Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Recap: Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Lose Another Big 12 Road Game, This Time to Iowa State Cyclones

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, Kansas loses their third Big 12 road game. They fall 79-75 at Iowa State. We break down the game as Iowa State just hit another three. 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.

Starting point is 00:00:33 You can hear me as well Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. We are breaking down, recapping the Kansas-Iowa State game, top 25 showdown. Kansas came in as about a three or four point underdog, depending when you got it, and they ended up falling by four points right along that line. So we're breaking down the game, what went wrong for KU, what went right for Iowa State. Go to the game, good and bad, and what's next for KU men's

Starting point is 00:01:03 basketball. First, this episode of the show is 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 falls 79-75, and they are now 16-4 in overall record, 4-3 in conference play. Meanwhile, Iowa State is sitting in a good position. They're 5-2 in conference play. They already have wins over Kansas and Houston, and they don't have to play a return trip to Lawrence this year. They also don't have a trip to Lubbock, and Texas Tech

Starting point is 00:01:35 is one of the better teams in the league so far this year, and that's one of the tough places to play. I got Iowa State at 10-1 on FanDuel to win the Big 12 a few days ago, and I'm feeling a little bit better about that, but not feeling as good about where KU is at, that's for sure. Now, Iowa State shot KU out of the building in this game. They went 14 of 30 from three. And this was an Iowa State team that had not been a very good three-point shooting team on the year. They came in in the bottom basically 50 of the country

Starting point is 00:02:02 in terms of the amount of shots they're getting per game from three. So very low volume. For them to take 30 is on its own very high but obviously when they're going in you keep shooting them the 14 made threes were their most in like two or three years and they came in in big 12 only game shooting 26.5 percent from three they go 14 of 30. Trey King is the most of all here. He came into this game, Trey King, seven of 31 across 42 games. So taking less than a three per game in his Iowa State career. He's been at Iowa State for, this is now a season and a half. He was with them last year and now this year. He hit four threes last year, came in three made threes this year he went four of seven from three in this one game alone and so it we have to keep you know bringing this this keeps happening to Kansas now this is not unusual this has happened year over year where you have like one guy like a Trey King

Starting point is 00:02:56 who is not a great three-point shooter all of a sudden just go off against KU that has been happening like season over season it seems like to KU but this year it seems like it is happening at an even more alarming rate and it's not just one guy it's happening with a whole team doing it against them and so it has to bring up this conversation of the interesting discourse of three-point defense right um because you know it's one of those things with three-point defense where there is a bit of luck involved like There's only so much you can do. When teams are taking shots at the rim, you can block them. It's very hard to block a three.

Starting point is 00:03:33 You might have one block, three shot over the course of two weeks of play. It doesn't happen that often, blocking the three-point shot. So once it's up in the air, there's only so much you can do, but hope and pray that it's no good. Now, over the course of time, the more three-point shots, the more jump shots you contest versus uncontested ones, obviously over the course of time, contested ones are not going to go in as much. But in a one-game sample size, you can still contest threes and it's just not your day and it's the other team's day. And I think there's a bit of that in that game for Iowa State. Now, obviously there's going to be breakdowns. There's going to be open threes that you give up, but that's every game. Both teams are going to have open threes throughout the game.

Starting point is 00:04:09 Both teams are going to have a handful of open threes that they just get a breakdown on the defense. That is natural. And so you understand you're going to give up some, but it's the ones where they're shooting 25-footers that have a hand in their face. They have a good hand in their face or a good closeout, and they're still making the threes. Those are the backbreakers. And specifically, like, you know, you can point to and be like, well, why is the three-point defense not better? Well, okay. First of all, I do think there are certain holes in KU's three-point defense. Like when you have more of a slow center, like Hunter Dickinson, where you're basically playing,

Starting point is 00:04:37 you know, two bigs, basically with KJ Adams and Hunter Dickinson, obviously you're going to be more prone to teams with speed, to teams triple driving, to teams kicking for three, to teams having more guards out there and shooting threes. Okay, there is a little bit of that, sure. Based on how KU defends under Bill Self, it is more drop coverage. It is maybe you're more willing to give up a three than you are a shot at the rim. Okay, so there are a couple things there that lead you to believe, yeah, there's going to be some times where teams shoot well from threes.

