like you've turned a corner. It's going to feel like you are flipping that switch at the right time of the season. You lose, but you lose close. I still feel like you can feel like you're having a nice run of play going into the Big 12 tournament. The one thing you need to avoid here, just don't get blown out where it feels like you just took the step back of what you just had with this game against Kansas State. But this is a real opportunity for Kansas where if you win at Houston, you'll work yourself into probably at worst, you'll be a three seed in the NCAA tournament at that point.

Starting point is 00:23:26 There's a lot on the line in this game, a lot more than you would expect, even though Kansas won't have a chance to win the Big 12. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. We'll have a KU Houston preview later in the week. Also going to be joined by Nick Schwert on Thursday's show as we're going to talk more big takeaways from the K-State game

Starting point is 00:23:46 and a little bit about possible returners for the 2024 season. So make sure you subscribe to the show anywhere you get your podcasts or on our YouTube page. See you next time on Locked on Jayhawks.

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Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Recap: #14 Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Gets 'Butt-Kicking' Win vs K-State Wildcats on Senior Night

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