Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
HORNS DOWN, I meant Horns Go Down + Prep for Epic KU Battle
109 Plays1 year ago
Welcome to Episode 14 of the No Conference for Old Men Podcast.
The Cougars are now 19-2, 6-2 in the Big 12 Conference & now a 1/2 game ahead in 1st place, after another defensive smothering effort against Kansas St & then some disciplined play to close out a charged up Texas team on the road. We begin this episode with a summary of the Kansas St & Texas games, highlight the other Big 12 games each of us identified last week, then transition to previewing the Cougars' epic upcoming conference game this week vs Kansas (& Okie St as well), and wrap up with a new set of other Big 12 games of interest.
- No Conference for Old Men is available for free via Spotify / Apple Podcast / SoundCloud & the GoCoogs.com website
- Intro / Exit music: Ground Zero provided by FreeBeats.io
- Please follow us on https://gocoogs.com/old-men/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Episode Overview
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome, folks, to the 14th episode of No Conference for Old Men, the podcast where three old guys are talking Houston Cougars basketball with a bit of Big 12 coverage sprinkled in as well, and proud members of the Goku's.com network, the number one Houston Cougars content provider around.
Houston Cougars' Recent Victories
00:00:21
Speaker
Now into the last week of January, our Houston Cougars hit a pivotal stretch of games this week and have had come out swinging going 2-0 for the week, with another stifling defensive effort turning over Kansas State at home for a 74-52 dismantling, and then with a quick turnaround for a big Monday trip to Austin, where we clawed out a close 76-72 overtime win over the Longhorns after surviving some questionable calls that's expected when on the road.
00:00:51
Speaker
The result? We're now in sole possession of the number one spot in the Big 12 standings, half a game up pending tonight's games. So today, it's all three of us back again with Tom Lydiak, former coach, Bill Walker, former player, and myself, Steve Cheng, analytics guy for this week's episode. Same format where we'll start off summarizing Houston's two games this past week.
00:01:11
Speaker
with most of the time dedicated to the Texas win. Each of us will then provide an update on the key Big 12 games we individually highlighted, then move into a deep preview of the upcoming KU and Oklahoma State games coming up this week, and finally identify some additional Big 12 games each of us will be zeroing in on.
00:01:31
Speaker
Okay, let's get right
Defense Analysis Against Kansas State
00:01:32
Speaker
into it. Two great wins where we face one great defensive team in KSU and a good one that played great against us in Texas. Just like back in the American Athletic Conference, we are now getting every team's best shot in the Big 12 each week. Eye-opening how incredible a program Coach Sampson has built here.
00:01:52
Speaker
In recapping the two games played, let's start with a quick summary of the Kansas State game. So Tom, what are your coaches thoughts on our 74-52 over Kansas State?
00:02:03
Speaker
Okay. 74 52 UCF game was 57 42. It was overall another dominating defensive effort by our Cougs, not as dominant, not as stifling as UCF. If you recall the UCF game, they just had trouble getting off a shot. And if it wasn't for, you know, some free throws toward the end, you know, we would have kept them.
00:02:27
Speaker
below 40. But the Kansas State game, it was tough for Kansas State to get to get shots. They did a little bit better job than UCF of getting some shots off. But, you know, they were all contested and we do a great job of scouting. And, you know, there's a reason some guys are going to be open. It's because they can't shoot. And we do a great job of preparing for opponents and
00:02:50
Speaker
and taking away their shooters and make some of these other guys beat us. Got off to a quick start, looked like we got off to a 7-0 start. Kansas State didn't get their first basket until 14-08, left in the half. Anytime it looked like K-State made a bucket and maybe it looked like they might make a run, it was
00:03:10
Speaker
Jamal shed, you know, he would come through with a bucket or get to the line. So overall, you know, it was 41 21 at half. Just another excellent defensive job by, by U of H kind of like workmen like fashion, you know, some people grip and moan about our offense, but are, you know, we're 19 and two right now. We're six points away from being undefeated. There's a lot of teams in the country.
00:03:38
Speaker
I would like to have our offense, couple that with our defense.
Game Highlights: Texas & Player Contributions
00:03:42
Speaker
So that's kind of the way I saw the game. Coach Tang, Jerome Tang had some nice words for our basketball program. Matter of fact, he said it was the best defense he's ever seen.
00:03:55
Speaker
He was at Baylor when they won the national championship. So we'll see. We got a lot of basketball left and hopefully we raise a banner and put it in for Tita center. Yeah, exactly. How about you, Bill? What'd you think? Well, Tom, you're killing me. The first thing I had written down was that drone tanks said this was the best defense he's ever encountered. And I was going to say no argument from me. Very wise words. Both teams shot 40%.
