Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - ROUT: Kansas DESTROYS KSU as Flory Bidunga, Bryson Tiller, Elmarko Jackson & Melvin Council EXPLODE

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's El Marco Jackson, Melvin Council's world. Maybe we've been a little bit of Bryson-Tiller and Florida. But I'm going to get Jayhawks role in Manhattan, dominate K-State for another big road win. You are Locked-on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on, Derek Johnson here with another edition of Locked-on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. And thank you for making the Locked-on podcast. Network to the number one sports podcast network.

Starting point is 00:00:37 On today's episode of the show, we are recapping KU's dominant victory in Manhattan and going to get to what went down in the game. The biggest positives is the biggest negatives. We'll get to our game awards where we talk about our moments and plays of the game, as well as our game balls for the overall. And what's next for KU? Let's start right here with the Jayhawks rolling in Manhattan. And this was, I mean, you had lost three consecutive

Starting point is 00:01:03 games at K-State. And for a Kansas team that had come in with, you know, coming into this week, one and three on the road, you go two and oh on the road at Colorado and then at Kansas State. And, you know, just in general, you had struggled on the road, really, the last three seasons. To do it this week, it was super important for this team. You're now sitting at 15 and 5. We talked a lot about the roadmap for success for Kansas that could you get to five and two in the first seven games. Well, they took the harder way to get there, but they did get two. to five and two to get there. And really impressive with how they're playing right now.

Starting point is 00:01:40 Even doing this without Darren Peterson, obviously, K-State had a lot of injuries and a lot of players out in this one themselves. Bashir, a good three-point shooter, was out. And this one, though, not the best defender. Camarie McGriff, a team who's already struggling a bit at the big man position, missing him hurt for them. But like Kansas was out, you know, Darren Peterson, the potential number one picking the NBA draft.

Starting point is 00:01:59 And you still won this game by over 20 points in Manhattan. So really, really impressive out. outing probably KU's best road outing of the season. And it was a close game for, what, 25 minutes of the game, 28 minutes. And then KU started getting a little bit of a lead where it was close-ish. And then KU just rocketed to the finish line over the final, what was it, five, six minutes of the game. Like Florida Boodunga, when he went out with the three fouls, I think he had eight points at that time. He finishes the game with 21 points.

Starting point is 00:02:30 So he had like 13 points over the final, like 10 minutes of the game, which is, pretty indicative of Kansas as a whole. And you got a little bit of a, Brandon Green move maybe from, from Trey White. But, you know, in a rivalry, I think that's okay. And after losing three straight in Manhattan, I'm totally cool with it myself.

Starting point is 00:02:49 But anyway, Kansas 86 to 62 is obviously the final score here. So the biggest positives here for KU, I think in general, like the level of play that they got, I don't know, it almost felt like segments of this game. Like it felt like the first half and maybe even the first half. and maybe even the first 25 minutes of the game, it felt like was the Bryson Tiller part of the game. He finished just 16 points. He was really good for KU, really aggressive, like what I saw.

Starting point is 00:03:14 The kind of next stage of the game felt like it belonged to Melvin Council. He had a near triple double, 17 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds. Then you had kind of stages throughout, like you had different moments throughout where L. Marco Jackson was kind of pitching in. He had a huge game with 19 points, probably his best game since the Tennessee game. And then you had the finish from Flory Bedunga, where he just kept dunking on Kansas State over and over down the final couple minutes of the game. And he finishes with a double double with 21 and 10.

Starting point is 00:03:42 And we talked about coming into this game in our preview that Kansas should dominate inside. They should dominate with Flory and Tiller. And I think it was even more than I would have hoped for. They got 37 combined points, 17 combined rebounds from their two big men on a combined 16 of 21. Obviously, he gave up too many offensive rebounds, specifically in the first half to Kansas States. That was something that needed to get better. but when you're just looking at the second half alone, so KU's two bigs,

Starting point is 00:04:07 Badunga and Tiller, had 21 combined points on 9 of 11 shooting with 11 rebounds, while Buka in the second half had zero points in one rebound. That is quite the big advantage that you got from your front court in the second half. And so that was a huge, like this was a game that assuming you can get Bryson Tiller back for next season, which I would say I hope they can, but in today's day and age of the transfer portal and stuff,

