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Alone atop the Big 12, Killer Schedule Begins vs ISU & Arizona
101 Plays3 months ago
Welcome to Episode #73 of the No Conference for Old Men Podcast.
Critical wins for the Coogs over Utah & KSU this past week. And the team is now 23-2, 11-1 in the Big 12, & alone atop the Big 12 standings. But now the killer stretch begins vs Big 12 elite Iowa State & Arizona, right before a visit to KU to complete the trifecta of brutal conference games. These are the types of games we all wanted as we head towards post-season play.
Please have a listen as the 3 Old Men break down the 2 wins over Utah & KSU, and then preview the upcoming games vs ISU & AZ. The team continues to ramp up in preparation for March Madness!
- No Conference for Old Men is available for free via Spotify / Apple Podcast / SoundCloud & the GoCoogs.com YouTube Page; we're also available via Dave Campbell's College Podcast Network as their only basketball-centric offering
- Intro / Exit music: Ground Zero provided by FreeBeats.io
- Please follow us on gocoogs.com/old-men/
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome folks to episode number 73 of the No Conference for Old Men podcast. Podcast where three old guys are talking Houston Cougars basketball with a little bit of Big 12 coverage added in as well. And proud members the Gokus.com network, the undisputed number one Houston Cougars content provider.
00:00:22
Speaker
And we're back with all three old men, Bill Walker, former player, Tom Lidiak, former coach, and myself, Steve Chang, analytics guy for this episode.
Houston Cougars Recent Performance
00:00:31
Speaker
Now, after a couple of decisive, but I'd say choppy wins for the Cougs at Utah, 66-52, and then at home over Kansas the team is now and big twelve play and alone atop the big twelve stand things yet again But no rest for the worry because, folks, we now hit by far our toughest stretch of the season with three games in a row against the top of the Big 12 standings. And this week we kick off with two of those three games versus Iowa State on the road on Big Monday and then hosting Arizona Saturday. All this with KU waiting in the wings for the third game of this gauntlet.
00:01:13
Speaker
So we'll provide some quick thoughts around the necessary wins over Utah and Kansas State, then provide a detailed preview of the two huge contests versus Iowa State and Arizona. So
Analysis of Win Against Utah
00:01:23
Speaker
let's get started. And Tom, why don't you start things off with your key points on the 66-52 win over bottom feeder Utah.
00:01:32
Speaker
I think when you talk about the Utah game, you to backtrack and go back to BYU. We played BYU on ah Saturday night at 930, so we but it was a late game for our guys as far as you know the central roll standard ah time.
00:01:45
Speaker
ah Coach Sampson on his radio show then kind of detailed the whole, the whole thing, uh, uh, leading up to the Utah game, they didn't fly home. So they stayed, they stayed in Utah and just listening to coach Sampson talk, it just seems like it kind of, it kind of, uh, drug on and they were kind of out of rhythm. Uh, they ended up having, I think too much time on their hands. Uh,
00:02:09
Speaker
So maybe that affected how we played. I don't know, but we still have tired too, right? A little bit tired. You know, somebody mentioned, on the very, you know, a lot of the shots were, were, were short, but, but, but you know, who knows bottom line, we held them to 52. So, you know, a really good defensive effort, probably the headline was, uh, E-man shooting, making, making all the threes, uh, in this game.
00:02:37
Speaker
And, I'd say Kingston, that you know they were kind of low to the ball. They were making sure they were heavy in the gaps ah to to limit Kingston's ah driving ability. But when you do that, you're going to open up shots for Milo's or or E-Man. So basically pick your poison. you know if you If you stay attached to Milo's and E-Man, this will give driving gaps for for Kingston.
00:03:01
Speaker
Blitz the ball screen. If it's Cenac in there, he just picks and pops. If it's JoJo, he short rolled and we were able to hit him. And then you're playing, you're playing like four on three. So it was pick your poison. It was obvious that their game plan was the, was the limit.
00:03:16
Speaker
How many times Kingston got into paint. ah But like I said, that just opens it up for E-man and, and ah yeah. What do you have Was it eight threes? Yeah. Was it eight threes? Yeah. Incredible. Yeah.
00:03:29
Speaker
ah So overall, oh, another thing I forgot to mention. ah Kinu, is it Kinu Dolls? I think he was auditioning to be a Houston Cougar knis next year. ya no like archaa I kind of um compare him to his game to a little bit of Fabian White a little bit.
00:03:49
Speaker
But yeah, that was it. Get out there at Utah going 2-0 and flying back home. Nice. Bill, how about your players' take from the Utah win? Not really a lot to discuss in this game. yeah Sharp was our offense with 27, while no other Coug reached double figures.
00:04:07
Speaker
you know The defense, and and I was kind of questioning, Tom, when you're you know talking about the team, yeah and and I guess maybe from the shots falling perspective, point of view that you know, that, that a little sluggish or whatever, but, but I mean, my God, the the defense was just extraordinary and the the effort, you know, until really, and a lot of bench minutes in this game and really until the final two to three minutes, they were nowhere close to, to approaching 50 points for the game. And and then the,
00:04:55
Speaker
you know The bench players allowed some shots to go in, committed some fouls, and and you know they got to 52. But this could have been six, eight points less. ah Just a phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal defensive effort.
00:05:14
Speaker
It held them 17% from three.