00:04:24
Speaker
Not great. Both hit a third of their threes. One huge difference. We were 23 of 34 at the line. They were seven of 12. And that's usually not the case with us. It's, it's usually the other team that, you know, the only reason that UCF scored their 52 was, was because they took about 51 free throws. But that was not only the defense, not committing fouls, but being aggressive offensively and
00:04:52
Speaker
getting to the line. The two big stats that we won in addition to the free throws, 18 to 8 turnovers, obviously, K-State committing 18, and we beat them on the boards 38-28, which is no surprise because they've got a good backcourt, a good perimeter game where we have a difference. Real strength over them is in the front court, even though they're
00:05:19
Speaker
perimeter game is good, Tyler Perry, Cam Carter, Arthur Columa. We played them very well. We forced them into tough shots. Carter did some scoring in the second half. But like I said, it was the front court. Their starters McNair and Nageson had a combined four points and five fouls. And again, Tom, you mentioned we got off to a great start like we typically do. And we're up 41-21 at the half. Juwan, I thought, played a really solid
00:05:49
Speaker
28 minutes, he had 14.6 boards. He was hitting jump hooks with both hands, scoring inside. Jamal scored 17 lettuce, but this really was a team effort. Sharp had kind of another poor shooting game, but he spent a lot of time having to play the bigger Columa. He grabbed six boards and so solid game for Sharp. 22 minutes, Dunn played well, which didn't translate to Texas, but he played well.
00:06:19
Speaker
He scored 13 points, four boards. He went seven of eight from the line. They'll cry and shed when they guarded Tyler Perry at different times. They just made life hell for him. It made him probably wish he was back at North Texas. He shot one of five for the game and scored three points. Miley looked to play more point guard. I thought he actually didn't take an official shot. He did get to the line, but he looked to be trying to distribute the ball, which I liked. And then.
00:06:48
Speaker
You know, Javier grabbed eight boards. He was aggressive inside. And I mean, he's just played well in every single big 12 game so far. And that was just great. Bottom line, I think the Fertitta Center may provide possibly the best home court advantage in the country.
00:07:06
Speaker
The team took advantage of it and took apart Kansas State pretty. Yeah, completely agree. Starters remained the same for this game. It was Shet Cryer, Sharp, Roberts, and Francis. As you guys had highlighted, we dominated defensively from start to finish, really in their faces from the beginning, not really allowing any clear pass or looks at the basket. We started fast, never looked back.
00:07:29
Speaker
And as you guys had highlighted, led by 20 points at the half and really coasted in the second half. We so thoroughly dominated this game and it allowed all of our starters to get rest for a quick turnaround game on Monday versus UT, which we'll get to, with really only Sharp playing more than 30 minutes, which is very rare for us.
00:07:49
Speaker
You could say that Shawan and Shed were the stars for UH, but everyone contributed positively to this game. A true team effort is you'd highlighted Bill, where five players were in double digit player box score plus minus with both Javiay and Jojo within those five, which is great.
00:08:09
Speaker
One player I will highlight, though, and you mentioned him as well, was Malik Wilson, who played 13 solid minutes. I will admit, I've been critical of his play throughout this season since he has good skills, he's athletic, and we need him to contribute more in playing team-oriented ball. And this was really the first game. And you and I sat together at this game, right, Bill, where I actually made the comment that, hey,
00:08:34
Speaker
it felt like the light finally went on for him and he started playing within our system. So a big well done for Malik from me who ended up with a plus 6.1 player box score plus minus. Now for the K state game from an advanced analytics perspective, I'm not going to spend too much time on this keys to the win is you guys had already highlighted
00:08:56
Speaker
were our relentless offensive rebounding where we played the standard, grabbing 39.5% of offensive rebounding and turning K-State over on 28% of their possessions, which is actually above our number one rated 25.4% turnover rate for opponents this season based on Ken Pong.
Texas Game Recap & Player Performance
00:09:16
Speaker
But as we noted at the beginning of the podcast, a super quick turnaround for a road trip to Austin for a big Monday showdown versus the hated Longhorns, who are climbing off a tough loss on the road at BYU. Those statistically, Texas is not a great defensive team. They played extremely hard on that side of the ball against us as our Cougars ground out a 76-72 win over Texas on the road. Bill, why don't you go ahead first on this one? What were your thoughts?
00:09:44
Speaker
All right. Well, I got to start with a real quick story. One of my oldest friends, his name is John Seagert from Racine, Wisconsin, and a UT grad, just like Tyrese Hunter, but more importantly, a no conference for old men subscriber texted me shortly after the game to almost congratulate me on my prediction.
00:10:06
Speaker
when we previewed the game last week. He said that I hit UT's regulation score of 65 and U of H's OT score of 76. I apparently have to do 76-65. Close but not entirely correct. And I guess I need to realize that it takes two teams to either end the game in regulation or play through overtime. And I've played or been involved watching basketball for several decades. And all I can do is apologize. I'll try to learn
00:10:36
Speaker
more basketball by the next podcast. With that said, this game was epic. We played a really strong first half. We held UT to 25 points. We probably could have been up by more. Missed a few shots inside. On the other hand, UT give credit where credit's due. They put up 40 in the second half. And in the end, we were a little bit better.