Starting point is 00:04:32 you just never know where it's going to go. But ideally, this is the type of game that you point to if we're, when we're in the off season, you know, leading to the 26, 27 season going, these are reasons why I think Bryson Tiller can develop into being an NBA player and all-Bake 12 player. And this would be one of those games you'd point to and say that right there. Like, that's what that looked like from Bryson Tiller. But yeah, yeah, El Marco was huge off the mention. And this was a game where I thought like if we're going to dip into some of the negatives real

Starting point is 00:05:00 quick to tie in a positive. This was maybe Jamari McDowell's worst game for KU. I mean, you can maybe throw a few games or it's like, oh, we played four minutes and didn't do anything, but it's like it's hard to have too much of a judgment. Jemario was 0 for five. It didn't look super comfortable out there. And in a game where you didn't have Darren Peterson, like, that's going to happen with role players to be clear. Like, you're going to have some good games, some bad games. That's typically more why your role players and not starters because you're not as consistent. But it was unfortunate timing for Jumari to have a bad game from the standpoint of no Darren Peterson because you needed him to step up, but ended up okay because El Marco Jackson had such a good

Starting point is 00:05:35 game, 19 points, five rebounds. That was such a huge positive for KU. And now we've really seen, again, it's inconsistent with El Marco, but at least we're seeing it multiple times where he's having good moments and good games for KU that makes you think, hey, maybe in the NCAA tournament, let's say you played four games in the NCAA tournament. Maybe El Marco is not having a great game in all four, but could he have one game that swings it for you? I think you have at least enough confidence it's there that like that is a possibility now, which is a good thing to kind of have here. Other positives in this one for KU, I mean, obviously the two point dominance was pretty impressive for KU.

Starting point is 00:06:10 Like in the end, they did not shoot well from three. K State hits 10 threes, which was much better defensive number for KU in the second half. But overall KU goes 27 of 42 on two point shots. K state was 11 of 32 on two point shots. That is a giant difference there. KU was able to get to the free throw line consistently. KU was able to, I was able to, out. score K State in the paint, 46 to 18. So that is a gigantic difference.

Starting point is 00:06:34 The interior presence was such a huge difference. And I also think that KU did a really good job controlling the tempo in this game. K State's a team who wants to play really fast. Like, you look at Kansas on the season, they came into this one 196th in the country in adjusted tempo rating. So they're more of like kind of an average tempo grade team. K state came into this one 17th in the country. And I haven't seen the exact number of possessions. yet from the game, but it's clearly a game that felt like it was, especially in the second half as there was going on, like, where there were half court settings, and that was always going to be an advantage for KU. Now, if we don't want to sprinkle in some negatives, like I said,

Starting point is 00:07:12 McDonnell had a rough game, but Marco stepped up for him. The defensive rebounding was not good, but that's specifically more of a first half thing. If we look at the first half, Kansas State just dominated on the offensive glass. And that's what kind of kept the minute that it was a one possession game at the break. And then in the second half, KU was able to wall up a little bit. Like, if you're just looking at total rebounds, for instance. So in the first half, Kansas had 16 total rebounds, K-State at 19. And that's what, you know, KU missing less shots. Then in the second half, KU grabbed 23 rebounds, K-state at nine. So like there's a perfect example of that. But yeah, defensive rebound in the first half left something to be desired.

Starting point is 00:07:55 I also thought it felt like they were switching five in the first half. It felt like in the second half at times they weren't switching five. So I just feel like this is a team that, okay, there's going to be certain matchups where that makes sense. And that's okay to have in your back pocket. But I don't think that should be their main staple. And I don't know, it felt like that was kind of the case in the second half that you weren't seen as much. You were seeing guys jump over screens a little bit more than the second half to stay on their guy. And obviously in the second half, you did a better job defending them.

Starting point is 00:08:21 What did they finish with the 37, 38 in the first half? So they only finished with 24, 25 points in the second half. So obviously the second half defense was there to play for KU. But bottom line here for the Jayhawks, you went into this week with two road games, specifically one where you have lost the last three years. And you won both of them, including the second, by 24 points. And I get it. K state's not a great team.

Starting point is 00:08:47 But given that this was going to be their sellout for the conference season, given that they were going to have more energy, given that. that, you know, they had some guys go off from three in the first half. And you were without Darren Peterson yourself. To win by 24 is still super impressive for Kansas. And in the end, now you're sitting at 15 and 5. You're sitting at 5 and 2. You've got some momentum.

