Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - URGENCY: Kansas Jayhawks Face Iowa State Cyclones Amid Desperation | Will Darryn Peterson Lead KU?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Things have not been going well for KU basketball. So, well, unfeated Iowa State team. Just Kansas have a shot to take down the cyclones. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, Derek Johnson here with Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. And thank you for making Lockdown, the number one sports podcast network.

Starting point is 00:00:32 On today's episode of the show, we're going to be previewing Kansas versus Iowa State. Does Allen Fieldhouse have some more magic in it? And can KU take down Iowa State give them their first loss of the season? Because with the way KU's been playing right now and the way Iowa State's been playing, this looks like a bit of a mismatch. So we're going to break down the game. We'll get to the Iowa State scouting report,

Starting point is 00:00:51 players to watch for both teams and Kansas Keys to the game. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use code Lockedong College to get $20 off your first purchase with GameTime. So KU takes on Iowa State little Tuesday night, Big 12 action between the Jayhawks and the Cyclones. And, you know, this becomes a very interesting, I don't know, point in the road type of game for KU. Like you're sitting at one and two in Big 12 play. This has been your worst start in Big 12 play under Bill Self since the 0506 season.

Starting point is 00:01:27 But that team ended up figuring it out and ended up winning the Big 12. I don't expect this team to win the Big 12 with how much of a juggernaut it is and some of the deficiencies, but can you at least figure it out? Can you start playing better? Can you feel like you're going to be a dangerous team come March? Because right now, you don't even know, like, is there going to be a March Madness for this team for sure, which is, you know, I still think they're going to get there, but it's not a guarantee given how difficult to schedule is in the way that they're playing right now. And because Kansas at this point in time is right side of the bubble team, but not really a guarantee to make the tournament at this point. Like this game becomes a huge opportunity to score a quad one win

Starting point is 00:02:11 and what would be one of the best wins you could possibly get of the season. I mean, you're looking for crown jewel wins to put you in. You're looking for quad one wins. You're looking to boost your resume. And you're facing one of the best teams in the country. You have that opportunity to do it at home here, right? And obviously we saw in the last game against TCU that Allen Fieldhouse magic, even though KU basketball hasn't been these last three years, what were you normally expected to be. Allen Fieldhouse still has some magic in it.

Starting point is 00:02:39 You saw that against TCU. But, you know, it took Kansas having that magic and a crazy comeback to avoid being 0 in 3 right now in Big 12 play, which is just kind of absolutely crazy, right? But Allen Fieldhouse is going to need all its environment and everything if they're going to want. want to take down Iowa State. Like it has to be a big difference in this game. But I think generally beyond the importance of trying to gain that big win, is KU trying to play better. And it is interesting because in theory, you could have in a vacuum KU plays well

Starting point is 00:03:13 and they lose a close game to Iowa State at home. And maybe you feel a little bit better about how they're playing and maybe you feel better about, okay, well, at least the defense was better this game or at least they, you know, that's one of the best teams in the country that played them close. but here's what the problem. You've already lost all these other games, and we're starting to get to a point now where it feels like with the KU basketball program

Starting point is 00:03:32 where the expectation is always to win and win at the highest level, we're getting to a point right now where we're having to explain morale boosters. We're having to explain moral victories. And that has never been where we were supposed to be at with KU basketball. And that is a bit of a problem in its own.

Starting point is 00:03:51 But yeah, you do just want to see them generally start playing better. And obviously, if you're going to have any chance of winning this game, you're going to have to start playing better because update is an incredible basketball team. And that kind of starts with me on the defensive end of the floor. This Kansas team, their identity needs to be defense. And it hasn't been. It hasn't been.

Starting point is 00:04:10 I mean, there were some games earlier in the season where it was, but right now that's not the case at all in Big 12 play. And I wonder if Bill Self will tweak anything with how they're doing things defensively. He's made a lot of good adjustments in previous seasons as the year has gone on. but it's felt like these last couple years, there haven't been as many of those adjustments, whether it's player personnel based or it just hasn't worked or whatever. I don't really know.

Starting point is 00:04:33 But can they finally figure out the defense? Like that's going to be the key for this team moving forward. They need to be one of the five or 10 best defenses in the country if they want to be one of the 15 or 20 best teams in the country. Beyond that, like one of the other storylines is Iowa State does come into this game undefeated. Like they're looking to stay undefeated. Can Kansas give them their first loss of the season? I mean, this is going to be the best team that Kansas has played so far.