00:11:04
Speaker
especially at overtime. Shed was the star of stars and he showed the nation how truly great he is at 25 points.
00:11:13
Speaker
Eight boards, four assists, four following out. He was just spectacular. Roberts had 14 and eight. He played really well inside. Sharp and Cryer didn't shoot especially well, but they did hit some big shots. And in overtime, big free throws. Sharp had eight boards. In fact, every one of our starters other than Cryer, four of the five starters had eight boards. So that was a big difference.
00:11:41
Speaker
Really, the one guy that played off the bench, you could say we kind of played six and a half players in the game because Dunn only played 12 minutes and wasn't especially productive. But God, Tuggler was just all over the place. He's been quiet lately, but he really played well. And I think he probably showed not only the nation, but everyone what he's capable of doing and probably what he will be doing going forward. He had five boards, he had two blocks.
00:12:11
Speaker
He was really aggressive. Roberts played well inside. We had the four of the five starters with eight boards. We dominated the boards 48, 37. As far as Texas goes, and I'm going to lead into something that's going to make both of you guys cringe, but you alluded to it, Steve. This was the best D by far. I've seen UT play this year. I've seen him on TV. I think four times I saw him live playing LSU before.
00:12:37
Speaker
at the Toyota Center before U of H played A&M. It makes it somewhat hard to believe that they're only 14 and seven as hard as they played the other night. And off the talent they've got too, right? And then lastly, and this is the part that's going to kind of make you guys cringe. I thought Rodney Terry coached a good game. They were down at halftime. Second half, he switched Weaver over to Shed, who really annoyed Shed. He did a good job denying him the ball. He pressured him.
00:13:08
Speaker
I mean, he made Jamal work hard. He had the guards penetrate quickly to avoid the double teams. He had the big guys when they got the ball in the post passing quickly to beat the double teams and find open shooters, find open looks. They got some very open looks underneath the basket, but you know, they moved the ball quickly. And, and I thought Terry as a coach really stepped up in this game and had them
00:13:36
Speaker
really play hard. The bottom line here was that U of H was just a better, more aggressive team down the stretch and hit key free throws.
Houston's Position in Conference
00:13:45
Speaker
Fortunately, we came away with the win. I was on my feet the entire game and was so keyed up that I couldn't go to sleep for about two hours after the game.
00:13:54
Speaker
Yeah, I'll bet. I mean, I don't disagree with your assessment of Terry. I'll give him credit as well for this game. Doesn't change my opinion of him as an overall coach on the whole. But for this game, yeah, I thought he did a great job as well. So Tom, what were your thoughts?
00:14:11
Speaker
Well, I think the game was watched by a lot of people in the country. I think a lot of people who aren't familiar with U of H basketball, you know, watch the game and, you know, it was eye-opening to them to see how hard we play and how great of a defensive team we are and just how tough we are. Just looking at some comments, some of the social media platforms. You know, you're always going to have some naysayers out there, but I think that game being at 8 o'clock on the ESPN feature game, we're getting
00:14:41
Speaker
Quite a bit of respect. And speaking of respect, before the season started, I thought Kansas was going to win the conference. I thought they would go like 13-5. We'd go 12-6. And they'd be the hunted team. But I think we're the hunted team now. I think we're getting everybody's best effort. Teams that normally don't defend are defending when they play us. They're playing hard, especially when we play them at home. So yeah, I think
00:15:09
Speaker
It's kind of like the American Athletic Conference where we were the hunted. I think we're already the hunted team and we haven't even played half the schedule yet. Eight games in. Yeah. You know, the next game will be the half play point. You know, if you're a Houston Cougar basketball fan, it's great. But getting back to the game, it was a good first half, but you always kind of get this feeling that
00:15:33
Speaker
The home team is going to make a run. I didn't think they'd make a run and go up by six. Yeah. And we opened it up with two threes right away. We ran a, ran the same play. Uh, we ran it for a manual first and then we ran it for LJ Crier, a little flare screen there by.
00:15:50
Speaker
and so we got off to a good start offensively in the second half and then we got up 11 and then the wheels just fell off, especially defensively. I thought the beginning of that half defensively was very similar to the TCU game.
00:16:07
Speaker
I think where we gave up like 39 second half points, Texas got 29 points in the first 12 minutes of the second half. And, you know, I just thought it was 54 48. And I thought that's it. And then shed shed and sharp happened. Yeah. Just cold blooded. Uh, I think Steve, you texted me and said it was, it was cold blooded. But you look at Jamal shed his, you know, his three point percentage might not be the best.