Starting point is 00:09:09 You've won four straight games. Now is the difficult part of the schedule, right? You're home B by you at Texas Tech. Home against Utah. That should be one you win. But then home against Arizona at Iowa State. Like, this is a brutal five game stretch coming up for KU. But you've grabbed some momentum going into it.

Starting point is 00:09:24 You've started to feel better about what you are as a team. You built up the resume. You built up the record a little bit to afford maybe a loss or two during this stretch. And you're just in such a much better position than we were, what, literally two weeks ago, when you had lost at West Virginia by 11 and you were sitting in 11 and 5 and 1 and 2 in conference play. It is night and day, the feeling of success of where we're at with KU basketball this time, as we were two weeks ago. Let's continue on with some of our game awards, moments of the game, all that and more.

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Starting point is 00:11:05 and an invite to the members only Locked on Everydayer Club Discord server, which includes a group chat for just Locked on Jayhawk fans. Again, locked onpodcast.com slash every dayer. So this actually wound up being KU's second most efficient points per possession game of the season. The only game better was the Green Bay game. So this was actually KU's best against whatever way you want to skin it, like a power opponent, a top 100 opponent.

Starting point is 00:11:29 So that was really impressive. Even though it was KU's sixth best effective field goal percentage game, because they didn't, that's just crazy. KU had their second most efficient offensive game in a game that they did not shoot well from three. Like they actually shot poorly from three point range. And on top of it, like this was, this was like a below average game for KU and turnover rate offensively. You know? But it was their best offensively. of rebounding game. It was a top six free throw rate game for them. It was their third best

Starting point is 00:11:59 two point percentage game. And you add all those up and it ended up being the second most efficient game for the KU offense. All right. Moments and plays of the game for KU. I don't know how Melvin counsel fit in that one. First half transition play. So K state had briefly taken the lead at I think 20 at 26. I think KU hits like one or two free throws. And then moments later like Melvin Council gets in transition and scores almost like a i don't even know his body was facing the other way he hits like a finger roll to the side i don't know how he he fit that in there but puts k u back up 29 28 that was really impressive there um there was a badunga poster to go up 35 31 that that was really impressive at the end of the first half i mean in general you could point to a lot of badunga posters

Starting point is 00:12:42 late in the second half too um she could pick a lot of those for kind of the play of the game i thought uh i don't know like the melvin to floriali u felt like the okay KU's going to take this one to make it 71 to 56. But honestly, one of my favorite moments of the game was a two-way moment from Flory in this one. There was a play where K-State was driving. And I forget who was on initial defense before he came over for help defense. And he didn't get a block, but he clearly impacted the shot. And I think it might have even been an air ball.

Starting point is 00:13:15 I don't remember. They missed the shot at the rim, did K-State. KU grabs the rebound, goes down. and they're unable to get one of their initial actions going. And it ends up in the hands of Trey White, who then bounces it to Flory. The shot clock's starting to wind down. Florey has it kind of in the high post area. And he makes a really strong move off like one dribble, spin move and lays it in over seven, two dude.

Starting point is 00:13:41 And that was just a moment there of the defense to offense that Flore provides and being a big impact in this game that to me was a Because again, like Melvin Council and Lamarco were stupendous for KU in the back court. But we always knew coming in this game, KU had the advantage down low and needed to take advantage down low. And so in a game where you had 37 and 17 combined from your two big men, I thought to me that was kind of the moment of the game. And at the time, it made it 64 to 55. So it was still kind of a closer game and started to pull KU away and what ended up being that big run to the end of the game. Because at that point, again, it would have been 62 to 55.

Starting point is 00:14:18 That means from that point on, KU outscored. from 24 to 7 to the finish line here. Okay, the stat of the game for KU, I mean, a couple different ones you can go with here. I mean, the two point percentage obviously was such a drastic difference between these two teams, right? Like, I mean, Kansas did not, like I said earlier, shoot well from three, but they shot 27 of 42 on a two-point shots. That's 64%. You look at the two-point defense for KU.