00:05:17
Speaker
from three
00:05:21
Speaker
it it And Tom, you mentioned you mentioned our our boy from Houston, Dawes. Overall, they they shot 44%, so their two-point shooting was much better. But without Dawes, that would have been a lot less. And he he clearly was motivated to to play U of H. Again, we mentioned he's from Houston, transferred from Rice. Yeah.
00:05:46
Speaker
yeah He's 7'11 from the field, 15 points, eight boards. he he was He was by far their best player. and That's really what i've my takeaways from that game, but I do want to mention one other thing.
00:06:04
Speaker
yeah Overall, a solid win, but theyre from everybody, there's an overwhelming focus. and I brought this point up before, everyone following the game was was just completely focused on Sharpe's offense, his scoring, his shooting.
Breakdown of Kansas State Game
00:06:28
Speaker
But for anyone who who really... and I don't want to sound condescending, but but kind of has a clue about basketball and paid attention to this game, they'd know that Utah has 21-point-per-game score, Terrence Brown, and sharp – completely destroyed him defensively.
00:06:52
Speaker
yeah clo Brown finished with 12 points on three of eight shooting. But if I'm not mistaken, and and I guess I'd have to go back and look for sure, but I don't think he scored a single one of those 12 points while he was being defended by Sharp. some of yeah bit Yeah, Bill, yeah two of them.
00:07:09
Speaker
Two of those were off of turnovers. I think Milo's had two bad turnovers and two of those on turnovers and Kingston really, he kind played some Ola defense, you know, it it was one-on-one in the full court. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think, I don't think a single point that he scored could be attributed to sharp.
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah. He's a decent three point shooter, not great, but decent. And he was o of two, meaning that sharp was so in his face that, that,
00:07:39
Speaker
that it prevented him from, from getting shots off only, only two attempted shots. You know, it'd be great if Sharp continues to shoot well, but, but the fact that he guards and shuts down the opponent's top perimeter player, whether, whether it's the point guard, the two or even the three makes him absolutely indispensable. And, and,
00:08:05
Speaker
and you know People tend to focus on on offense and points and everything, but but my God, pay attention to his defense and and give him a ton of credit for that. Yeah, and and Bill? And DeBotza, the way he played against DeBotza, too. Emmanuel was incredible.
00:08:23
Speaker
He does it with everybody. when when I remember the the game here against Tech when Petty got off, their point guard, a freshman point guard got off against us and had that...
00:08:36
Speaker
big run in the, in the first half and, and finally, and you could see it at the game. We're sitting at the game and, and you saw a Sharp walk over to Flemings and and say, I've got him.
00:08:49
Speaker
yeah And then the minute that Sharp began guarding Petty, not another point the rest of the game until think I'd previously mentioned it, that, uh,
00:09:00
Speaker
that that phantom foul by Sennac on a fadeaway three-pointer as the shot clock expired. Other than that, Sharp completely shut him out. And so, yeah, I think...
00:09:14
Speaker
a ton more credit needs to be given to to Sharp for his just yeah exceptional defense. Yeah, great, great point. And I don't follow the players for the opposing teams as much as you do, Bill.
00:09:28
Speaker
But I think Utah also had another... really good perimeter player that was on. Yeah. And uac also he did a phenomenal job on D as well. So, but I mean, both of our senior guards did a great job defensively, right?
00:09:43
Speaker
McHenry from Milwaukee. From Milwaukee. There you go.
00:09:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, this game was never in doubt for our Cougs. No starter played more than 30 minutes. Bench played a ton, and Utah made the score more respectful at the end after all of our backups were in. Yeah.
00:10:00
Speaker
yeah i mean And if you look it from an advanced analytics perspective, everything was red for Utah, as expected. And I was just happy we had no injuries and our starters could rest. Offensively, as you guys have both highlighted, Sharp carried the load, scoring 27 points in 30 minutes.
00:10:17
Speaker
it Quite honestly, we actually needed it since ah Kingston came back a bit down to earth and appeared a bit gassed. And obviously the teams are really starting to focus on on him and trying to to make everyone else kind of score. We didn't shoot particularly well against such a poor D, but it was still more than we needed.
00:10:38
Speaker
Now on defense, we basically shut them down around the arc with Utah shooting a miserable 12% from three-point range. That is just crazy good. Crazy good D, that is on our part. Houston native Keanu Dawes, 7 of 8 from two-point range, as you guys also highlighted. Hopefully auditioning for the Houston Cougars next year when the transfer portal opens.
00:11:00
Speaker
And he was really the one that did some serious damage inside where we somehow had a bit of difficulty defending. But to our standard, we forced turnovers on 22% of the possessions, and they were never threat. Now for the team, I just wanted to highlight again how dominant Sharp was in the game. And and this is looking at overall game to your point, Bill, both offensively and defensively. It was on both sides of the ball. He was a player box score plus minus plus 31.9 for the game, while no other player on our team hit even plus seven for the game. So
00:11:39
Speaker
It was clearly an outstanding outing for Sharp and fitting that he broke the school's three-point record in a game like this where he just dominated the the entire box score.
00:11:51
Speaker
Now, let's go to the 78-64 window for Kansas State, where as we were kind of texting after the game, I think it was actually the worst game we've played since the 23 Temple game.
00:12:03
Speaker
But Bill, what's your player's view on the Kansas State
Team Performance and Improvement Areas
00:12:06
Speaker
win? tough ah Tough start for the team. ah we We hit one of our first 12 shots, none of which were threes.
