Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Top 10 Best Wins for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball in the 2024 Year from Duke to UNC, Samford and More!

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Starting point is 00:00:31 And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're going to be going over the top 10 wins for Kansas basketball during the 2024 calendar year. So you're talking about the end of the 23-24 season and the beginning of the 24-25 season. Before we get into any of that, today's episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The NFL playoffs are almost here, but it's not too late to get in on the regular season action with FanDuel because right now new customers can finish the season strong with $250 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins.

Starting point is 00:01:05 Just visit Fanduel.com and you can get started today. Okay, so these are going to be the 10 best wins for KU basketball over the course of the year. And again, this is just a subjective list, right? I mean, ranked wins seem to matter more. I guess wins on the road, tournament wins, games that were significant or fun to watch like those matter too so let's get started with number 10 on the list which was kansas 86 texas 67 this was on saturday february 24th obviously all these in 2024 and um you look at it k Kansas just kind of dominated this game from the word go. It was 18 to 15 after the first like 10 minutes of the game. But from then on, Kansas just blew them out.

Starting point is 00:01:52 They were up 20 points at the break. You kind of were able to coast to the finish line. And coming into this game in which you beat Texas, you had just won on the road. I know, right? Kansas won a road game in the big 12 who would have thought right um but you had won on the road after really struggling with that then you win this home game against texas in big fashion and you were looking at your final four games after this one it was you know versus byu at baylor versus k-state at houston thinking okay you take care

Starting point is 00:02:22 of business at home maybe you win one of the two on the road. And now you're hot going into the postseason. Now you're cooking. Well, it didn't work out that way. You lost four of your next five after this game. But at the time, this one felt like a significant result for you to come through. And Texas wasn't a great team or anything last year. But again, you did blow them out. DeJuan Harris had 14.6 assists with no turnovers in this game.

Starting point is 00:02:44 He was really good. Hunter Dickinson had 14 points, six assists with no turnovers in this game. He was really good. Hunter Dickinson had nine points, seven rebounds. Even Nick Timberlake pitched in. He had 13 points for KU and was three of six from the floor. How about this? Six of eight from the free throw line for Nick Timberlake. Is that the reason Kansas can't get to the free throw line this season, that they don't have a Nick Timberlake to just get them to the free thing no uh but all honesty uh kj adams is great too he had 16 points on 8 of 12 shooting with 8 rebounds that's right 8 rebounds for kj adams so that was a fun one for ku it's always fun when you don't really have to sweat them so that went in at number 10 number nine on the list is the game that i kind of refer to as the johnny

Starting point is 00:03:20 game that would be the 74 to 69 victory over Cincinnati in Allen Fieldhouse. This was back on January 22nd. Cincinnati ended up not being an NCAA tournament team. They were close to doing it. They had a solid team this year. They've been excellent so far this season. But this was a game where you ended up winning by five, 74-69. It felt like a game you were in control of for a majority of it. You were never blowing them out, game you were in control of for a majority of it you were never like blowing them out but you were in control of it and then you had a couple like possessions toward the end of the game that allowed them to tighten it up and so looking back only winning by five you don't win this game without the performance of johnny furphy now this was a game kevin mcculler

Starting point is 00:03:57 was still healthy but johnny furphy was the mvp for ku 23, 7 of 8 from the floor, 4 of 4 on 2s, 3 of 4 on 3s. He added 11 rebounds with 2 steals. Johnny Furphy was phenomenal for KU. This was toward the beginning part of him becoming a starter and really breaking out. I mean, obviously, Furphy, you know, the efficiency dropped off over the past final month or so of his season, but this was during the hot streak for Furphy, and it was a really fun game for that to happen. You had Kevin McCuller still, like I said, who ended up with 20 points. Not great efficiency in the game, but he did at least do that. And that kind of won Kansas the game

Starting point is 00:04:38 because you only got 10 points from Hunter Dickinson down low, but Johnny Furphy was so good, and the Kansas defense was able to at least limit or maybe Cincinnati just had a bad shooting night they were 3 of 18 from 3 but that was a nice win for KU our number eight is a game that wasn't like a great game just in terms of like if you're a neutral fan but Kansas beat beat baylor 64 to 61 back on february 10th so again this is a lower scoring game um this wasn't a game that was marred by like i mean both teams actually shot the ball well on two-point shots both around 55 percent neither team shot it well