Starting point is 00:04:57 I think Iowa State is better than Duke. This is pretty crazy. Iowa State right now, if we're just going with raw numbers, forget the adjusted numbers. We're just going with raw numbers. Iowa State is in the 99th percentile in offensive rating. They're in the 100th percentile in defensive rating. I mean, so they're about as good as you can be. They're maxed out on both sides of the ball, basically right now, right?

Starting point is 00:05:17 Now, if you do go with adjusted ratings, you know, maybe that lowers like a percentile or something, but they're still a top 15 team on both ends of the floor. So it's a really balanced team. It's a really strong starting lineup. You look at the common opponents that Iowa State has played, that Kansas has played like Kansas lost to West Virginia. Well, Iowa State blasted West Virginia. Kansas beat Syracuse is a bit of a close game,

Starting point is 00:05:39 but KU pulled away late and won by a decent margin. Well, Iowa State just basically, I don't know. They made Syracuse look at themselves in the mirror after the game and go, what is wrong with us? like they just eviscerated them. So this does not give me the warm and fuzzies coming into this game, basically point blank, right? And then the other big storyline here that we want to get to is we still have not

Starting point is 00:06:05 seen Darren Peterson finish a game in a KU uniform. Will this be the one? Because if KU is going to have any shot at beating Iowa State, it's probably going to take a pretty heroic effort from Darren Peterson and one where they're going to need him because if you're going to win this game, it's probably going to be a close win if you do it. And you're probably going to need at that point, Darren Peterson, to make clutch plays at the end of the game.

Starting point is 00:06:24 And he has not finished a game in a KU uniform. This would kind of have to be the one if you're going to want a chance to beat one of the best teams of the country in Iowa State. So let's continue on here. We'll get to the Iowa State Scouting Report. Their strengths and weaknesses, players to watch for both teams. We'll get to play your matchups of the game,

Starting point is 00:06:41 KU keys to the game, Hawks to Soar, all that coming on the episode. And more, this is Locked on Jayhawks. This episode is brought to you by Wayfair. The New Year is here. perfect time to reset your routine, refresh your space. If you're spending more time at home, you might as well love how it looks and feels. That's why you should turn to Wayfair.

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Starting point is 00:07:39 W-A-I-F-I-R.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. Thanks again for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. Don't forget you can check out the Every Day or Club where you can get the ad-free version of Locked on Jayhawks with Apple, Spotify, and every other major podcast app. Plus, you get an invite to the members-only locked-on on Everydayer Club Discord server,

Starting point is 00:08:01 which includes a group chat just for listeners of our show, as well as the big 12 channels and the college basketball channel and the college football channel, the portal channel. So you can check that all out again, locked on podcast.com slash every dayer. That's also in the show notes. All right, Iowa State's scouting report here.

Starting point is 00:08:19 Let's start here. Iowa State comes in 16 and 0 on the season. They're unbeaten. They're three and oh. 12th play and they haven't really had to sweat in doing so. They beat West Virginia by 21 points. Same West Virginia team we saw just defeat KU. They won at Baylor by 10 points on the road. And then they beat Oklahoma State, kind of a upstart Oklahoma State squad this year by 12 points. So they've won all three games by double figures. And they've also beaten three teams who are ranked

Starting point is 00:08:45 higher on Ken Palm right now than Kansases. They beat Iowa by four points. They beat St. John's at the players era by one point. And then they won at Purdue, which is one of the other toughest places to play in the country by 23. So this is a consensus, a top five team in the country, basically no matter where you look with Iowa State. And they are legitimately, you know, final four national title good. You look at the four strengths for the cyclones. Cutting, really good cutting team. They're in the 80th percentile in scoring efficiency on perimeter cuts to the rim. So Kansas has to be ready with their off ball defense in this one as much as their on ball defense. Transition play, definitely a strength for Iowa State.