Starting point is 00:05:00 But again, there is some bad luck involved here too, because some of the threes, and you go back to the Irish taking, they hit a lot of threes that But again, there is some bad luck involved here too, because some of the threes and you go back to the Iowa State game, they hit a lot of threes that were tough shots. And part of scouting reports, if you see a player like Trey King, who in his 42 games at Iowa State is seven of 31 from three, isn't that a smart decision to be like, hey, we're actually going to live with him shooting threes. We're going to live with him shooting threes because at most he's averaging less than one per game. He'll take two or three, he'll hit one or two at most. You were never expecting this to happen. And so, you know, you could easily say, right, like we could, we could go another

Starting point is 00:05:34 week and KU could be playing a team who has a player who's bad at three point shooting and KU could sag off him and basically add an extra defender on the interior and shut down the opponent. And everybody would be like, wow, great great job by Bill Self that was a smart ploy he did this like strategically to help the interior defense and you didn't have to worry about the guy from three well you took that risk in this game and it didn't pay off every other team who does that against Trey King this year it probably will pay off so that is a bit of bad luck right and yes there are certain things that you can get a little bit better at like the big three that they hit at the end of the game when it was uh what 74 72 shot clock's going down it's down to like one like that's one where yeah furphy does get kind of a hand in his face a little bit and he hits

Starting point is 00:06:12 the three but that's one where it's like okay there is a little bit of you should have done more there there's one on the shot clock make him drive because he's not gonna have time to get all the way to the rim get up all the way on him and maybe that one doesn't go in so i think it's a little bit of both when you're looking at the three-point defense or the lack thereof right now is that there is a little bit of, yeah, KU probably could do a better job at defending it, but I do think there is a lot of it that's just crap luck going against KU, and some of it's even strategic crap luck kind of going against you

Starting point is 00:06:37 that you're making calculated risks, and they're just not paying off right now. Is this going to turn later in the year? Is it not? I guess that remains to be seen. But in the idea, just KU's defense as a whole, some of them are the West Virginia game and this game where it is that unconscious ability to shoot from three. But KU's defense has really been dropping over conference play. And of KU's nine least efficient games on Ken Palm defensively, six of those nine least efficient games are in conference play. So while the offense has been soaring up in conference play, the defense has been tanking pretty hard. We'll

Starting point is 00:07:10 see if that can figure itself out as it goes on. But even like that, even just like the West Virginia game, even with them shooting that well from three, you did have some other chances that you could have kept up. I mean, there was a lot of times where this was a four or six point game, kind of surprisingly. The rebounding, you actually ended up doing a good job on the glass, but there were a couple key moments where you gave up some big offensive rebounds. They actually ended up with a three point edge and second chance points. Okay. In a four point game, three points can be a big enough difference there, right? Avoiding live ball turnovers. KU actually did a good job avoiding turnovers overall,

Starting point is 00:07:42 but there was a big difference in which team had more live ball than the other. And Iowa State ended up winning 15 to nine in points off of turnovers, six point advantage in a four point game for a team that, you know, typically with Iowa State struggles in the half court. Obviously that wasn't the case today because of the three point shooting. Iowa State also led nine to seven in fast break points. That was something coming in. We said that Kansas should have an advantage in and they didn't. So those three things kind of add up. And then KU just not forcing turnovers. They only had five steals in this game, even though Iowa State has not been one of the elite teams holding onto the basketball. And even though Iowa State had 11 turnovers, you didn't get the live ball ones with only five

Starting point is 00:08:18 steals like they did, where even though the turnover numbers were really close between the two teams, theirs more led to buckets than yours did because theirs were more of the steel variety. And then on top of that, like the play at the end of the first half changed everything. I thought DeJuan played a really good game, and we'll get to that in our goats of the game. But there was that one big, I guess, fumble, and this was a lot of different things that went into this. DeJuan Harris just kind of loses the ball. You're going for a two for one. You're up one at the end of – toward the end of the first half. DeJuan loses the ball. It leads to a run out for Tameen Lipsy. He gets fouled by Parker Brown. It's a flagrant. Then that leads to Bill Self getting a technical. Then Elmarco Jackson messes up the switch, gives up a wide open three to a 40% three-point shooter, and boom, just like that, that's a five-point swing in a game you