Starting point is 00:05:18 from three-point range uh baylor had a turnover issue they had 21 turnovers in this game. Kansas, meanwhile, couldn't get any offensive rebounds. They only had four of them. So in different ways, the two teams kind of limited their amount of shots. It wasn't a pretty game to watch. But this was a game without Kevin McCuller that you gritted your way into beating a Baylor team that obviously was solid last year, got another three seed in the NCAA tournament. DeJuan Harris had 14 points, five assists to one turnover, two steals. Furphy had 11 points in a game that he was 0 for 6 from three.

Starting point is 00:05:52 KJ Adams had 13 points. Hunter Dickinson had 15 points. Timberlake had eight off the bench, but he was 2 of 7 from three. So, I mean, you go 2 of 13 from three between Furphy and Timberlake, but you grit your way out to winning. Those are some of Bill Self's best wins. So a close game. You beat a pretty good opponent, but outside of that, it doesn't have a lot of luster to that win. All right, number seven on the list is, I mentioned the Texas game where Kansas was coming off a Big 12 road win. That was at Oklahoma,

Starting point is 00:06:22 and that is number seven on the list kansas goes into norman wins at oklahoma on saturday february 17th 67 to 57 this game did not start in a really great way for ku they got down early in fact oklahoma ended up leading by five at the half but it was one of those games where even though oklahoma was up the half, it felt like they were up more. And then Kansas hit a bigger. The final 10 minutes was the big differentiator. Kansas wins the game by 10. They outscored Oklahoma 26 to 14 over the final 10 minutes of the game.

Starting point is 00:06:57 And the big reason why, DeJuan Harris, 11 points, seven assists to zero turnovers. Hunter Dickinson was great. He had 20 points, 16 rebounds, four assists for KU. Johnny Furphy ended up with 15 points on five of eight shooting. He hit three three-pointers and added nine rebounds, three steals. Kevin McCuller played in this game. He had eight rebounds to go 10 points. The KU starters were really good. Even KJ had nine points, four rebounds, two assists. KU got nothing from the bench. They had two points points in this game which like that was the story of last season and again this isn't like an up and down 67 57 like oklahoma shot 29 on two or on uh yeah on two point shots uh they were 8 of 23 so better

Starting point is 00:07:37 but you know it's not like scorching from three um this was an ugly basketball game but the fact that kansas won on the road when this season they have struggled when last season they struggled on the road again uh over last season this season you're three and ten on the road so the fact that you won a big 12 road game looking back that one becomes a little bit more meaningful the fact that you did it and also in addition to that I believe this is their most recent road win um which is pretty crazy to think about the i mean we're about to get to they don't have another chance to play on the road so we're going to go into the 2025 calendar year saying the last time kansas won a road game was february 17th

Starting point is 00:08:16 of the previous year but that's the significance of that one and that's why it is number seven on the list number six on the top 10 best kansas Kansas Jayhawks basketball wins of the 2024 calendar year is their win over Michigan State in the Champions Classic this season. So November 12th of this year at State Farm Arena was not a great environment for the game. Didn't like the event being in Atlanta. Seems like you get a little more juice when it's in like indie and chicago and new york and stuff like that and i think part of the reason was that when you do it in atlanta it's going to mostly be like kentucky fans and so they have the second game you know

Starting point is 00:08:55 it's going to take some time for them to show up but um you ended up having a game that again like this one wasn't the prettiest game in the world in fact the first half was darn ugly it was very ugly the second half things picked up a little bit right kansas scores 47 in the second half michigan state scores 45 in the second half so like second half things did pick up after uh you saw the early season woes in the first half for really both teams now neither team could shoot well for the entire game a combined 8 of 41 from 3 between the two teams. Hunter Dickinson was amazing in this game. 28 points, 12 rebounds for KU. How about getting 10 rebounds, 7 assists from Zeke Mayo? Wasn't really a great offensive scoring game, I should