Starting point is 00:14:49 this was so was ku's third best two point offense game it was kU's second best two point defense game k state only shot 34 percent on twos so you nearly doubled them up on two point percentage i mean that that's got to be the stat of the game right if we are just pointing at others um k u getting 10 more free throws is obviously a big one i think that comes with k u being a team who wanted to attack more inside k state being more of a jump shooting team right part of that is kind of style of play and would kind of go back into that idea um i i think the fact that k u wow up with only one offensive rebound less. Obviously not ideal for the game, but given how far setback you were in the first half,

Starting point is 00:15:27 the second half rebounding was a lot better and pretty important. KU ended up plus 10 in second chance points. There were plus seven in bench points, but all bench points were for Mel Marco Jackson. So those are some that you could kind of point to. And then this one just kind of wraps up the two point percentage difference where KU, you know, nearly doubled up K state 46 to 18 in points in the paint for Kansas. If it's not the two point percentage difference, it's the point. paint different. That's a 28 point advantage, although assist being 19 to 12, that's something you

Starting point is 00:15:54 can't point to there. But in the end, Kansas led for 35 minutes and 23 seconds of this game. So some good stats there, but we'll officially make it the two point percentage difference, 64% to like 34% for KU over K State. Our awards of the game, of course this was going to happen of the game goes to some of K-state shooters in the first half. So really two of them that we want to point to. We knew Haggerty came in as a good shooter. He only took two. Castillo and Nate Johnson came in as good shooters, although Johnson just won a five. But Taj Manning came in with three made threes on the season.

Starting point is 00:16:28 He went two of four. He hits one was in the first half. I can't remember if the second was in the first half, but Co-stitch goes four for four in the first half. And he had like three made threes since December 20th. So that was, of course, that was going to happen against K-State for KU in Manhattan. But obviously KU was able to overcome it. And then the, this is a repeat award.

Starting point is 00:16:48 one we've given out many times over the course of this season, and we'll give it out again right here because it continues to be a, I don't know, a theme, if that's the right word here for KU, but it is the, I don't always get fouled, but when I do, it typically ends up being an and one. And that is the Melvin Council Award that he has been getting over and over this season, and he gets again here today. Now, he did go to the free throw line one other time. He goes two for three at the line, but he has the one in transition that puts KU up, what, 66 to 55? and then he he gets the free throw that he makes afterwards on the and one. And that was one where I think was a continuation for KU that wouldn't have been a rule,

Starting point is 00:17:25 you know, just a couple of years ago, but is a rule now. And that's just something where it's like it feels like Melvin Council is like the king of getting and ones. It doesn't always go to the free throw line, but when he does that, that's kind of the case. By the way, one quick note here, KU only played seven guys without Darren Peterson, right? No Colorsario, no Paul M. B or anything like that. We saw Dawson and even that was limited. That was seven minutes of Jaden Dawson. It is clear Bill Self has found the guys that he trusts and wants to go with.

Starting point is 00:17:55 And those are the guys getting minutes for KU. All right, let's finish up with little game balls. We'll get out an offensive defensive overall game ball for KUB ball and look at what's next in this upcoming difficult schedule for KU. Today's episode of the show was brought to you by TurboTax. Tax season doesn't have to take over your life. This year, TurboTax is making it easier than ever. to just hand things off and move on with your day. With TurboTax full service, you can have

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Starting point is 00:18:57 slash local to book your appointment today. That's turbotax.com slash local. Thanks you for joining us here. Don't forget check out the Everydayer Club by going to lock on podcast.com slash everydayer. Our Kansas wins 86 to 62 over Kansas State here, a really good road performance. for the Jayhawks here in Manhattan. Let's give out some game balls.

Starting point is 00:19:20 Start with the offensive game ball for KU. So KU ends up with a lot of double-digit scores. Trey White had 13, though he had a bit of a slower game. I mean, that's impressive, too. KU was Darren Peterson at one point, Trey Witt was like one of five or something. Jemar and McDowell goes 0-5 and you still win by 24 in the road. Melvin Council at 17.

Starting point is 00:19:40 Efficiency, not quite as good as maybe some of the other, seven of 16. It's not bad. It's just, you know, but he did have 12 assists to one turn. over. So that's pretty impressive. He also had two offensive rebounds here. Bryson Tiller had 16 points on six of eight shooting. And he also had three offensive rebounds, plus he had two assists. Florey had 21 points on 10 of 13 with three offensive rebounds. If we're talking to that end of the floor with one assist. And then O'Marco Jackson

Starting point is 00:20:04 gave you 19 points off the bench. So I'm going to go with Melvin counsel here. I think in the case of Florey, a lot of those points came as the game was kind of wrapping up. I think Marco's contributions off the bench are gigantic. So I thought about giving it to him. I think Tiller's aggressiveness and Tiller was kind of the steadying force, I think, for KU in the first half. And he was the most consistent offensive player throughout the game for KU. So I thought about him too.