00:16:37
Speaker
But he's kind of like the, you know, the Astros hitters, Bregman, Altuve. It's not how many home runs or hits they get it. It's when they get them.
00:16:48
Speaker
Jamal's a lot like that. Emmanuel Sharp is too. They might've missed four or five shots in a row, but when we need a big basket, they're there. And you could just hear the life of the crowd just being sucked out.
Jamal Shed's NBA Prospects
00:17:02
Speaker
And kudos to the U of H fans, because watching on TV, when we hit the threes, you could really hear the U of H fans. Oh yeah. Anytime we made a big play.
00:17:12
Speaker
That was great. You got to give our guys credit guts. Another gutsy went on the road. We played four road games. We're two and two and six points is the difference between being undefeated right now in the big 12. Some people have said by losing those games at TCU and Iowa State, it helped us in these last two games. I'm not so sure I'd like to
00:17:36
Speaker
learn when you win, too, you know, as opposed to learn when you lose. Looking back, I just kind of wish we had Jamal shooting that last shot against Iowa State. But, you know, you can't look back. You got to look what's in front of you. And it's Kansas on Saturday. Great win for the Cougs. Big 12 basketball. You got to love it. It's got to love it. Yeah.
00:18:00
Speaker
It's something else one road win in this conference is like 10 wins in the american No, absolutely right in every week. We're excited about every game, right? This is so so so different than either way There it came up. I think we may have discussed it at one point i've heard it from others saying you think
00:18:21
Speaker
shed can get drafted, let alone playing the NBA. I think for any scouts, anybody affiliated with the NBA watching that game the other night, I think that argument's been soundly put to rest. Yeah, I would agree. And I think the question now is, is he, is he good enough to be a first round draft pick? Or is he, is he going to be a second rounder? Right. That,
00:18:48
Speaker
You know, the NBA is the NBA is an average with potential and size and length and all this. And there are so many guys that get drafted in NBA that end up just being bags of wood, driftwood and never cut it. So I think there's always playing well as a six to two guard.
00:19:08
Speaker
Yeah, and I think, you know, uh, she'll find a spot somewhere on the NBA team. I mean, it's, he's a winner. That's what frame for Sheila said. He's what he is. Is a six letter word begins with a W a winner. And that's put it succinctly.
00:19:25
Speaker
There's not a guard point guard in the country. I'd rather have and Bill and I mentioned this at the beginning of the year. We wouldn't have any other point guard in America than Jamal shed. I like the fact that he's done it a little bit in the past, but now he's doing more being more assertive when we need a bucket.
00:19:42
Speaker
the Texas Tech game, but he had like 29 then last night. I mean, he took 24 shots or so in the Texas game, but I didn't think he was dominating the ball at all. He's more of a distributor. Let's get everybody involved in the game. And then he kind of picks the spots. Michael Jordan did that. Michael Jordan scored most of his points late in third quarter and the fourth quarter. You pick your spots and then.
00:20:06
Speaker
this time to dominate the game. He's been incredible. Once he gets going and he's running downhill, it's really tough to stop for him, right? He has his choice of shots, whether he takes it directly to the hoop or whether he pulls up for a short jumper in the lane. And no one can seem to block him either. He's just in complete control. Impressive stuff.
00:20:31
Speaker
So from an analytics perspective, the starters remain the same. Things started very quickly as you guys hit highlighted in the first half suffocating UT on the defensive side and scoring efficiently on the offensive side. Really couldn't have asked for a better first half leading 33 25.
00:20:47
Speaker
But our defense took a complete wrong turn in the third core tile of the game as tracked by Ken Palm, where we were outscored 23-15 with Texas shooting 80% from the field during that stretch. But we steady things in the fourth core tile of the game and missed a very good opportunity to end it in regulation, but really turned back up the heat on Dee in overtime for the four-point win on the road in Austin. As you guys highlighted, Shed was the star.
00:21:15
Speaker
with the 25 points eight rebounds four assists before fouling out and he was a player box score plus seven point six for the game and really took control at key moments with threes and drives to the basket as you guys had highlighted Emmanuel Sharp also came up huge for the game with 13 points three of six from three point range eight rebounds and a clutch
00:21:37
Speaker
for free throws to end the game in OT. And he was actually a plus 9.2 player box score plus minus. And though Roberts also made a huge, huge contribution, I wanted to highlight the freshman JoJo Tuggler as you had Bill, who came up huge for us with 20 high impact minutes, especially when
00:21:58
Speaker
Francis Ashley fouled out to sick wise. He only had four points. We had five rebounds two blocks multiple deflections in Kind of pushing out rebounds for our guards and a monster offensive rebound put back dunk in OT that completely silenced the crowd he was a plus four point seven player box score plus minus for the game and
00:22:22
Speaker
And I don't think that tells the whole story because it was at such a critical time that he made all those contributions. So again, I've highlighted him, my favorite player on this team, and I only expect him to get better and better as he plays through this season and the following season.