00:12:18
Speaker
i'll I'll ask you guys this. If you were offered a million to one, and of course one, you're going to always say yes to to potentially win a million, but but a million to one on who would score more points in the first 12 minutes of this game, Flemings, Senac, and Uzahn combined or said. or said. said.
00:12:48
Speaker
And you took said, who outscored the three of them, 2-0. Yeah. You'd be rich. Yeah, that's nuts.
00:13:00
Speaker
God. That's the nuts. yeah I thought Sed and Sacco, and I mentioned to you guys, were U of H's best players in the first half. Yeah. Unfortunately, they can thank Tuggler again, committing early fouls so that they could get a lot of playing time. 17 and a half minutes in the in the first half.
00:13:24
Speaker
Yeah. Bottom line, though, it was a tremendous defensive first half holding K-State to 19 points. Second half...
00:13:36
Speaker
can largely be described really with one word, turnovers. ah We committed 12 second half turnovers, 15 for the game, whereas we average eight per game, lead the nation, eight per game, 11 of those turnovers,
00:13:55
Speaker
came from three players, Flemings and Sharp with four each. i know. And oddly, Sacco had three. Because he played so much. Yeah, yeah. Again, thank Tugler.
00:14:09
Speaker
Lots of lazy passes from the guards. And Kansas State scored 20 points just off of our turnovers in the second half.
00:14:21
Speaker
which which was one more point than they scored in the entire first half. Yeah. Crazy. ah You know, this was a game where three starters played really poorly, quite honestly. You know Fleming's put up some good stats with four assists and seven rebounds, but he was sloppy with the ball and was kind of equally sloppy on D. Senac wasn't really involved, kind of on both ends. And again,
00:14:51
Speaker
Tuggler physically and emotionally or physically and mentally didn't show up as as he was not on the court. Yeah.
00:15:02
Speaker
You Sharp led us with 23 points and was named the player of the game. And yeah again, he led us defensively while having to defend 23 point per game score Hagerty.
00:15:16
Speaker
But I would argue that our MVP of this game was you, Zan. i agree. Half of Sharpe's points, 12, to Sharpe's 23.
00:15:30
Speaker
But eight assists for you, Zan. And in a game where backcourt did not handle the ball very well, the four turnovers each from Sharpe and Fleming's,
00:15:45
Speaker
Yuzan was his steady self and committed zero turnovers. I just thought he was – overall, I thought he was our best player. Yeah. yeah In the end, give Kansas State credit. that they They got really dressed down by by Tang earlier in the week and and you know could have taken taking it the wrong way or or just just been – kind of flat, but but they played really hard from start to finish. They capitalized on our sloppy play. I never in a million years would have expected this team, Kansas State, to score 45 on us in a half, especially after we gave up only 19 in the first half.
00:16:36
Speaker
If we play the upcoming gauntlet of of Iowa State, Arizona and Kansas anywhere like we we played the second half, then without question, it's going to be yeah were three for us.
00:16:54
Speaker
Yeah. However, I do not see that happening. And yeah, it'll it'll be better moving forward. Yeah, it's it's
Preview of Iowa State Game
00:17:04
Speaker
got to be. I mean, like we said, this is like one of the worst games the team's played in the last three years. So good to get it out of the way ahead of the gauntlet. So, Tom, how about your coach's view on the Kansas State game?
00:17:16
Speaker
Well, the highlight of the game might have been the first possession where we got a backdoor layup and won, but E-Man misses the free throw. you know and then And then from there, it was like the – I swear that the bubble was put on our rim. Yeah, no kidding. Bill mentioned lazy passing. Interesting because in my notes, it's ah before the under 12, I think it was, I had put lazy passing – the ball was like going, we were passing the ball at guys' as shins, you know, and ah nobody was making ah good passes where you hit them chest to chest or whatever. And yeah, I don't know what the deal was. ah
00:17:54
Speaker
I know coach Sampson preaches, you know, the most important game is the next game on the schedule and you can, you can show them clips, you can do all this, but,
00:18:05
Speaker
you know, players are human beings too. And I think in the back of their, maybe in the back end of our minds, you know, we're, we're looking at the gauntlet, you know, of these three games and to K-State's credit, they, they probably played their, they played hard, might played the best game of their, their season.
00:18:22
Speaker
Bill, you mentioned how Jerome Tang, ah you know, he undressed them during the week, took the, took the last names off the back of their jerseys. He had to make all the scouting reports. The players had to do this. ah could have one or two different ways. Uh, one is that they could have just, uh,
00:18:40
Speaker
basically rebelled, you know mutinied, and it could it could have been worse, or they could come out fighting like like they did. Now, the question for Kansas State is, you know can they sustain this the rest of the season, or was it just a one-time thing? you know yeah ah They'll probably come out next game and just probably get obliterated by Arizona State or somebody like that. ah Everyone does in their game after playing us, right? yeah it's Yeah.
00:19:06
Speaker
We're the Houston Cougars. you know ah Everybody – you know, ah gets gets up for us. So I don't know. ah We are up by, what, 24 in this game. And then as soon as we got it up by 24, poof, it went down to, what, 10, something like that.
00:19:23
Speaker
So I don't i don't know. You know, I guess we reached the point in Houston Cougar fandom where you know we I don't know Expectations are are a lot higher.
00:19:37
Speaker
But just, i don't know. There was something about this game that that that seemed off. And I don't know what it was. you know Like Bill mentioned, Kingston struggled with the shot. ah Yeah, it was...