Starting point is 00:09:37 say, for him, but he did so well there. DeJuan Harris had 11 points, 6 assists to 0 turnovers. Rylan Griffin had a good finish to the game and finished with 10 points and six rebounds. And you found a way to kind of win a physical basketball game against a Michigan State team that wanted to get the ball inside, that did get the ball inside. I mean, Jackson Kohler had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Spartans. This is a good win. I mean, anytime you beat whoever you're playing in the Champions

Starting point is 00:10:05 Classic like typically that's going to be a respected win and at the time you know Michigan State was okay this is a decent team like um you know they'll probably be an NCAA tournament team but like just how good are they well they've been better since that point they're now up to 22nd on Ken Palm as of me recording this they're 10 2. They've only lost one game since then, and it was in the Maui Invitational against Memphis, who looks to be pretty good this season. They have some decent wins along the resume. That win is going to age even better for KU as it goes on. So I think that was an impressive win, and it's always fun when you have the Champions Classic win when maybe more eyes are on you. Let's get into our top five. After this timeout, this is Locked on Jayhawks.

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Starting point is 00:11:21 Money. Go to rocketmoney.com slash locked on today. That is rocketmoney.com slash locked on. Rocketmoney.com slash locked on. I thank you for joining us on today's episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Top 10 best Kansas Jayhawks basketball wins for the 2024, I guess

Starting point is 00:11:41 calendar year. Obviously, it's not one season, guess, calendar year. Obviously, it's not one season, but the calendar year. If you want to check out the best wins of the Lance Leipold era for KU football, we did that on yesterday's show, and then we'll be back to more normal, everyday recordings, everyday news and info and everything you could want in Game Recaps, Game Previews starting next week. So thanks for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. Into the top five for the best wins. Number five is going to be KU's win on Senior Day. That was on March 5th against Kansas State,

Starting point is 00:12:11 90-68. So the significance of this one is it's Senior Day, which you kept that streak alive. Kansas, over 30 straight wins on Senior Day. The other significance, right, when you beat your in-state rival in Kansas State, like that adds significance to it. Also, when you blow them out, maybe that makes it even more fun, right? Kansas also scored 90 points, which the offense wasn't great overall last season. So to see them be able to go off like that in a game where they only shot 13 three-pointers but, you know, scored 90 points is unbelievable. They did go 6 of 13, so shot them at a good percentage. The reason that they scored so much is, actually, I don't really know,

Starting point is 00:12:52 looking back at this box score. They shot 45% on two-point shots, right? I mean, it was low volume from three. Okay, here it is. Free throw line, 28 of 31, 90% at the free throw line. That is unbelievable. Kansas has not been a great free throw shooting team, and the fact they were getting there so much. I mean, this year, obviously, they've been one of the the free throw line. That is unbelievable. Kansas has not been a great free throw shooting team, and the fact they were getting there so much.

Starting point is 00:13:06 I mean, this year, obviously, they've been one of the lowest free throw rate attempt teams in the country. But you look at it, they were able to get to the free throw line that night. Hunter Dickinson wound up just 5 of 16 from the floor, but he had 15 points and 20 rebounds to go with five blocks for KU. So that's about as good of a five of 16 game as you could ask for. Kevin McCullough was back for this one. He goes for 19 points. Then you have Nick Timberlake. I mean, just a senior day stud, 18 points, six of seven from

Starting point is 00:13:37 the floor, four of five from three-point range. KJ Adams goes for 16 points, five rebounds on five of 10 shooting, and then Johnny Furphy added eight points off the bench. This was just an all-around effort for KU. Their largest lead was 81-53 with 4-0-4 remaining, so it wasn't even as close as the final score indicated. And this exercised a little bit of demons, I guess you could say, for KU because coming into this game, they had just lost two consecutive games, B byu and baylor with one of those coming at home both of them by eight points this was your final regular season win of the season this was your second to last win overall of the season um it was your last win with full um a with Kevin McCuller and everything like that.

