Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Recap: Kansas Jayhawks Escape West Virginia, Move One Game Closer to Clinching a Share of the Big 12

Episode Date: February 27, 2023

Recapping the Kansas Jayhawks earning a tight 76-74 home victory in Allen Fieldhouse over the West Virginia Mountaineer's men's basketball team. Bill Self narrowly got by another Bob Huggins upset bid in Lawrence, KS. Dajuan Harris played great then got injured. GOATs of the game from Harris to Kevin McCullar, Gradey Dick and more. KU's path to winning at least a share of the Big 12 after a Texas loss, and why that win was a bit of fool's gold.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. Place your first FIVE DOLLAR bet to get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Free Bets – win or lose! Visit Fanduel.com/LockedOn today to get startedFANDUEL 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, Kansas escapes West Virginia, the magic number, down to one to clinch at least a share of the Big 12. 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. Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence, your flagship station in town. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day.

We're free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're going to be going over KU just scathing by West Virginia, almost trying to kind of blow it at the end there, but able to make it out with a victory. And now they are a win away on senior night against Texas Tech from clinching a share of the Big 12. They are a win and a Texas loss.

So that either means KU just beating Texas in the finale or winning the next two or Kansas beating Texas tech and Texas losing to TCU on the road from clinching the big 12 outright. First though, this episode of locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by dual sports book, the official sports book of locked on make every moment more visit fan dual.com slash locked on to get it today.

Hey, who takes down West Virginia 76-74, the final score in Allen Fieldhouse. So I guess first things first there, magic number is down to one. Baylor did some help for you, took down Texas in Waco. And so that means the Big 12 standings, Kansas is in the number one position. I mean, literally, what was it, three weeks ago? Three weeks ago, Kansas was two games behind Texas, and now they're a game in front of them.

This Big 12 is ridiculous, and Kansas has gotten on a roll here. We've seen this many, many times in the Bill Zelf era, and they're doing it again. So the magic number's down to one. What that magic number means, you see that a lot in the baseball world, is that Kansas just needs either Texas loss or KU win to clinch at least the share of the big 12. Now in terms of clinching the league outright, the magic number would be two. Um, so you beat tech, boom, there you go. You got it. And it's

an extra celebration on senior night, by the way, get ready. If you're going to the game to stay late because if they win the game, you're going to have the big 12 trophies come out and you're going to have senior speeches although there's only going to be two of them this year um with kevin mcculler and jaylen wilson so uh get ready to stay a little late but once again west virginia put a real scare into you in allen field house you were able to fight through it you're able to come away with the victory i think when you look at the short term there's some things we can take away from this game, but I think the biggest long-term story for sure of this game, besides like what it does for you in trying to win the big 12 is the health of DeJuan Harris. Um, as of recording,

don't totally know what his situation's going to be. He didn't come back into the game which is not a great sign though it was only with like a minute and so left to play so you know maybe if that injury happens seven minutes ago he comes back a few minutes later we did see him walk through the handshake line so that's a good sign didn't look to be limping at all but also it's a lot easier to walk um i didn't know if it's his foot, his ankle, or what, than it would be to kind of run around. So we'll kind of see what his status is for Tuesday's game against Texas Tech. If you don't have him, the game becomes a lot more of a, I don't know,

maybe not still a toss-up because you're still at home. You still should have the better team. But it becomes a lot more tenable for Texas Tech to pull the upset if DeJuan Harris can't go especially after Bobby Pettiford and Joe Yesifu just had a game where they kind of struggled and they'd be the guys that you'd be looking to to fill in so that's kind of the biggest long-term story you just hope that he's all right he is arguably the most valuable player on KU's team he played so well against West Virginia to help you win and he has been on an

absolute tear here of late it's not just that you hope he's West Virginia to help you win, and he has been on an absolute tear here of late. It's not just that you hope he's back and okay. It's that you hope he's back and playing at 100% to the guy we know he's been here over the last few weeks when Kansas has been on a roll in large part due to what DeJuan Harris has been. As far as what happened in the game, first half, you have a close game at halftime. West Virginia was hitting some tough shots. You had like Trey Mitchell hitting one off the heel that bounced in on the three. KU had six offensive fouls in the first half, so you don't really expect that to repeat at all.