Starting point is 00:09:27 They're in the 93rd percentile in scoring efficiency on transition. So their team that plays a little bit slower, their pace is on the lower end of things. But when they get the opportunity to score in transition, they will absolutely take advantage of it and they do it at a very high efficiency rate. Just in general, like they're a smooth humming offense. And that comes with a lot of different ways for them. And that's kind of been the big difference. It's like the first couple of years of the T.J. Otselberger era at Iowa State,

Starting point is 00:09:53 they had these elite defenses, but the offense left something to be desired. And over these last two, really last year and this year, the offense has come to match the defense. Now, last year they had to deal with some injuries as the season went on to some of their guards that helped make the offense so good. And then they weren't the same by the end of the season by the NCAA tournament when, you know, they're losing in the second round. But when they were healthy, they were one of the better offenses and defenses. And now, once again, they're one of the better offense. and defenses. If we just look at quad one and two games, which I think they've played nine of them so far for Iowa State, just to view the games against the better competition and make it a little bit more, I don't know what to expect in this specific game. Even in those games, they're in the 95th percentile in effective field goal percentage. And then in such games, the quad one and two games, they're in the 83rd percentile and two point percentage. They're in the 91st percentile in three point percentage. And they're in the 98th percentile in paint points per game. They get good looks. They knock them down. This is a super efficient.

Starting point is 00:10:56 And part of being super efficient isn't just shooting the basketball well, which they do. It's that they win the possession game on top of it. So they're 93rd percentile in quad one and two games in offensive rebound rate, getting extra possessions, extra shots up. And they're in the 92nd percentile in such games in turnover rate, along with the 97th percentile in assist to turnover rate. They pass the ball well. They don't turn it over. They don't give up possessions. They gain extra possessions. So they're winning the possession battle and they're shooting well.

Starting point is 00:11:26 That's going to make you an extremely efficient offense. They also pressure the ball really well defensively. I mean, they're 100th percentile just in raw defensive rating. But they always make you uncomfortable. They always play tough defense. They always get up into your grill. It is never going to be easy against them on the defensive end of the floor. They're in the 96th percentile in steel rate in their quad one and two games.

Starting point is 00:11:47 They're in the 98th percentile in points off turnovers per game. game and an outstanding 19.9 points off turnovers per game. Now, the four weaknesses, I have to stretch with a little of these with how well they've done to start this season. Let's start here. Defensive rebounding on this season, Iowa State actually ranks well in defensive rebounding. But if we just look at the quad one and two games that they've played this season, in just those games, they're in the 49th percentile in defensive rebounding rate.

Starting point is 00:12:15 So they've been about average at it, right? Maybe that's something that KU can take advantage of. bench scoring is another one. And I'm hesitant to even put this one on there too because their starters are so good, it hasn't mattered. And also, even though they haven't got a ton of bench scoring, like they're still better than KU there. But point being, they are in the 23rd percentile.

Starting point is 00:12:34 They're in quad one and two games for bench scoring per game. They're getting 15.7 bench points per game in those games. But that's still over five more points per game than KU is getting from their bench in such games. But again, it's tough to find four weaknesses for. this team. So here we are. They also don't shoot a well in the floater area. Again, we're having to stretch here, but they're in the 27th percentile nationally at 38.5 percent in the paint, but not at the rim. So if you can wall them off from being at the rim and force them to take more of like six,

Starting point is 00:13:03 seven, eight footers, maybe it'll be okay, right? But again, we're kind of stretching here. They're also good at preventing shots at the rim, but if you can get the shot at the rim, they're slightly below average there at defending at the rim percentage wise. So there you go. Not a lot to work with. Our players to watch for the two teams, let's start with Kansas. Darren Peterson. He's averaging 22.6 points per game, 4.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists on 41.5% from 3. All of those stats living up to the billing, if not more, maybe the assist a little lower than we would have expected, but you know, you wanted from him coming into the season. And yet, KU is struggling even when he's returning and putting up these big numbers. It is just the

Starting point is 00:13:46 weirdest thing to try to calculate in your mind. And maybe the answer is, you know, do we need like, is it better off average in 18 points we get in five assists per game? I don't know. Does he need to the flip side? Does he need to go for 40? Does he need to go for like 40 points for K, you'd have a chance here, right? Is this more of a Bill Self issue? Is this more of a other player's issue? Is this more of a defensive issue? Why? And the struggling, even with Darren Peterson coming back and putting up monster numbers. And, you know, I do know, I do know this. It may not know the answer to that, but I do know this. Kansas is facing one of the best teams in the country, and they have one of the best players in the country. You need him to

Starting point is 00:14:26 step up. You need him to have a big game, finish out the game. KU's defense needs to play better, make this a close game and have Darren Peterson make the clutch shots. That's basically what, to me, this comes down to. The other player is Trey White, 15.2 points per game this year for Trey White, seven rebounds per game, two assists per game. He's shooting 50% from the field, 42 from 3, 84 from the foul line. He's been consistently awesome for KU so far this season. And he's also shooting 51.5% from three at home. So that doesn't hurt playing a home game here against Iowa State.