00:19:51
Speaker
But Sed made his two free throws. Yeah, I know. know that That right there is amazing because you guys remember about two years ago what is what his free throw looked like? Yeah. It was it was it was it was pretty bad. those Those two free throws outscored, like I said, Flemings, Sanak, and Yuzan.
00:20:13
Speaker
Who on earth would have... Thought that. Guys, we were down 15 to 6. I know. I was texting Bill because I couldn't watch it because I'm unwilling to pay for Peacock. I'm just following it. It's like, what is going on here? Which I respect. We're going to get a GoFundMe, though, for Steve's thing to get Peacock. No. Don't do it out of principle. No, I ended up watching the second half because I found out my daughter actually has Peacock. Okay.
00:20:45
Speaker
but joe Speaking of Peacock, I do like their the analyst who did our game, former Notre Dame player Jordan Cornett. He's pretty good. he's I think he's really, really good. um Going back to the game, you know who knows?
00:21:01
Speaker
Kelvin in the postgame said, ah I'm through already through thinking about this game. and you know He also said that historically, u of H plays their worst games ah after long road trips. And he mentioned that the team got back ah at four in the morning on Wednesday. And, you know, they just had Thursday and and Friday, kind of the walkthrough on Friday.
00:21:35
Speaker
So he he said, you know, it's not entirely unexpected that that they didn't play well. But it's a killer. we've got And Big Monday. yeah he also He also mentioned that the that the freshman played about as immature a game as he's seen.
00:21:55
Speaker
ah I just saw Kelvin's look at the end of the game. It's like you could literally fry an egg on his head. mean, you could tell that, it you know, he he was he wasn't happy. Yeah.
00:22:09
Speaker
i mean i mean, there's no way no no way around it We won, but it was an ugly game for our Cougs and very, very uncharacteristic for a Samson team with tons of turnovers after... It's striking because it was right after our best stretch games on that front ever, right? And there were like write-ups about it and things like that. And then this this has got to be one of our biggest turnover games of the Samson era as well.
00:22:38
Speaker
But I'm just super happy that, you know, we had a 14 point win, no injuries, and with only Milos out of the starters playing more than 30 minutes. Now, from an advanced analytics perspective, though KSU started fast, it ended up being another defensive gem for us, actually limiting the highest scoring offense, in the big 12 to only 42% effective field goal percentage and only 39% from two point range. And that's even with Dawes is, you know, scoring inside, right? Where he was seven of eight.
00:23:09
Speaker
ah We also forced turnovers on 23% of their possessions and we blocked 16% of their two point, so two point shots. So really Dawes.
00:23:19
Speaker
Yeah. Dawes, right. He was the only one that scored right. Seven of eight, but everyone else, if you look at it. No, no, no. No, he's the previous game.
00:23:30
Speaker
Utah. Oh, sorry. You're right. You're not right. Not only did it happen to our team, but it's happened to our podcast guys. That's right. I'm out of it.
00:23:43
Speaker
We're looking forward to Iowa State on Monday. Yeah. Steve, you're you're committing uncharacteristic turnovers. Yeah. No kidding. i mean, that's what happens when you don't pay for Peacock and you miss watching the game live or at least half the game live. i I see one of the four guys coming in to relieve You're going to the bench, Steve.
00:24:00
Speaker
There you go. Sad turnover. But but you know offensively, though, I thought you know Kansas State played hard on D. Our Cougs were just being strangely careless with the ball with turnovers on. Ended up being 20% of for our possessions. And we all know that's what Coach Sampson hates the most.
00:24:21
Speaker
Add to that, our shooting was just poor. Ending up with effective field goal percentage at 47%. That's one of the worst shooting nights in a while as well. definitely our worst offensive effort in conference play this season. Now, from a player perspective, it was still a team effort to pull out the win with three players, with player box score plus minus over plus 12. But as you had highlighted, Bill, I completely agree with you that Uzan's the guy that we should be highlighting.
00:24:51
Speaker
Player box score plus minus plus 13.5. And then again, eight assists, zero turnovers on a night where... you know, his counterparts or his his teammates on the wings combined for eight turnovers. So really just some heady play by a senior that kept things under control. So now why don't we jump to the preview of the two monster games this week? And Tom, why don't you get started on the ISU Big Monday game?
00:25:19
Speaker
What's your coaches take on the team from your neck of the woods after they just gave a hot Kansas team a major, major beat down? It's going to be played in ah Hilton. I think it's an eight o'clock game, big Monday. um Place will be packed.
00:25:36
Speaker
it's it's It's going to be a super atmosphere, but from a coach's standpoint, ah you know, my keys are you start first with the Holy Trinity. You have to defend, rebound, ah take care of the ball, which we didn't do against, against K-State. We're going to have to handle the traps. And that goes with take care of the ball. Kansas,
00:25:55
Speaker
You know, Bill Self is not an idiot. You know, he's he's already already in the Hall of Fame, but Kansas did not handle ISU's trapping it at all. They were just throwing the ball all over all over Hilton.
00:26:07
Speaker
So we're we're going to have to be able to, ah you know, to handle that those traps and that pressure. Iowa State... um difficult to play with because they trap in different areas of the floor. They have ah you know different color codes. They might yell out yellow, which you know means we're going to trap it you know this guy at you know when he's in this part of the floor. so lot of preparation for Iowa State.