It was kind of a slow first half as it was for the game for the bench. Slow first half and kind of was for the game too for Jalen Wilson. He didn't have like a super inefficient game or anything. I think it was only, what, 10 shots for Jalen Wilson. He didn't have like a super inefficient game or anything. Like I think it was only what, 10 shots for Jalen, but continues to kind of be, you know, not putting up the numbers we remember through the first three months of the season here. Don't know if it was him getting tired after trying to carry the team so much. Don't know if it's him hitting a wall. Don't know if it's teams just defending him and scouting him better over the course of the season, but that's certainly something to watch. I do think it was interesting because in some of the other games that Jalen hasn't had as good of

games, like where he scored in single digits, KU has earned some big time victories. You think back to the Texas game, you think to the TCU game last week, and I just always took that away more as, hey, if everybody on the team is stepping up, but Jalen's struggling, that is going to be more than Jalen doing well and the rest of the team's struggling but at the end of the day you still need everybody stepping up and Jalen stepping up to be at your A plus game which we did see that at some games early in the year like possibly the Indiana game and for sure like the Missouri game when you beat a possible NCAA tournament team on the road by 30 points right that was a pure example of that.

And I think this was a game where it showed you that, hey, like all your other starters stepped up, but you still almost lost the game because you do need Jalen to, you know, get back to where he was playing earlier in the season. But it wasn't like a bad game for him. It just wasn't, again, one of the prime Jalen Wilson games that you're going to be pointing to when he's a first team All-American at the end of the season.

So then you get to the second half. KU's just hitting all these shots. I mean, they start hitting some crazy ones, like you had the Kevin McCuller banked in three toward the end of the game, and it kept feeling like, okay, the Kevin McCuller banked three, the Grady Dick three to go up whatever it was, 71 to 64, I think, or 71-65, whatever it was. It was like, okay, they're going to pull away here at the end, but West Virginia kept answering. Eric Stephenson hit some big shots. You had Trey Mitchell hitting big shots for them.

They just kept swinging back at you and would not go away, and then toward the end of the game, I mean, in the second half, it was a problem with containing their offensive rebounding. They were just getting so many extra possessions. And then you almost turn the game over. You miss too many free throws. You almost blew that game. But in the end, you come up with a stop on the last possession,

thanks to Joe Toussaint traveling. I don't know why Toussaint just didn't take the corner three when he initially caught the ball. I know he's not a great three-point shooter. It was kind of an open look. You had a late contest coming out for KU. But certainly, you know, looking back for KU, it worked out in their favor and everything turned out okay for Kansas.

But that would have been a torturous loss to lose an Allen Fieldhouse if you did when you would have had the opportunity to get where you are now, where you're a step away from getting a share of the Big 12. But you won that game in the end because of your offensive shooting, minus the free throws. Free throws weren't great for you. But you shot 55 game in the end because of your offensive shooting minus the free throws free throws weren't great for you but you shot 55 from the floor you went 10 of 20 from three point range you won that game because you're shooting you struggled with turnovers you had 19 of them now albeit um that's like one of the highest numbers of the season for ku but what there were seven or

eight offensive fouls on ku so you don't really expect that to happen every game, but still probably too many turnovers. I mean, for sure, pre-betting was an issue. Defense at large was kind of an issue for KU. You just kind of won because you shot better and that's not a win that Bill Self is going to feel great about, but that's kind of how it went for KU. So bottom line, you got the win that you needed. Texas lost. You're in good shape for the big 12. You're in it went for KU. So bottom line, you got the win that you needed. Texas lost. You're in good shape for the Big 12.

You're in good shape for one seed. You're in contention for the one seed overall right now if you keep winning. Maybe you even have the inside track. You just got to get DeJuan Harris healthy moving forward, and then that would be the biggest win out of all this. Who knows? We've seen so much big man injuries headed into the tournament from KU that this would just be another, like, eye roll of, like, obviously DeJuan, not a big man, but here we go.

Another guy, key player injured heading into the NCAA tournament. So you just hope that that doesn't happen for KU. All right, we're going to get on to our goats of the game. We'll get to our good and our bad. First, this episode of Locked On is on to our goats of the game. We'll get to our good and our bad. First, this episode of Locked On is brought to you by Bilt Bar. Are you looking for a delicious treat but don't want

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17 points, 7 of 9 from the floor, 2 of 3 from three-point range. He did have a turnover. Man, not used to seeing those from D'Wan, just the one turnover. But that is crazy. In a game where Kansas had 19 turnovers, D'Wan Harris had just one. Unbelievable. He had six assists to the one turnover for KU. And how many steals did he have i mean i think five for the game it was his career high where he just there was a guy shooting and he

was able to smack it down or just poking away he was so important for you getting out in transition getting you easier shots facilitating the offense aggressive, scoring the basketball. He was unbelievable and certainly the MVP for my books for the game for KU, both in terms of what he did offensively and defensively. Grady Dick gets a good goat. He had 16 points. He went five of eight from three-point range, really got his three-point shot going again. He really shot well against West Virginia in the two games this season.