Starting point is 00:14:57 But he also has a huge role for KU, not just in getting points and rebounds in this game, but also with his defensive matchup. He's probably going to be matched up with Milan Momchilovich, which we'll get to in a second here on the Iowa State players to watch. But that makes his defensive impact even more important if he's playing the three and Mom Chilovic is playing the three. Of course, we should see some Trey White at four and maybe you see, you know, a guard on Monchilovich with his three point shooting and maybe they mix it up a little bit

Starting point is 00:15:23 that way. But Trey White has a very big factor into this game on both ends of the four. You look at Iowa State, they're players to watch Joshua Jefferson. You know, Cam Boozer and A.J. DeBons are getting all the, like, player of the year love, which deservedly so. They both put up, you know, ridiculous numbers. Joshua Defferson deserves to be in this conversation to do 17.7 points per game, 7.8 rebounds per game, 5.2 assists per game and 2.5 stocks per game.

Starting point is 00:15:47 He's shooting 51 from the field, 36 from 3 and 74 at the foul line. He has just been one of the best players in the country. And he's a matchup problem for other teams too, right? Because he can score on you in the post. He can pass out of the post and run the offense from the four or five positions. I'm going to be very interested how KU matches up with him because if you put like Trey on him, he has the versatility, but Jefferson then has the size. If you put Floyd Bedunga on him, Flory has the hops and athleticism to potentially

Starting point is 00:16:17 bother him, but also Jefferson has the strength to back him down into the post. If you're putting Bryson Tiller on him, you know, we've seen Tiller struggle a bit defensively of late, but maybe Tiller will do a better job in terms of on-ball defense than off-ball. So it's going to be kind of interesting to see what KU does and how they match up. But one of the things is like, okay, what is the answer to that? Do you not match up with one guy? Do you double him? Well, here's the problem.

Starting point is 00:16:38 He's averaging over five assists per game. If you double, he's going to find an open shooter for a team shooting over 40% from three. And here's the proof in the pudding for that. Iowa State is in the 100th percentile in scoring on inside out. And what is inside out? It's basically when the ball comes inside, say to a big man who passes out to an open shooter and hits a three. A lot of that comes when you're doubled and you pass it out. So I don't know what the solution is here for KU.

Starting point is 00:17:05 You just kind of probably need one of Tiller or Flory to have one of their better defensive games of the season. And then you have Milan, Mom Chilovich, 17.6 points per game, 3.2 rebounds per game, 1.1 steals per game. The main threat of Mom Chilovich is his shooting, 56% from the field, 55% from three on seven three-point attempts per game. That is absurd what he is doing from three. So again, what does KU do?

Starting point is 00:17:30 Is it Trey White? Is it, do they even put a guard on him just to try to stick with him? Whoever it is needs to be ready off the ball as much as they are on the the ball. You have to stick tight with him as much as possible. Well, KU continue to switch. Well, KU stick with their man. All of those become interesting questions, but Mom Chilovich is shooting laser beams out of his eyeballs right now anytime he's shooting from three. Let's get to our KU keys to pulling off the upset, play your matchup, Hawks the Soar, all that next on Locked on Jayhawks. This episode's brought to you by game time. There's nothing like college football,

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Starting point is 00:19:04 That's Game Time. Thanks again for joining us here. Check out our Every Day or Club as well. And check out all of our commitment episodes for KU Football. what they've been doing in the transfer portal. Okay, keys of the game for KU. Let's start with the KU offense. You got to get hot from three, right?

Starting point is 00:19:21 You're an underdog here. Iowa State is the superior team to Kansas, especially with the way that Kansas is playing at this point in time. I don't, like Kansas is going to have to get hot from three or hope that Iowa State is, you know, bad from three. Like, basically, you need to somehow find a way to win the three-point battle, which is not in your favor on paper, but maybe in a one-game sample can switch.

Starting point is 00:19:44 you're playing at home. Maybe that's where Darren Peterson can go off. I don't know, Darren Peterson going for 40 points. Like that would be helpful for KU. Other players getting involved, can KU find anything in terms of on the block, like post-up scoring, big scoring, those would all be keys, I think, for KU.