Starting point is 00:20:30 But at the end of the day, counsel gave you 17. He gives you some big shots at the end of the game. I mean, 12 assists, man. That's as many as K-State had as a team. And he does it to just one freaking turnover. Plus he had two offensive rebounds. So I think counsel gets the offensive game. ball here. A defensive game ball for KU. So only two steals for KU that continues to be kind of

Starting point is 00:20:52 a bugaboo that they're not forcing enough turnovers. Counsel had one, Tiller had one. Blocks. KU got three from Florey and one from Melvin Council. You look at defensive rebounds. Florey had seven of them. Counsel had five of them. Marco had five of them. And then Tiller had four of them. And then you go over and take a look at what K State did. Like Haggerty was only 26 of 17. I know he finishes the 23 points because he got to the foul line, but that's a little bit of credit for, you know, Melvin Council and guys who were picking him up to make him inefficient in doing so, Castillo was only three of 11. Nate Johnson was only two for eight. Like, overall, KU held K state to 62 points for a team who wants to play fast and score a lot. I mean,

Starting point is 00:21:35 that's, that's kind of an overall defensive effort from KU. But I am going to give it to Florida Bidonga. The three blocks were huge, and there were other moments in the game where he was affecting things at the rim on the defensive end of the floor plus leads KU and defensive rebounding. Obviously, he was a bit to blame for some of the offensive rebounding by K-State in the first half. So that's part of it. But he picked it up in the second half. He was still an elite rim protector for KU. That was part of KState struggling so much from two-point range. He had a big impact on the defensive side. So our overall game ball for KU, so we gave offense counsel, we gave defense to Florey. Let's give Bryson Tiller a nod here. Let's give Tiller.

Starting point is 00:22:10 You know, we're going to share it. Tiller and L. Marco, we're going to get our overall all game ball here, right? Because getting that production off the bench from Lamarco was huge for Kansas. And then from the Tiller perspective, he was the steadying force, right? He had eight points in the first half. He had eight points in the second half, right? When Florey gets in foul trouble, Tiller's allowing you to play those big minutes. And he just had a really productive, easy flowing game, goes six of eight from the floor, steadied the KU offense in the half court at times. So, yeah, we're just going to share the love. We'll give counsel the offensive game ball. Florida gets the defensive game ball,

Starting point is 00:22:43 Tiller and O'Marco share the overall game ball, and that's just kind of the game that was for KU. So what's next for the Jayhawks? This is where the schedule gets difficult. BYU at home on Saturday, January 31st. If you missed it, BYU just had a 40-point game from A.J. DeBanza, they beat Utah by 13 points.

Starting point is 00:23:02 DeBonsa had 43 points. He is very good. The big question is going to be, are we going to see DeBonsa versus Peterson? That's what everybody wants to see. The national college audience, the NBA draft audience. I mean, I want to see it. BYU fans want to see it, right?

Starting point is 00:23:14 Hopefully he's back and healthy because the ankle thing can be something that, you know, it could be a two-week thing, could be a four-week thing, six weeks. It just kind of depends the severity for Peterson. So it'll be interesting what kind of happens there if we see that. But regardless, just from a team perspective, difficult game for KU, and we've seen KU lose to BYU the last two years since they've joined the Big 12th. Then you're at Texas Tech, difficult place to play. They just beat Houston today.

Starting point is 00:23:38 Then back home for one that you should win against Utah. and then versus Arizona at Iowa State. If you can go three and two during this five-game stretch, I think you're going to like how you feel about this team, right? And to get to three-and-two, that's either winning all your home games and losing your two roadies. If you go two-and-one at home, one-on-one on the road, I think three-and-two would be a good stretch here for KU,

Starting point is 00:23:59 but that is easier said than done because that is four top-20 opponents with two inside the top five, one that you already beat at home is going to be pissed off when you play them. And then, yeah, you get a couple games against Oklahoma State and Cincinnati who are still decent teams before you finish with Houston, Arizona, and then the Arizona State-K-State games that you should be favored in. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find a show anywhere you get your podcast, including on a YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And we'll see you next time for another edition of Lockdown J-Hawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - ROUT: Kansas DESTROYS KSU as Flory Bidunga, Bryson Tiller, Elmarko Jackson & Melvin Council EXPLODE

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