He also added six rebounds. He added three assists. He did, I mean, I don't know, if Kansas loses that game, does he wind up here because of the late turnover and maybe struggling a bit down the stretch? Maybe, maybe not. I think overall he did play a good enough game, but yeah, certainly the finish there was not great for KU,

but they were able to come out with a victory and Grady Dick was a big reason why they were even in that position toward the end of the game to have the lead which they almost gave up Kevin McCuller gets a good goat how about the banked in three man uh that was rather important for KU he ended up with 16 points five of eight from the floor two of four from three so he had two threes in the same game he also added four rebounds. Again, how many times this season does Kevin McCuller come up with a big defensive play toward the end?

I mean, just both games last week. He has the blocks against TCU at the end of the game. This time he has the block coming over from behind on Trey Mitchell, who was on the block against Grady Dick, and Kevin McCuller comes to help defense, gets it away, and boom, that was a very important possession for KU so Kevin great on the defensive end as always the offense came around I mean the offense has been coming around lately he's been really good at driving but I

guess the the shooting came around he also hit like a deep mid-range shot too so really good game overall for Kevin KJ Adams gets a good go 13 points six rebounds and five assists really filled up the stat sheet for you anytime we're seeing KJ get five or six rebounds that's like been a good rebounding game for him so you certainly take that but yeah those five assists being able to operate kind of out of the short roll being able to pull the big man Jimmy Bell away from the basket who is a really big dude usually he's a guy who's going to clog the lane and maybe he can open up a cut. Maybe he can open somebody else up from three.

That was really helpful to have KJ in the middle, as it really has all season long, because of his ability to be a good passer and get the ball out. So KJ really good, and it's funny you had all those four starters. To be clear, I didn't have Jalen Wilson on the good or bad. I thought it was just a ho-hum game for Jalen, nothing to write home about, but he wasn't a problem for you out there either. But you had four or five starters step up, and you barely needed a win.

Why would that be? Well, it was the defense, which we'll get to here in a second. The last good goat that I have is this quote from Bob Huggins, the head coach for West Virginia. I will blast their ass as far and as long as I can if they don't let these guys in the NCAA tournament talking about the NCAA tournament committee. So right now, West Virginia is on the bubble.

They came into that game as an 11 seed. We're going to have a conversation with Graham Doran on RCST later today and see where things are at with some of the Big 12 teams. But certainly West Virginia needs to close strong. Probably win one of their last two here. in on RCST later today and see where things are at with with some of the Big 12 teams uh but certainly West Virginia needs to close strong probably win one of their last two here maybe win like uh because they'll be in the playing game they definitely have to win like the the playing game or whatever it's called to get into the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament and then at that point like if you can win in your first round game the Big 12 tournament you

probably feel like you're in if not you're on the bubble we going to see some of these leagues where maybe they weren't supposed to be two big leagues, like a team upsets their way through the conference tournament and wins the league and it bursts somebody bubble. You hope that's not West Virginia, but I think I'll be really interested to see what the tournament committee does with some of these Big 12 teams toward the bottom of the league, like your Oklahoma States, West Virginia's Texas Techs that aren't going to have great overall records. And normally I am not a proponent of when you see these teams that are 17 and 14 making it into the NCAA tournament over, for instance, a mid-major team that goes like 28 and 3.

I think you have to value winning because that's, at the end of the day, what you're doing. But in a case like this year where the Big 12 is so insanely good and a team that like west virginia who is what five and eleven in big 12 play if you put them in like the acc honestly what's their record are they like the inverse of that are they like 11 and 5 i think that has to kind of matter this year i think there should be extra respect given to those bottom tier big 12 teams for as insane of a conference as it is now if you want to put west virginia or one of these lower big 12 teams that don't have the great

record and you feel weird about the optics and you're like let's make them earn it in let's put them in the play-in game i think that's fine too but i do think west virginia is a tournament team especially with kedrian johnson him coming back for the mountaineers and being a really good point guard um helps them so much and being a scoring, like he has been such a valuable player. I think they're a team that could win a game or two in the NCAA tournament, like similar to Iowa State last year, who was an 11 seed and made it to the Sweet 16. I don't rule that out with any of the Big 12 teams if they make it, even if it is in as an 11 or 12 seed.