Upcoming Games & Team Development
00:22:40
Speaker
As you dig into the advanced analytics from Ken Palm, on offense, we've played the way we always play. Our effective field goal percentage was right below standard at 47% versus 50%.
00:22:50
Speaker
typically for the rest of the year. We protected the ball well with turnovers at only 14%, which is right on standard. Offensive rebound was a bit below standard at 32%. But you know what? We did well enough to generate eight more shots than Texas, which made the difference for us. On defense,
00:23:10
Speaker
Though the overall stats might not show it, we played a very strong game other than the third quartile of the game. Though Texas shot at 48.3% effective field goal rate, which is below our standard, which we've got at 41.2% being number one in the country. It was 5% below their regular rate.
00:23:33
Speaker
And especially effective limiting Texas's three point shooting to 30%, which is their strength this season and well below their conversion rate this season of 38%. So keys to the big win in Austin were no surprise offensive rebounding and defending the three.
00:23:49
Speaker
two of our main staples as a program. So a big, big week for our Cougars with two huge conference wins that got us a half game lead on top of the conference standings at the end of January and some continued strong play and growth with our bigs, Jojo and Javiay.
00:24:05
Speaker
And that's going to be needed in the no conference for old men, big 12 with a trip to play against big boy Hunter Dickinson and KU this coming Saturday. And then a home bout versus OSU on Tuesday this coming week. But before getting to those games, let's each summarize the big 12 games. Each of us highlighted last week, Tom, what was your game that you were highlighting and watching? Let's see. I think I forgot. Oh, it was, uh, it was Iowa state.
00:24:34
Speaker
And in Kansas, and I would say it was pretty much you can control most of the game. Kansas made their obligatory comeback. Iowa State had some timely shots they made down the stretch. Hilton Magic played, I think, a part in there. And Iowa State came out with a big home win. I'm looking at the stats. And if you think our stars play a lot of minutes, Kansas, they're basically a five-player team. They are.
00:25:03
Speaker
We have KJ Adams didn't foul out five per Dickinson played 38 for fee 35 Kevin McCuller 38 bench minutes Parker Braun had five I'm not sure hey McDowell is Marco Jackson there five star guard he got eight Nick don't call me Justin Timberlake seven minutes so their bench is thin very very thin I don't think Bill Self
00:25:28
Speaker
has any confidence in any of them. If we can get some key contributions, and we'll talk about the Kansas game later, but we could possibly wear Kansas down. In the Iowa State, Kansas game, like I said, it was a big win for Iowa State.
Big 12 Game Recaps
00:25:42
Speaker
Kansas, I think they have three road losses now. They got UCF, they lost to West Virginia, and now they've lost to Iowa State. So you don't think Bill Self is a happy camper right now?
00:25:54
Speaker
They're probably a little bit concerned, huh? Okay. How about you, Bill? Well, I had Texas BYU. I like taking the games where.
00:26:04
Speaker
an upcoming U of H opponent is going to be playing and BYU won the game 84-72 in Provo. I thought it would be closer and actually it was a close game for half the game. But this, unlike the U of H game, this was really a game where UT decided to kind of give defense the weekend off. In fact,
00:26:26
Speaker
If BYU was able to cut down their 43 pointers a game to only 17, they shot seven of 17, but that was because they were moving the ball. Texas wasn't reacting, responding, and they were getting easy looks inside. And there was no need to really consider shooting from outside the arc. Texas just did not particularly defend and did not defend at all in the second half. Hey, Bill.
00:26:55
Speaker
It was deep in the game that BYU is shooting 74% from the field.
00:27:01
Speaker
I was just about to say they shot 64% for the game and they went 25 of 33 from inside the arc. So yeah, they were hitting everything. They're getting wide open looks close to the basket that they just weren't being defended. And so it was nothing like like the U of H game. You know what the deal was with Texas, right? That game didn't make sense to him. Maybe.
00:27:35
Speaker
It was just insane. Jackson Robinson, eight of eleven. Nate Waterman, seven of eleven.
00:27:44
Speaker
Our friend Traori played the most minutes in the post. He went six of seven. It actually concerned me a little bit because I thought there's no way that Texas could give up that many easy shots going into the game against U of H. By the time I thought, well, you know, if they
00:28:00
Speaker
play that poorly, you know, you never know. For Texas, A-B-M-A-S, and his name is pronounced Asmos, their leading scorer who had a 20-point game against us, Max Asmos, was absolutely held in check. They don't have any great perimeter defenders, but he went 4 of 12, only scored 12 points. Dylan Deesu, their inside player, stepped up, scored 19.
00:28:26
Speaker
Like I said, it was a close game at half, but BYU scored early and often in the second half, despite committing 16 turnovers to only seven for UT. The bottom line from that game was that UT could score, but they could not defend, and that's why BYU won by 12.