00:26:34
Speaker
um E-Man and JoJo have to stay out of foul trouble. They have to. E-Man, somewhere down the road, he's got in a bad habit of you know and just instead of throwing his hands up. he He's reaching in, slapping in instead of being more disciplined ah on on defense. So it's important, it's imperative for that those two do not get in foul trouble.
00:26:59
Speaker
Kingston, we got to get him back on track. Yeah. And then we got to get some contributions from the bench, which on the road, ah you know, then not always happens, but we have to get some type of bench contribution.
00:27:12
Speaker
Psycho. Yeah. You got to get, we got to get something from Harwell, maybe something from Mercy McCarty. We're not going to win. I don't think without any bench contributions.
00:27:23
Speaker
So. ah it's going to be a tough, it's going to be ah a dog fight. I don't see either team winning by a whole bunch. You know, if I think it might come down to a couple of possessions at the, at the end.
00:27:38
Speaker
And you know, hopefully we pull it, we pull this one out. It'd be interesting to see what the matchups are. They've got a lip they have mom. See, LeVich you have Jefferson. So you have the big three there.
00:27:52
Speaker
And it'll be interesting to see what our what our matchups are going to look like. They start a freshman, Toure. They start a transfer from Virginia, ah Buchanan. to big And then they bring then they bring some guys off the bench. They got a freshman.
00:28:06
Speaker
He's escaping my... mind right now what his what his last name is. But ah he can score off the bench. and yeah It's good team. This is going to be – and Iowa State plays great at home. They don't play so great necessarily on the road, but they are they are great at home.
00:28:27
Speaker
This is why we got in the Big 12, guys. I know. Right here, this ah this stretch of games. No more East Carolinas or Tulsa's or South Florida's. Who wins, Tom?
00:28:38
Speaker
We do. Wow. By half a point. By half a point. Love it. No, what I say it it comes down to...
00:28:50
Speaker
couple of possessions at the end. you know Two years ago, we had chance to win it, and I think LJ took the shot. I was there ah for that game. I'm surprised we didn't go to Jamal because Jamal was kind of like on a heater or sharp, but but LJ took the took the last shot to win the game and missed.
00:29:08
Speaker
We were down by two, and he took a three, and then we fouled. We ended up losing by four. Yeah, i think I think we win in a nail-biter. I think that K-State performance has probably got our guys' attention.
00:29:22
Speaker
And as so I see us pulling this one out. All right.
Preview of Arizona Game
00:29:26
Speaker
Okay, how about you, Bill, from a player's perspective with issu with ISU? 22-3, 9-3 in conference. All three of their losses have been in conference. I think after – this weekend, six in Ken Palm, 17-0 offense, five in defense, and and and we'll see where they are after the TCU loss earlier in the week, but for the moment, five in the AP.
00:29:56
Speaker
ah The three losses, Kansas, Cincinnati, and and TCU, and you're like, geez, Cincinnati and TCU, but but all three were on the road. Yeah.
00:30:10
Speaker
they've They've handled everyone at home. And this game, unfortunately, is, as you mentioned, Tom, at Hilton, two days following Kansas State. Iowa State at home in conference games is winning by an average of 20.7 points. So it's going to be tough.
00:30:28
Speaker
points so it's going to be it's going to be tough Tom, you mentioned their players, and I'll run them run through them real quickly. Lipsy, great player, six one senior point guard, 13 points, four boards, five assists, 2.3 steals, and only one turnover. But he's only shooting 28% from three, so hopefully that will continue. And with our perimeter defense, I would imagine it should.
00:31:00
Speaker
Killian Touré. He's their shooting guard. He's only six two so kind of a small backcourt. About 10 points, 3.5 boards, a couple turnovers per game, and again, a poor three-point shooter. So, yeah, defend, and ah hopefully that continues. Leading scorer is Momsilovic, and i always have to bring him up because he's from – basically Milwaukee, Pewaukee. Yeah, he's so good.
00:31:33
Speaker
But yeah he's leading them 18.5 points per game, 54% from the field, and 51.5% from three. This is going to be a tough matchup you know because their small forward is is him, is 6'8".
00:31:50
Speaker
yeah So it's it's either going to be I wouldn't be surprised if it's Sharp guarding him, possibly Yu-Zan, if Sharp needs to play Lipsy. But I would guess it's going to be Sharp. yeah Jefferson, I think, is their best player and has been this year, just under 17 points, 7.5 boards, over assists, per game.
00:32:21
Speaker
ah He does commit almost three turnovers and he's 50% from the field and 40% from three. I mean, he's, he, he's been their best player. He's, he's athletic. He,
00:32:33
Speaker
yeah he Great passer. I think is going to be, I think he has to be defended by Senac and that's going to be a big challenge.
00:32:44
Speaker
Uh, you know Then a couple other guys, you mentioned Buchanan. he'll he'll be He's their big guy. He'll be defended by Tuggler. And then Nate Heiss, Heiss, E. Heiss, whatever, who is about as deadly an outside shooter as as there is in the country.
00:33:04
Speaker
And this year he's he's still playing over 20 minutes a game, but he's scoring five points a game, and he's shooting 28.5% from three, which,
00:33:15
Speaker
to me is, is just really odd. He's he's just been awful, quite honestly. Yeah. This is going to be a huge challenge for us. And yeah, I don't know that.