So I like that quote, though, from Bob Huggins, though, and how he pursed it out, so to speak. Okay. We'll get onto our bad goats here in just a second with locked on Jayhawks. So finishing things up with locked on Jayhawks with our bad goats tomorrow, we'll have our KU Texas tech preview. Then on Wednesday,

we'll recap the Texas tech game. Friday. We'll have a KU Texas preview of the day. In between on Thursday, I think we're going to do something where we examine KU's case for the number one overall seed, where they sit. Obviously, it'll depend on what happens in the Tech game, but has Kansas at that point, if they win it,

would they have clinched just getting a one seed in general? We'll talk all about that on Thursday's episode. So our bad goats here, team defense. You had four of your five starters step up. Jalen Wilson didn't have a bad game. He didn't have a great game. Why did you end up almost losing at home to West Virginia? Two things.

Didn't get much from the bench. Get to that here in a second. The other team defense. You gave up 100.7 adjusted points per 100 possessions, according to Ken Palm. What does that mean? Basically adjusted with the schedule and who you're playing and everything. Or actually, I don't know if that's raw or adjusted,

but whatever it is listed on Ken Palm. So basically, if you totaled out the amount of possessions you had and the points allowed per possession into 100 possessions, you gave up over 100 points there kansas coming into the game coming into saturday against west virginia in games where they had given up over 100 points per 100 possessions they were just six and four which is still a winning record but you compare it to when they don't, they're 17-1. Those are pretty different records, 6-4 versus 17-1. So when you hold teams under 100 points of possession, this team is darn near unbeatable.

When you don't, more of a coin flip. And so you did that against West Virginia, which meant the game was more of a coin flip, and certainly it was toward the end of the game. You just kind of got away with one because of shot making um honestly saturday's game could have been one that you could have heard i i do think this quote gets overblown because i think bill stuff i've only heard him say it like i don't know maybe once or twice is the the fool's gold comment that was one where he could have made the fool's gold comment about the game afterwards i do think ku

did a good job getting open shots getting open threes so you're gonna make more than you don't when you do that when you play the right way so i don't mean this to say that like you know okay you shouldn't have made all those threes but if ku goes 8 of 20 from 3 instead of 10 of 20 which would still be a really good shooting game probably lose that game because you didn't do the little things well. And so I think if you were to ask Bill Self, like what his favorite win of the season was, probably the TCU game, because they found a way to win an ugly game where they didn't play well.

They didn't make shots because they made the other team play worse. If you were to ask him what his least favorite win would be, that might be in the discussion because you didn't find a way to make them play worse you struggled rebounding the basketball you struggled on the defensive end of the ball you struggled with turnovers you struggled with free throws you struggled with closing out the lead you struggled with some of the small things you just made shots and those are not bill self's favorite games but in the end you got the win and that's all that matters and you can learn from those things i think it's a lie if you say oh you can only learn from losses no they can they can learn for some of these things and win and i'd rather have the win uh bench gets a bad goat here 19 minutes played for everybody from the bench the most was from joe he played 10 minutes off the bench he had the only three

points for the team the only shots for the team went one of five none of the three other bench players with bobby pettiford ernest dude Uday, MJ Rice took a shot, but combined with those four players, 19 minutes played, three points, one of five from the floor. They had three rebounds and they had six turnovers. Now, Bobby ran into a couple charges that I don't know if they were charges, but Bobby ended up with kind of struggles and you didn't get as much of this game from Ernest. He also ran into some offensive foul trouble.

He got a couple quick ones there. Again, a bit of a tough whistle there that hurts that, but you didn't get anything from the bench, and we're kind of still going back and forth. You go back to January, you weren't really getting anything from the bench every game. At least now it's like, well, maybe like once every other game we're getting something from the bench which is important to at least get something on occasion but it's still not to the level of where it was like last year once you got to march once you got to the ncaa tournament you were getting something from the bench every game remy martin every game mitch lifewood every game on the

occasional game jaylen coleman. This year, that's not the case, and that is a little bit worrisome as we get closer to being in March. Charges in college basketball, those just get a bad goat in general. KU called for six offensive fouls in the first half, one or two more in the second half. Just so annoying, so annoying, man. Free throw shooting also gets a bad goat. KU almost let the game get away with missing some free throws down the stretch, whether it was Jalen on the final one, Grady Dick missing one toward the end. KU just kind of struggled with those free throws. We've seen that be a problem at times.

Almost came back and bit him in this game. But in the end, again, KU gets the win. One win away from a Big 12 championship, at least getting a split of it. We'll discuss that KU Texas Tech game on tomorrow's edition of the show. You can hit me up on Twitter, at DJohnsonRadio. You can find us wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube. If you have somewhere you can leave a good rating, please do. Give us a thumbs up.

It's super helpful on our end of things. We'll see you tomorrow on the next edition of Locked on Jayhawks. See you later today on RCST. Bye.