00:28:44
Speaker
Hey, uh, Bill getting back to a Smith's pronunciation. I did a little quick Google search and, uh, and found that it's, uh, it's a, it's German into that. What's that? I still don't accept your, your, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I guess if it's your name, you can pronounce it any way you want, you know, Tony Dorset used to be Tony Dorset.
00:29:15
Speaker
Well, Joe Thighsman, Joe Thighsman before the Heisman trophy was Thesman. Yeah. He's not the first. That's funny. Okay. So for me, I zeroed in on the TCU at Baylor game, which was the highly entertaining game where TCU won on the road in three overtimes, 105 to 102. This was back and forth all game with Baylor taking an early lead with a run, TCU then getting back in it with their own run.
00:29:41
Speaker
Baylor led this game late in regulation and then again in the third OT, but could not hold on to win at home. Bottom line was turnovers and poor shooting from three are what did in Baylor at home with 18 turnovers by the Bears and 23 percent shooting from three from one of the best three point shooting teams in the country. So that was just a just a heartbreaker for them, especially at home.
00:30:10
Speaker
But of course, it helps our case as well. So I'm not complaining. Now let's get to the game preview for the upcoming Houston, Kansas matchup. KU just destroyed Oklahoma State last night. So there are only one game back from us and there should be great anticipation going into Saturday's game. Bill, why don't you kick off? What do you think of our game coming up at Kansas?
00:30:34
Speaker
Well, Kansas is currently number eight, although it seems like the idea of them losing and dropping in the polls is absolutely unheard of. They're blue blood. Right. That's why.
00:30:47
Speaker
at 17 and 4, 5 and 3 in conference. Their biggest wins so far were they beat Kentucky, they beat Tennessee, they beat OU by 12. And like I did when we talked about this previously and had previewed and commented on the game after the fact, beating TCU at home by two, which really should not have happened. I mean, their losses are to UCF, West Virginia, and then
00:31:16
Speaker
the game that you just talked about, Tom, the home loss to ISU. They're best players, Hunter Dickinson, and as you mentioned, Tom, this is not a deep team right now. Hunter Dickinson, 19 points, 11.2 rebounds, 59% from the field.
00:31:32
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to have to stop him. Kevin McCuller, the 6'7 shooting guard, swing man, 20 points a game. He's their leading scorer, but six and a half boards, five assists, 47% from three. I mean, you could argue that he's their best player, even though Dickinson gets all the pub. I mean, he is.
00:31:50
Speaker
really good. KJ Adams, 6-7 small forward, 13 points, 5 boards, over 3 assists, over 63% from the field. Their point guard, Duann Harris, is shooting almost 46% from 3 and 7 assists a game.
00:32:07
Speaker
And then Furphy, who started playing, Johnny Furphy, the Australian kid, 6'9", and he's shooting 41% from 3. So a lot of that leads to the obvious conclusion that Kansas is a good offensive team. They just played Oklahoma State last night. All five starters were in double figures. McCullough actually was hurt and did not play in the game. And he will end up playing against us.
00:32:35
Speaker
But he didn't play, uh, they're led by Dickinson 16 and 11 boards. Mr. Timberlake did play a significant 25 minutes and he scored all of seven points going two of eight from the field. Kansas scores, you know, they're a very good offensive team.
00:32:50
Speaker
They can play well defensively, but this team is, has been kind of soft. They don't have much depth as you've alluded to. And they have a tendency against good defensive teams to turn the ball over. They turn the ball over a lot against Marquette and Marquette's a good defensive team. Marquette beat them by about 15. Marquette is not U of H when it comes to defense.
Houston vs Kansas Preview
00:33:15
Speaker
So I'm expecting to see Kansas.
00:33:18
Speaker
turn the ball over quite a bit. And once again, they just do not have the talent that they've had in the past. Yeah, I think shed will play really well against Harris. The key for us is going to be to handle McCuller. You know, Fervy will draw defenders outside. I think Joanne and Javier and whoever we have playing against Dickinson, I think will make Dickinson work his butt off. And I think wear him out.
00:33:45
Speaker
I think we end up winning this game probably by three, I'd say 72-69. I think we're going to create a lot more turnovers than people think, but I think we win 72-69. Okay. How about you, Tom? What do you think from a coach's view? I'm kind of the ballpark with Bill. I think to beat Kansas, I think we'll beat him by like three, but it means we're going to have to be like 11 points better than them, you know, on the road.
00:34:15
Speaker
and fog Allen with all these Phantom mystery calls. We'll be playing five gone to eight. So you just got to expect it on the road. I just think we're going to wear them down because of their lack of depth, defensive intensity, the way we rebound, the way we contest, like every pass, every catch, you know, we're there. I think we wear them down at the end, just physically and mentally. You got to get out on FERFI. They found their fifth starter. So.