00:33:28
Speaker
And Tom, you, you talked about, i don't know that Kingston's been defended like this, uh, you know, like Lipsy and, and Toure are going to be all over him. Again, Monsilovich, super athletic Jefferson are going to be matchup difficulties for us.
00:33:49
Speaker
yeah They, they can turn the ball over, yep which could really work to our benefit and hopefully does. You know, Next, and I hate, I hate, hate, hate to continue kicking this dead horse. And Tom, you mentioned it as well.
00:34:08
Speaker
But if Tuggler sits and watches this game, we lose. yeah ah He has to be on the court. And I think he particularly has to be on the court to to hopefully help Sanak with Jefferson as well as to hit the offensive boards.
00:34:27
Speaker
Obviously, obviously he needs to do that all that without following. yeah you know don't Don't let the second half versus Kansas State resurface. We've got to protect the ball. Tom, you mentioned that the the the doubling. and and We've got to protect the ball. and you know People like to to overreact, particularly if things don't go well.
00:34:53
Speaker
and yeah You know, it's not going to be the end of the world if we lose this game. We're in really good shape right now. you know, almost every other team right now is losing games and winning on the road in the Big 12 is just really, really difficult.
00:35:11
Speaker
I think ISU wins this game 73-68. Sorry. have How many points? Sorry. What was your your spread? 73-68. 5.5. Okay. seventy three sixty eight twenty five five okay Yeah.
00:35:25
Speaker
ah You're on mute, Tom. I think the first one to 60 will win. ah First one to 60. Okay, we'll see. i mean, I'll track that as well. I mean, guys, ISU is an elite team, and they're definitely going to be our biggest test to date. They come in, as you guys had mentioned, number six in Ken Palm having just destroyed Kansas.
00:35:45
Speaker
ISU is currently 17th in adjusted offensive efficiency and just an incredible number five adjusted defensive efficiency. while Houston's now number four in Ken Palm, 17th in adjusted offensive efficiency after a couple of choppy games, while improving to number six in adjusted defensive efficiency.
00:36:04
Speaker
ISU's a great shooting team, and You know, honestly, Tom, I never thought I'd say that, but they are just a great shooting team. 11th in effective field goal percentage, and especially deadly from three-point range where they're number four in Ken Palm. Make things that much tougher for our D, ISU, like us, is also an incredible offensive rebounding team. In fact, they're better than we are, ranking number four in Ken Palm in offensive rebound rate. But the one-week spot, and Bill, you mentioned it,
00:36:36
Speaker
is that they can be at times turnover prone, 101st in turnover percentage via Ken Palm. So expect us to really dial up the pressure on the ball and focus a lot more on defending every shot along the three point arc. Now on defense for they're really good, but not, not, great at challenging every shot, but like us, they're elite at turning teams over their eighth and turnover percentage defense. So it's going to be really critically important for both Flemings and Nuzan to be careful with the ball this game, because this is going to be the toughest pressing team that we've, we've seen to date and expect us to feed it inside Tugler and for Flemings to take it to the rim because they do not have any great shot blockers inside.
00:37:24
Speaker
Now, based on the metrics, this is projected to be a three-point loss for the Cougs on the road by Ken Palm. Hilton is possibly the toughest place to play in
Predictions and Conclusion
00:37:33
Speaker
the Big 12. And though I think we correct the ship on the turnover front, like you, Bill, I think we do come up just a bit short with a 72-70 loss.
00:37:43
Speaker
So I'm hoping we're wrong, but you know it's a tough ask to be winning in Hilton. Now, Bill, why don't we jump to our Arizona game? And we are hosting Arizona on Saturday.
00:37:57
Speaker
They're reeling a bit after losing to both Kansas and then Tech. What's your view of the team from a player's perspective? Yeah, and undefeated nine days ago, now 23-2 after going down at Kansas and in overtime at home yesterday to tech, uh, which helps me with our bets, Steve. Uh, yeah, I think I've conceded at this point.
00:38:25
Speaker
Yeah. Puts, uh, puts Arizona second to us now in the in the big 12, uh,
00:38:33
Speaker
Yeah, despite the consecutive losses, yeah Arizona remains one spot ahead of us. Three versus four in Ken Palm. They're ninth in offense. They're third in D ah versus our 12 in offense and six defensively.
00:38:52
Speaker
Both their losses kind of shocked me. yeah I picked... Ironically, i picked Kansas to beat Arizona by four, and that's exactly what happened.
00:39:05
Speaker
But i absolutely, and I told some people this prior to the game, I absolutely would have changed my prediction had I known that, you know, I don't i don't want to.
00:39:19
Speaker
I'm not sure what to call it. What is it in the NBA? Is it load? look load Load management. Load management. load management ah Pre-Madonna, Darren Peterson would not have played had I known that, and it was only announced about an hour prior to the game. I may not have made the same prediction that I did. but They still pulled it off. Fortunately, I couldn't – you know go back and and change things on the podcast. So as far as as far as the predictions go, I was exactly right.
00:39:55
Speaker
Let's see. yeah the the Tech game, well, the Kansas game surprised me. The Tech game also surprised me in a game where not one person, i think on either team, could shoot outside of and And yeah, to and what's his name? Atwell hit hit some threes late. But for the majority of the game, nobody could shoot except for Toppin, who killed Arizona. And that surprised me.