Starting point is 00:20:01 KU's defense defending the pick and roll is, I think, going to be pretty key in this one. So Iowa State is in the 96th percentile in scoring efficiency on Biggs cutting and rolling, whether it's a slip screen, whether it's a traditional pick and roll, their bigs are really good operating, whether they're going to throw the short roll to Joshua Jefferson and then he can operate out of there. They're really good working the pick and roll.

Starting point is 00:20:21 They've got a veteran point guard and Tameen Lipsy. They've got different bigs. You can roll for them. They've got some centers who can throw down dunks. You have to be able to defend pick and roll if you want to have a chance in this game. And I think just in general, like defending the bigs, whether it is on pick and roll or overall, they're in the 86 percentile on high low scoring too in terms of efficiency there. I'll say this too. There's also a key for both sides of the ball, offense and defense.

Starting point is 00:20:44 one thing, but it affects both. Limit your live ball turnovers. Iowa State's really good at forcing turnovers. Iowa State's really good at scoring off of said turnovers. Well, you want your turnovers to be down regardless because you want to get more shots up, right? You want to limit those and have as many shots get up as possible. But you specifically really want to limit the live ball turnovers because the live ball turnovers that are not only preventing you from getting a shot, it's also the live ball

Starting point is 00:21:12 turnovers that's leading to the runout and the point-off turnover opportunities for Iowa State and the transition opportunity. Really do a good job. Try to limit those live ball turnovers. That's where I think Darren Peterson is as much as his scoring is going to be key, his ball handling, him and Melvin counsel are going to be pretty critical for KU there. I'll be very interested in C. Does Lipsy guard Darren Peterson because Lipsy's one of the better defenders in the country or does he guard Melvin Council? That brings us to our player matchup. We are going to go Tame and Lipsy versus Melvin counsel. Again, maybe Lipsy ends up guarding Peterson to try to get into his grill, but they've also got a potential first round pick in a international player came over at the two who is an

Starting point is 00:21:48 excellent defender in his own right. And honestly, that's probably the better match of when Peterson's on offense versus Toray on defense, because again, Toray is one of the best defensive prospects that's going to be potentially in the draft for Iowa State. But we're going to go with Lipsy versus Melvin Council. I saw Sam Vassini of the athletic describe Lipsy this way, which I thought was really good. He's a walking possession winner, basically. So he's only turning the ball over point. eight times per game. That is insane. That's compared to 5.5 assists per game. He's also averaging 2.4 steals per game and is an excellent defender. I mean, at one, two, it's probably the best defensive guard duo, Iowa State in the country at the one, two positions, right? So counsel's

Starting point is 00:22:30 going to have his handful with that, trying to hold on to the basketball, avoiding turnovers. Something he's done well throughout his career in his time at Kansas, but it is a different animal facing lipsy, right? And then you look at counsel. He's, you know, as the potential, be a good defender for KU and what can you do defending against Tame and Lipsy here, right? So I think it's going to be kind of fun on both ends, both those guys potentially guarding each other, how one can kind of dictate the control of the tempo or the game over the other and determine the winner. I think that's going to be a key matchup in this game. Hawk DeSore. So Iowa State does allow a good amount of corner three point attempts compared to

Starting point is 00:23:05 other college basketball teams. Who leads Kansas in corner three point attempts for game? That would be Trey White, 1.3 per game. Only shooting them at like 20. But again, he's been better shooting the three ball at home, which they are in this one. I also wonder, is he going to be able to drive on Mom Chilovich a little bit? That would be huge if he could drive and get Mom Chilovich in foul trouble. But we'll go Trey White as our Hock to Soar. It's going to be a tough matchup for the guards with counsel and Peterson based on who's guarding them. So we will go Trey White as kind of the answer here.

Starting point is 00:23:36 And then is there any way that Flory Bedunga can have one of his better games? and, you know, Iowa State, their centers typically year in and year out are more so just like rebound, play defense, dunk it. Rebound play defense, dunk it. Rebound play defense, dunk it. Flory has to win his matchup. He has to, for KU to have a chance to win this game. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:23:59 You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. We'll be back with whatever happens between KU and Iowa State for a Tuesday night postcast. See you then.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - URGENCY: Kansas Jayhawks Face Iowa State Cyclones Amid Desperation | Will Darryn Peterson Lead KU?

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