Starting point is 00:14:26 So senior day versus K-State, number five on the list. All right, number four on the list. Maybe this should be higher because in theory, postseason wins are the most valuable, right? If you were offering to trade regular season win for the postseason win, you always take the postseason win in that one-to-one vacuum, at least for the most part. I'm trying to think what the – I don't know is there like an alternative where that wouldn't be the case i don't know um like would you trade this would actually be an interesting conversation quick side note would you trade kansas beating oklahoma and triple overtime um on what is it like january 4th 2016 something like that um would you trade that for kansas this one you would because you know what happened in the

Starting point is 00:15:07 second round but like i don't know a year where maybe it was like a sweet 16 win where you lost in the elite eight that would be an interesting conversation because you might remember the three overtime one but anyway uh argue amongst yourselves i think that's an interesting conversation but uh number four on the list is kansas's ncaa tournament win in the first round over Samford, 93-89. Tournament wins in general, important. This was actually an exciting game. It was back and forth. Samford pressed.

Starting point is 00:15:33 They played that Bucky ball, which was a very entertaining style of play, right? It led to them shooting a lot of threes. They made 16 threes. It led to an up-and-down tempo. It led to a fast-paced game. It was fun. You had Kansas looking really good. 16 threes it led to an up and down tempo it led to a fast-paced game it was fun you had uh kansas looking really good then you had kansas almost blowing the game finding a way to win at the very

Starting point is 00:15:49 end benefited a little bit from a call that should have gone against them at the very end but kansas ends up coming through kj adams 20 points on 10 of 13 shooting six assists four rebounds in a block hunter dickinson at 19 points 20 rebounds five assists four blocks Hunter Dickinson had 19 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks. DeJuan Harris had 13 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds. Johnny Furphy had 16 points. Nick Timberlake had 19 points, and he was 5 of 8 from the floor. Everybody's stats are going to look better when you have an up-and-down game like this, and that was the case for KU. They couldn't really stop Samford, though. They were a matchup problem with the way they spaced the floor and shot the ball from the outside from three, Kansas wound up surviving it was a fun game

Starting point is 00:16:28 NCAA tournament games uh they count they mean more right and and so that why that that's why that one is in at number four on the list but maybe it should be higher I do think of this if Kansas ends up making a final four last season right they go on a deep run and that was the start of it that one would be higher on the list but the reason i only have it at number four and not higher even though tournament wins like i said do matter more is the fact that you know what happened in the second round you get blown out to gonzaga right so in theory yes um it's still better like i i'd still rather lose in the second round than lose in the first round but it's not as

Starting point is 00:17:06 prominent like you don't think back of it um as fondly i guess knowing what happened the very next game all right let's uh get into the top three here number three on the list i'm gonna go with ku's win at the beginning of this non-con on november 4th against the north carolina tar heels another high scoring game 92 to 89 another high paced fast tempo game another game where you on November 4th against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Another high-scoring game, 92-89. Another high-paced, fast-tempo game. Another game where you almost let the opponent come back and beat you, but you were able to come through in the end. And this was one where North Carolina came storming back.

Starting point is 00:17:37 KU looked – I mean, if you bottled up KU's first half, was that their best half of the season? It's certainly up there. I guess you could maybe take, i don't know you didn't blow out duke but beating duke is very impressive so you could put that one up there for instance but kj adams was really good hit 14 points he had a couple assists a couple rebounds dewan harris ended up with 10 points hunter diggins had 20 points and 10 rebounds. But it was a thing where Hunter was struggling on the defensive end,

Starting point is 00:18:08 but then he helps make the big stop at the end, and he hits a couple buckets late to get you over the hump. Zeke Mayo was awesome off the bench, 21 points. He ended up with five rebounds, four assists as well. A.J. Storer was really good, 13 points. And Floyd Badunga had 8.8 rebounds off the bench for the jayhawks so this was a fun game back and forth anytime that you get together another blue blood and you beat them like that becomes a game that you're going to remember and we haven't seen

Starting point is 00:18:37 kansas north carolina playing a regular season matchup in quite some time and then you add to it some of the recent matchups being tournament matchups where they become more prominent you think about them more. That one goes up there, even though Carolina hasn't been as good as you'd think this season. All right, we're going to finish up. Top two best wins for KU basketball during the 2024 year.