00:40:29
Speaker
Because, I mean, there's Arizona is so good inside. They're tall, long. I just, that didn't, that that came as a surprise to me. Unfortunately,
00:40:44
Speaker
We don't have anyone who can dominate and fight offensively. So, you know, we'll see what happens. ah Arizona really only played seven versus Tech, seven players versus Tech, but quite honestly, all are major contributors. So,
00:41:02
Speaker
Run through them as fast as I can. The backcourt is sensational. Jaden Bradley, 6'3", senior point guard, originally came from Alabama.
00:41:14
Speaker
Great player on both ends of the court. 13.5 points, 4.5 assists. Shoots forty nine percent from the field thirty percent from three This is going to be the second straight really tough matchup for Kingston.
00:41:30
Speaker
Braden Burry a 6'4 freshman who had us on his final list of of schools to come to. He's been outstanding. He's going be one and done.
00:41:41
Speaker
ah 16 points. He shoots 50% from the field, 37% from three. This is going to be a phenomenal matchup because it's clearly going to be sharp.
00:41:53
Speaker
yeah Kratznikov, freshman with decades of European pro experience, decent player. ah Koa Pete, and I'm not sure, and when it comes to predicting this, i at this point, I'm not sure, and I've told you guys, I'm not sure really what to what to do because Pete got injured in that game. He missed the entire second half of the tech game. and And so I don't know if that means by the time Saturday rolls around that he, he won't be playing or he will, I'm just going to assume he will.
00:42:32
Speaker
And, you know, six, eight, another one and done six, eight freshmen power forward. He also had us on on his short list, uh, 14 points, five and a half boards, uh, two and a half assists, 50% from the, uh, floor.
00:42:49
Speaker
And like I said, I'm guessing he'll play, uh, if he doesn't, then it's going to be Toby Awaka, the six, eight senior power forward, power forward slash center, ah 10 points, 10 boards. he He is a beast inside, offensively and defensively. And then you've got, I'm not even going to try to pronounce his his last name, Crevas, the 7'2 junior center. 11 points, 9 boards, 59% shooter.
00:43:21
Speaker
He was injured, foot injury all of last year. He's so talented though, that him coming back, just coming back forced Henry Vissar to, who had a grant good year last year for Arizona, transferred to to Carolina.
00:43:38
Speaker
Yeah. I guess the last guy I'll mention is Anthony Del Orso. This guy is a three point shooter. He's Australian, uh, which a lot of people don't know. And, and, uh,
00:43:51
Speaker
even though he's a great outside shooter, I think even, and Steve, you'll like this, Yvonne Goulagon would question his toughness. just just Just keep him off the arc. This team is not a great at all three-point shooting team, but they are big. As I mentioned, they're big, they're tall.
00:44:17
Speaker
They make it hard to both... score inside while also being very effective offensively inside.
00:44:29
Speaker
And the three on defense and Kempom would prove that out. yeah If, God, if Tuggler gets into foul trouble,
00:44:43
Speaker
that's this is going to be really not good because we're going to need all three big guys to play against them. Agreed. and yeah I do think Sharp's going to frustrate Burries, and I think we'll get enough defensive stops inside to benefit us versus Arizona.
00:45:03
Speaker
you know Like Iowa State, Arizona is also prone to turning the ball over a bit And hopefully that's something that we can capitalize on.
00:45:17
Speaker
You know, I think in the end, i would say snack will be our X factor. And I think it's, he's going to make it, uh, difficult for them, particularly with him, uh, shooting on the perimeter. Uh, I'm not sure he'll be playing Krivos. Uh, you know, I guess we'll, we'll see, but, uh,
00:45:42
Speaker
But I think he's going to be really key for us, and I think he will be the X factor. Again, this is a really hard game to pick. Sorry, folks, for the technical difficulties here, but I know Bill was was finishing up on his preview. So, Bill, why don't you keep going?
00:46:02
Speaker
Yeah, like I was saying, this is a really difficult game to predict, largely because i don't know at this point what what Pete's status is.
00:46:13
Speaker
And having lost two games in a row, I'm curious to see how Arizona responds at home ah to BYU this week. If they mop the floor with them, then... then They've got the ship righted.
00:46:30
Speaker
ah if If they're flat and it's and it's a that an ugly game, or even if they were to lose, which I doubt will happen, then then and look at it a little differently. ah In the end, I'm going to make my prediction based on Pete being healthy and playing and Arizona taking care of BYU.
00:46:50
Speaker
And with that said... The Fertitta Center is going to be the difference. We're so good there. And we're going to win a very close game, seventy three seventy Nice. How about you, Tom? ah Arizona, Coach Lloyd, what are your thoughts?
00:47:09
Speaker
ah you're You're on mute, Tom. They're a complete team. Frankly, i was surprised at how well Burry has played for Arizona this year coming out of high school.
00:47:22
Speaker
You know, I'm i'm surprised that the the just the way he plays, he plays, you know, for a freshman, plays really good defense. ah He shares the ball in offense. I kind of thought when he came in out of high school, he was going to be more like a, you know, shoot first, ask questions later type of type of guard. But he's just a super player, super scorer. I mean, he's passed. He can do it all.
00:47:44
Speaker
Bill mentioned the status of Co-A-Pete. um So far, I haven't heard anything. I think he had his ah calf taped up. i I expect him to play in the next and the next in the next game. I do, too.
00:47:58
Speaker
But they're just a complete team. You mentioned Krivos, 7-2, 7-3. They got Koa Pete on the front front court. Then they have Awaka coming off the bench, who's just an outstanding ah player, too.