Starting point is 00:09:05 lost by four. None of that happens if DeJuan doesn't turn the ball over there, and instead, Kansas gets a two-for-one, and they get two shots at the end of the first half in addition to that. And it's those plays that drive you crazy because, you know, again, I thought DeJuan played a really good game, but you're looking for more consistency there, and that could have been the backbreaker in the game. The sad part to all this is that KU actually wound up having a good offensive game considering what they were going up against. Iowa State is one of the best defenses in the country. This wasn't the most efficient game in the world for KU,

Starting point is 00:09:37 but when you take that into account, shooting 45% from the floor, 35% from three, you got to the line, You were aggressive getting downhill. 12 turnovers isn't a terrible number against the number one turnover defense in the country. You won 36 to 24 points in the paint. You had what ended up being KU's fifth best offensive rebounding rate of the season in a game. And you did all this despite your two All-American candidates collectively missing 22 shots. So there are some positive takeaways from the offense. And honestly, had KU not lost to one of West Virginia or UCF, I think this loss would be a lot easier to stomach. It would be like, OK, that sucked, but Iowa State, you just tip your cap.

Starting point is 00:10:18 They're a good team. You played them on the road. Tough place to play. And they got extremely hot from three. But because you lost to West Virginia and UCF, you no longer have the room for error to avoid it. It's like in Family Guy, in the early going, there's the Spider-Man. Everybody gets one, Peter. Everybody gets one, but the problem is when you have lost some of these games you're not supposed to,

Starting point is 00:10:40 it loses your margin for error in the games where normally it's okay to lose, but now you have to make those games up and you weren't able to today. So the result of this is Kansas is now one and three on the road in Big 12 play. And that's in their easier half of the schedule. One that I said before the Big 12 started, I thought they'd need seven and one or eight and oh to win the league. I kind of said, okay, maybe you could get it done though with six and two, but they're now four and three, which means at best, if you beat Oklahoma State on Tuesday, you're going to be 5-3 in Big 12 play, well below that mark.

Starting point is 00:11:09 And if 13 wins, if you think 13 wins wins the Big 12, I don't know. Honestly, 14 could do it. I think Houston is that good. They continue to blow teams out, but they also have two losses. So maybe 13 does get it done. Maybe 12 does get it done. But let's say 13 gets it done, which I think is kind of a safe in the middle estimation there.

Starting point is 00:11:24 If you think 13-5 wins the Big 12, that means Kansas would have to finish 9 and 2 the rest of the way. Go look at the rest of the schedule. Tell me how likely that is, especially based on how they're playing right now. For what it's worth, Ken Palm's projecting Kansas at 10 and 8 in conference play, meaning a 6 and 5 finish. And given that back 11 games of the schedule, 6 and 5 wouldn't even be the worst record you could go in the world, considering you're playing Houston twice, and you're playing Baylor twice, and you're playing BYU and Texas and Kansas State twice. At Texas Tech, a tough place to play. So good luck the rest of the way. It is very much uphill for Kansas to win the Big 12 from here, even though I guess technically they're only one back

Starting point is 00:12:03 in the standings of where Houston is at. All right, we're going to continue on with our go to the game. Then what's next for KU men's basketball on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks? First, this episode is brought to you by GameTime. Buying tickets to your favorite events should not be stressful. GameTime is a fast and easy way to buy tickets for sports, music, comedy, and theater near you with killer deals on last minute tickets and their best price guaranteed. You can stop stressing over the tickets, start getting hyped for the fun that you're going to be having. Maybe going to a comedy or theater event would be a nice, you know, wash after this game and you don't know what's in

Starting point is 00:12:36 town. We'll check it out with game time. You can see flash deals and last minute tickets, images of the seat views. You can even see the different section views. If you go to the stadium view, they have exclusive flash deals on tickets for football, basketball, baseball, concerts, comedy, and theater.