00:34:45
Speaker
Kind of like that Tennyson kid from TCU, you know, you can't allow him just to catch and shoot, you know, a rhythm shot. Lucky you're in the gym and your old grandpa's shagging balls and throwing you passes where you just go one, two step. And I think Jamal shed will show the country that he's the best point guard in America. Cause you know, some people were saying to Juan Harris was heading into the season. Yeah.
00:35:11
Speaker
It'll be interesting to see how we defend Dickinson with a monster. It's going to be an interesting matchup. You know, our staff is great staff the way they scout. We'll have like four days to prepare for it. So, and I think our guys will be fresh mentally and physically. I'm seeing a U of H win offensively, a key since Dickinson so big on the pick and roll, he does drop coverage. So.
00:35:39
Speaker
Our guards have got to be able to have a really good mid-range game. Jamal's really good at it. Prior and Sharp just need to get better at that. Sometimes Emmanuel will get in there, and instead of just shooting the ball.
00:35:54
Speaker
He's overthinking it too much. Kind of the same with LJ when they come off the screen and they get in the middle and the big guy drops. I think they just need to be a little more assertive, be a little more aggressive. We saw that the other night with Sharp when he tried to throw that alley-oop pass. I don't know if you guys remember that one.
00:36:13
Speaker
Yeah, you can hear you got in trouble. You can read Calvin slips. Calvin didn't curse, but you can hear him say, Emmanuel, what are you doing? Nice. So I know early in the season, Tom, you had talked about possibly making this game. Are you going? Are you playing on going? I was, I was going to go, but
00:36:37
Speaker
If you combine ticket prices and I'd have to drive five and a half hours to the game and then drive straight back. No hotels in that area. Everything's booked in like a 60 to 80 mile radius.
00:36:53
Speaker
And then I got to be at work the next day. So, yeah, plus, oh, I probably wouldn't look too fondly at me forking over like 200 bucks for a ticket. I am going to go though someday. It's on my bucket list. Okay. Okay. We'll check on you next year when the game comes around again.
00:37:14
Speaker
I mean, from an analytics view, UH is number one in Ken Palm, KU is number 15. From an offensive perspective, we're number 15 in adjusted offensive efficiency. KU is a strong defensive team with a number 22 ranking in adjusted defensive efficiency. They're very disciplined.
00:37:33
Speaker
On the flip side, we're number one in adjusted defensive efficiency and KU is number 22 in adjusted offensive efficiency. On offense, KU is highly efficient and primarily a two-point shooting team at number 16 in an effective field goal percentage, but are low in offensive rebounds, ranking number 235 in offensive rebound percentage, since quite honestly, they make so many of their shots.
00:37:58
Speaker
Though KU doesn't steal the ball a lot, they do try to score quickly off steals ranking number 63 in the country, according to Haslam metrics. And they are extremely disciplined on offense with basically no reds in any of the key offensive metrics. Then you match that up against our number one effective field goal, percentage D.
00:38:19
Speaker
that defends every shot, number one defensive team in defending the two-point shot and block percentage and number three in steals. And this is going to be a dog fight with the Cougars needing to play intense D on all fronts to slow down KU's offense. On the other side, KU is disciplined at challenging every shot, ranking number 36 in effective field goal percentage D. They're especially exceptional at defending the two-point shot, ranking number 18.
00:38:50
Speaker
though not great at blocking shots. So that's kind of an interesting combination. The key for us
00:38:55
Speaker
will be our three-point shooting and how much we can turn them over to manufacturer points in transition. Based on metrics, this is projected to be a five-point win by Houston, but I'm kind of with you guys. After a tough win at Austin, I think this will be closer. I'm expecting actually a two-point win where we drag things out, force them to play D for the entire clock and test their legs given their short bench.
Houston vs Oklahoma State Preview
00:39:23
Speaker
So really a big, big game.
00:39:25
Speaker
and an exciting one that I know we're all looking forward. Now, let's get to the game preview of the subsequent Oklahoma State matchup at home. Tom, why don't you kick things off? Let folks know what you think from a coach's perspective.
00:39:38
Speaker
I'll keep it short and sweet if we just take care of business and it shouldn't be too much of a game against Oklahoma State. I think they're winless in the Big 12, I believe, correct? No, incorrect. Oh, okay. Games ago, they beat West Virginia by four. Okay. Did you get their one? Okay. In Stillwater.
00:40:01
Speaker
Okay. They won't be winning against U of H. And hopefully it's a, it's a game, a confidence Miller for guys like, uh, Malik, Damien, and Ramon to get in there and get some minutes that, uh, double dribble by Blake in the Texas game. That was cringe worthy, uh, pulled them out and yeah. And he got the captain hook really, really quick. You know, every time one step forward, two steps back.