00:48:12
Speaker
I think they got a little bit better when Del Orso went to the bench and they brought in the German-Russian Korchenkov. I think that's his name. I can't remember. But we talked about him before. He's 19, but he's 19 going on 35, you know, with the experience he has. You know, he's...
00:48:31
Speaker
you know tech you know If you want to get technical, yeah, he's a freshman, but but he's not really a freshman. they're just They're just a solid team. I know they have another freshman, Aristote, I think his name is, something like that. He didn't play last game, I think, because of illness.
00:48:47
Speaker
He's another ah bench piece for them. But we're playing at the Fertitta, and I think we hold hold serve against them. Should be another electric atmosphere in the Big 12.
00:49:00
Speaker
You know, we – Iowa State on Monday, ah Arizona on Saturday, and then Fog Island on Monday. ah it doesn't get any better than this. Hopefully we can come out 2-1 on this trip, ah you know, this three-game swing, be greedy and go 3-0. But, you know, this is going to make us better for the tournament. yeah Who's the pick, Tom?
00:49:24
Speaker
Yeah. Go Cougs. Go Cougs. Love it. Over, over, bear down. Okay. We're gonna, we're gonna, um, I find it hard, hard to pick against the Cougs, but I know us, I know I said we, when, we'd lose four conference games, Bill, but I don't know.
00:49:42
Speaker
when it when it comes down to When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, I just can't pick. You just can't pick against us? i can't it did I think you've picked us every game, so you're going to have to pick us to lose the last four games of the season. Colorado, Oklahoma State, Baylor. I don't know who the other game is, but yeah.
00:50:02
Speaker
Kansas. anyway First game of the conference tournament. Oh yeah, Kansas. kansas and i was thinking about I was thinking about this on the podcast, you know, Not only do we have to play Iowa State and Ames, but if we play them in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, we're playing them Hilton South. You know, it's... ah Yeah, we'll see. Yeah, but that's the case. That was the case last year as well. Yeah.
00:50:28
Speaker
And quite honestly, with when you've got Arizona, you've got Kansas, you've got Iowa State, you know, we'll see about BYU if Saunders is is done, which it sounds like he is. But...
00:50:41
Speaker
But, yeah, getting – you know, playing us – and it depends upon which side of the draw they're on. If they're on our side, then, then yeah, we'd likely play them. but But if they're not – Yeah, so many teams this year. Yeah, this conference is too good.
00:50:58
Speaker
And I'll mention one last thing. I've seen tickets for the Arizona game going for – up to $600 per ticket.
00:51:09
Speaker
Oh, maybe I have to sell tickets. It could be more. Well, heck, you could try you could you could sell those tickets and the one-piece stuff you're getting and you can retire. There you go.
00:51:21
Speaker
Well, yeah I mean, when I look this game, for at least half the season, Arizona has looked like the best team in the country. Now they come in – I guess a little wobbly after two losses and the BYU coming up before ours.
00:51:34
Speaker
They're still, like you had highlighted, to build number three in Ken Palm. On offense, Arizona is elite at number nine in adjusted offensive efficiency, while on D, they're even better ah at number three in adjusted defensive efficiency.
00:51:49
Speaker
Now, Arizona loves to run. They're 26th in tempo, and they shoot the ball extremely well, 40th in effective field goal percentage, which kind of hits our excellent threshold. And like us in ISU, they are a beast at offensive rebounding their misses, that number of four in offensive rebound rate. But like Iowa State, they can sometimes be a little bit careless at protecting the ball. They're 91st in turnover percentage.
00:52:15
Speaker
And though Arizona is decent at shooting the three, they love to score inside. So really expect us to pressure the ball and pack it in a bit on D just to get them out of their comfort zone.
00:52:28
Speaker
Now on defense, Arizona is very hard-nosed like us. They're elite at defending the two, good at defending the three, but they don't force a lot of turnovers. And they're like one hundred thirty six in turnover percentage D. And they actually, given their height, they don't block a ton of shots either. They're 77th in block percentage.
00:52:48
Speaker
ah Really, it's nitpicking at this point because not a lot of holes on this Arizona d So I think discipline is going to be key in this game as well, you know, with both Fleming's and Uzon needing to protect the ball.
00:53:01
Speaker
Arizona's big inside, but I don't believe they're very quick. So I expect a lot of Fleming's driving inside and either scoring, passing out for a three, or dumping it off to the bigs for a dunk in this game.
00:53:13
Speaker
Based on the metrics, this is projected to be a one-point win for Houston at home by Ken Palm. I think it's going to a close one as well. So I think it ends up being a 73-70 three-point for us.
00:53:24
Speaker
three point width for us You picked the exact same score I did. i did. i did. Copycat. i made a agreement well I didn't want to change my you know my prediction since I had prepped it already. but But i I hope we pull it off. We need to win at least one of these next three games. And these first two will be ah will be very telling.
00:53:47
Speaker
So that's it for our 73rd episode of the No Conference for All Men podcast. Hope you all enjoyed it. And again, would really appreciate it if folks would follow, subscribe, collect our podcast on whatever your platform of choice is.
00:53:58
Speaker
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00:54:11
Speaker
We appreciate the continued support from all. Also, please give us follow our Twitter account, No Conference for Old Men. Thank you all again for listening. And please be on the lookout next week to download and listen as our next episode drops.
00:54:24
Speaker
Take care, everyone.
00:54:27
Speaker
Go Cougs!