Starting point is 00:12:50 And the game time guarantee means you'll always get the best price. If you find tickets in the same section in a row for less game time, we'll credit you 110% of the difference. Snag the tickets without the stress with game time, download the game time app, create an account and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem code locked on for $20 off you can get cheap tickets to the KU Oklahoma State game Tuesday download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed

Starting point is 00:13:16 onto our goats of the game we'll start with our good goats I did think DeJuan Harris had a really good game nine Nine points. He was four of six from the floor. Made his layups. That was a big thing. Seven assists to two turnovers. You take that assist to turnover rate every time against the number one turnover rate defense in the country. Two rebounds, two steals, one block.

Starting point is 00:13:37 He was active on the defensive end. He had to deal with Tameen Lipsy on both ends, which, you know, Lipsy is certainly pacing to be an all-Big 12, possibly first-team performer overall, be an all-Big 12, possibly first-team performer overall, but also all-Big 12 defensive performer. It was tough for DeJuan, but he kept KU in that game in a lot of ways. Obviously, that big blunder at the end of the first half, it wasn't all him, but it started with him. You like to have that one back, but I think overall, DeJuan did play a really good game for KU. Johnny Furphy gets a good goat here. Again, kind of same thing here.

Starting point is 00:14:05 There are a couple setbacks. There were a few times where Furphy maybe gave up a lane to the rim or didn't switch onto his guy and gave up maybe a couple threes as part of the game, and he gave up the one three kind of at the end, even though it was contested. It could have been more contested given the shot clock situation. So still some things you try to iron out as a freshman. But overall, 15 points on five of eight three of five from three against the top five defense in the

Starting point is 00:14:29 country six rebounds one steal KU was going to get three point opportunities Iowa State gives up a ton of threes on the season because they pack the paint and they limit you from shots inside KU needed to take advantage of the outside and Furphy did just that going three of five he continues to impress and while I feel like KU's chances of winning the big 12 have severely dropped given the start and conference play I do feel better about the long term since Furphy has entered into the lineup because he certainly has given them a nice element and another offensive score KJ Adams in the second half gets a good go first half could probably go the other way zero points one, one rebound, one assist, two turnover, only seven minutes of play. He had the two fouls, had the foul trouble.

Starting point is 00:15:08 But second half, he was excellent. And a lot of time when KU was down 10, 11, 12 points, he kept trying to wheel them back into it and driving and attacking to the rim. He finished with 13 points. He was three of six from the floor. Also seven of 10 at the foul line. Ended up with four rebounds in the second half, two assists. Played all 20 minutes in the second half.

Starting point is 00:15:26 So excellent second half for KJ Adams that nearly had you almost coming back at the very end there. Same thing for Hunter Dickinson. Hunter Dickinson in the second half. First half was not great. He only had four points on 2 of 7 with a turnover in the first half. But here's his second half line. 16 points on 7 of 11. Seven rebounds, two assists assists also played 20 minutes of

Starting point is 00:15:47 play and overall he finished with 20 points on 9 of 18 finished with 15 rebounds 4 assists and he really only struggled from 3 he's just 1 of 5 from 3 you know if he makes one more of those all of a sudden it's 40 from 3 and maybe things are changed a little bit there but he was excellent in the second half when you really needed it and one thing I do think is interesting there though, KJ plays 20 minutes in the second half, Hunter plays 20 minutes in the second half. And you see some of KU's recent defensive struggles or maybe losing some hustle balls every so often

Starting point is 00:16:16 or not being able to close out to a shooter as quick. You do wonder if the lack of depth over a regular season comes back to haunt KU and that players are playing a little tired out there because KU can't really go to their bench that much. That brings us to our bad goats. I hate to put them on there because he's been excellent this season, but Kevin McCuller had a real tough one.