Starting point is 00:18:56 This is Locked on Jayhawks. And our episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The NFL playoffs are almost here, but it's not too late to get in on the regular season action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers can finish the season strong with $250 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Not only can you bet on who will win the game,

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Starting point is 00:19:38 and the Locked On Podcast Network. Finishing things up with our top two best wins for KU basketball during the 2024 year again this is kind of dividing two seasons in it number two on the list we're going to go with Duke 75 to 72 in Vegas you could argue this one could be number one you could argue the tournament one I think but I'm going to go with this one at number two we'll get into why number one in a second the reason this one is high on the We'll get into why number one in a second. The reason this one is high on the list, though, I mean, again, anytime you're playing a blue blood, anytime you're beating a blue blood,

Starting point is 00:20:10 it becomes prominent. The added fact that you were going against Cooper Flagg, who's probably going to be the number one pick in the draft and is being talked about as this generational number one pick, that certainly adds to the lore as well, especially when you have KJ Adams, who has been scrutinized in a lot of ways coming up with a very big game and and being unbelievable on the defensive end of the court to help you get through with the win uh you have the hunter dickens an ejection from the game you got dewan harris going for 14 points nine assists you had zeke mayo going

Starting point is 00:20:39 for 12 points and hitting that late kind of floater that bounced in off the rim rylan griffin uh struggling in the first half but but coming through with those final 10 minutes or so. Flory Padunga having to man more minutes with Hunter Dickinson out and playing well. And it was just a fun game, right? It was kind of a back and forth game. Neither team really, at a point, you felt like was going to run away with the game. And OK, you started out really hot

Starting point is 00:21:05 but you knew duke was gonna come back it was so early in that game it was just a fun game uh in vegas and to come through that win like beating another top tier opponent like there's a good chance duke the acc is not great this year like duke's gonna win a lot more games there's a good chance duke ends up a one seed and there's a good chance that like two or three sec teams get a one seat my assumption what's gonna happen you're gonna probably that like two or three sec teams get a one seat my assumption what's going to happen you're gonna probably get like two sec teams big 12 winner and then like duke because they're just going to rack up all these wins as one seeds and and if kansas ends up winning the big 12 you're gonna have that tie break over duke so it's a very big win and it always is

Starting point is 00:21:38 anytime those two square up all right our number one on the list though it doesn't have the blue blood pedigree but it is the win over houston 78 to 65 and this one was not as good of a game overall as being back and forth with the duke one but the reason i have this one even higher on the list is because houston when you beat them last season like they were number one on on ten pop i don't remember where they were in terms of some of the polls and everything you blasted them 78 to 65 and to me that was the most impressive display that we've seen from kansas over this calendar year right like beating a team as good as houston by 13 points in a game that at one point you led by 20 with 12 minutes to go and if lj crier doesn't you'll have 24 points

Starting point is 00:22:21 then it's even more bananas but i mean mean, the KU offense against what was, I mean, typically for Houston, they've been one of the best, if not the best defenses over the last, what, like five years of college basketball, and you just eviscerated them. 25 of 32 on two-point shots. That's 78% on two-point shots. 46% on three-point shots. The only thing that kept them in the game besides LJ Cryer going off was Kansas had 18 turnovers and houston only had three but in a game where you had 15 more

Starting point is 00:22:49 turnovers than them you beat one of the best teams in the country by 13 points and it was a little bit of everybody uh kevin kohler who was healthy in this game had 17 points with seven rebounds kj adams had 10 points on four of five with seven assists four rebounds johnny furphy had 17 points on six of seven eight rebounds hunter dickinson 20 points eight rebounds four assists even got five points off the bench from parker brown including i forget if it was banked in or not i think it was he hit that like deep three toward the end of a shot clock in one possession it was just like it was kansas's game right and that again it was even though i guess the meaning of the win didn't maybe end up being as much because you didn't win the big 12 or It was Kansas' game, right? And that, again, it was even though, I guess,

Starting point is 00:23:28 the meaning of the win didn't maybe end up being as much because you didn't win the Big 12 or something like that. That was, I think, KU clicking on all cylinders to the best of their ability more than any other game we've seen from start to finish in the year of 2024. All right, what do you think should be higher? What do you think should be lower? Did anything miss the list? Let us know at D Johnson Radio on Twitter

Starting point is 00:23:45 at Derek Johnson on Blue Sky. That'll do it for this episode of the show. Back to regular programming next week. So thanks for joining us here today all week. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. See you next time with Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Top 10 Best Wins for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball in the 2024 Year from Duke to UNC, Samford and More!

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