Starting point is 00:16:36 He did have 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists. So that in itself is like, okay, those are solid numbers. But he shot just five of 18 from the floor, two of eight from he hit those last two threes one of them that felt like okay now you have a chance but the other one was was kind of the the garbage time three at the end there that I guess did get Kansas to cover if you got him at plus four and a half but tough shooting game from Kevin and part of the thing was as I mentioned with Furphy you knew Iowa State gives up a lot of threes this season so you knew he was gonna have opportunities you know you see the two of eight from three,

Starting point is 00:17:05 and sometimes you can just have down shooting games, but what's tough about this one is how many of those misses were like open shots or wide open shots for Kevin, and they just weren't falling for him, just a little bit off. So you expect him to bounce back because that's what all American candidates do, and that's what he is, but that was tough. And beyond that, he had five turnovers. Feels like in some key games this year, like the Marquette game comes to mind,

Starting point is 00:17:26 Kevin has seen the turnover numbers jump a little bit too high. But overall, like I said, I think you expect him to bounce back. And then the bench gets another bad goat here. I feel like this is kind of becoming game in, game out at this point. Elmarco Jackson played eight minutes.

Starting point is 00:17:39 He had one rebound, one assist, and three fouls. Jamari McDowell, four minutes, zero stats. Parker Brown had five minutes played, two points, one rebound, one assist, and three fouls. Jamari McDowell, four minutes, zero stats. Parker Brown had five minutes played, two points, one rebound, one foul. He had a game-worst minus 13 on plus minus. Nick Timberlake played eight minutes. He was 0 for 3 with a rebound, including missing that wide-open mid-range jump shot. Total it up from the bench, the four players for KU. 25 minutes played, two points on one of four, three rebounds, one assist,

Starting point is 00:18:05 and four fouls. If you said a starter played 25 minutes and two points on one of four, three rebounds, one assist, four fouls, you'd be like, what is going on, man? But again, that keeps kind of happening game in and game out. The last one here, I guess, do you chalk it up to defense? Do you chalk it up to luck? Combination of both, whatever it is on that end of the floor, things are not clicking right now and certainly did not in this game. All right, let's get to what's next for KU men's basketball on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. First, we are brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The NFL regular season is wrapping up, but there's still time to get in on the action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, customers get 150 and bonus bets guaranteed when you place a $5 bet.

Starting point is 00:18:47 That's 150 bucks in bonus bets. Win or lose. The app is so easy to use. And there's so many different ways to bet like live same game parlays, find bets in the new explore tab, make a parlay in the parlay hub, the best way to find popular parlays and more. So visit fan dual.com slash locked on and make your first bet.

Starting point is 00:19:04 A layup. You can get it on the Chiefs action I guess you can fade KU with where that's going. I think they're like officially 8-12 against the spread this year with that last minute 3 for Kevin kind of boosting that up so FanDuel official partner of the NFL What's next for KU men's basketball

Starting point is 00:19:21 and we'll have an Oklahoma State preview for that next game coming out on Tuesday. That'll be an 8 o'clock game for KU men's basketball? And we'll have an Oklahoma State preview for that next game coming out on Tuesday. That'll be an 8 o'clock game for KU back in Allen Fieldhouse. Good chance to get back on the winning ways against bottom team in the Big 12 playing at home. But the schedule does not get kind after that, right? Because you're playing against Houston this next Saturday. Houston just buried Kansas State. I think Jerome

Starting point is 00:19:45 Tang after the game said that is the best defensive team I have ever played and honestly you look at some of the Ken Palm numbers it's it's not like that outlandish to say because Houston right now is number one on defense usually like for instance Iowa State is a top five defense in the country right now even after that game against Kansas their fourth but they mainly do it by being like a lead at forcing turnovers. And then they're like, you know, solid to good at basically a lot of other things. Houston is just a lead at everything. Number one, effective field goal percentage defense, number three, turnover defense, number 10, three point defense, number one, two point defense, number two, free throw defense, number one, block defense, number one,

Starting point is 00:20:20 steel defense in the country. They're just a lead at everything. So that'll be a good, I guess, litmus test for KU. But if you do win out this next week, then I guess maybe you feel like you're kind of back, so to speak, even though both of them would be at home, and that wouldn't fix any of your questions about can they win on the road, especially in a big game right now. But that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:20:39 We'll be back later this week for that Oklahoma State preview. We'll talk about that Houston game as well and plenty more to come. Make sure to subscribe to anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the action. See you next time.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Recap: Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Lose Another Big 12 Road Game, This Time to Iowa State Cyclones

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.