00:40:30
Speaker
for Malik and kind of Damien sometimes, but we'll take care of business. There's no way Oklahoma State's going to beat us. All right. How about you, Bill, from a player's perspective? Well, State's 9-12, 1-7 in conference. I'd say their two best wins are the four-point win at home over West Virginia and probably a five-point overtime loss to Baylor.
00:40:57
Speaker
To be serious, they've actually been very competitive in a lot of their games. They've had a lot of two, three point losses. They've lost 12 games, seven in conference, but they've actually played a lot of close games, whether it's a good or a bad team. They play a lot of one center, four guard. They do have a power forward that gets them playing time as well, but they're a little bit guard heavy.
00:41:26
Speaker
Their best player is Bryce Thompson. Well, I'd take it back. He's not their best player. He's an intriguing player. Bryce Thompson. He's a 6'6'2 guard. He scores about 12 a game. Not a great shooter. I mentioned him first because he got hurt last night against Kansas. Four minutes into the game, he went down on his arm, kind of roughed up by Dickinson. I have no idea if being at Fog Avenue and if they called a foul or not.
00:41:53
Speaker
But Thompson ended up in a slang, and he had tests that were negative. So I'm sure by the time we play them, he'll play. Their best player is a 6-3 combo guard, Javon Small. He averages 14 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds. And he's a 39% three-point shooter, definitely their best player. And John Michael Wright is their point guard. He couldn't shoot if you paid him to. Brandon Garrison is their center. He's a 6-11 freshman.
00:42:23
Speaker
And he actually started out the game. Okay. Against Kansas last night, he shoots 57% from the field, but seven points, five and a half rebounds. And then they've got a power forward who, who scores 10 points. He often comes off the bench, but he occasionally starts Eric daily 10 points and five boards.
00:42:42
Speaker
The only other thing I have to say about this is it's not a particularly good offensive team, even though they score about 70 per game. And I'd say they're medium to mediocre defensively. Despite playing a lot of fore guard offense, we should
00:43:00
Speaker
turn them over a lot. We're going to hold them to just an abysmal field goal percentage. This probably won't be as bad as UCF, but it could be in the running. And we're going to outrebound them by a ton. I'm sure Thompson's going to play, and I'm sure it absolutely will not matter. We're going to win this game 78 to 50. I think Mike Boynton is a dead coach walking. I think so. Gallagher Iberarina used to be one of the
00:43:29
Speaker
best home court advantages in the Big 12. And I'm reading some comments on social media, and they say it's depressing. They say it's like a morgue. Well, there are so many players, too. They'll get their fair share of excitement, because the game's at the Fertitta Center. Yeah. Yeah. And Bill, you know Bryce Thompson, for as much playing time as he gets on that,
00:43:53
Speaker
team. He's a player box score minus 0.2 for the whole season. I don't think he's going to amount to much or make much of a difference in terms of helping them win. No, this game is going to be a route. Yeah, it'll be a route. I mean, again, UH is number one as we'd highlighted and Ken Palm OSU is 129.
00:44:14
Speaker
Again, as the 15th adjusted offensive efficiency team in the country in UH, we're going against the number 90th adjusted defensive efficiency team in Oklahoma State. And defense is actually their strength. So that gives you a sense of where they stand as a team. On the flip side, we're the number one defensive team in the country versus their 183rd adjusted offensive efficiency team in Oklahoma State.
00:44:41
Speaker
OSU, along with West Virginia, have been one of the worst teams in the Big 12 season, which I attribute to a ton of new players and freshmen playing a lot. Their OK shooting team focused on the three point shot and their effective field goal percentage is ranked 117th in the country. But as you had highlighted, Bill, they turned the ball over a ton.
00:45:04
Speaker
ranking 289th in the country in turnover percentage and they don't offensive rebound ranking 223rd in offensive rebounding according to Ken Palm. Then you match that up against our number one defense and
00:45:20
Speaker
Boy, it's just going to get ugly as you guys had both highlighted. On the other side, OSU is just not good at all in any particular area on D. The best thing they do is defensive rebound, where they're ranked 26, but they don't steal the ball, ranking 189th or block a lot of shots where they ranked 298th. So the Cougs just need to hit their threes, manufacture transition points for easy buckets, and we should be fine.
00:45:48
Speaker
on the road based on Ken Palm. This should be around a 22 point win for the Cougs at home. I agree with the analytics and to your point, Bill, it might even get
Other Big 12 Games & Closing Remarks
00:45:59
Speaker
uglier. The only reason it will be less is if we clear the bench early. So now moving on and looking at maybe other Big 12 games this next week that fans should pay attention to. Bill, you want to go first, which one you're actually going to be watching? Well,
00:46:15
Speaker
I have a game that on paper could be the ugliest, least interesting game of the entire season. In fact, Rob James said to me, why are you even bringing this up? I'm bringing it up because once again, I like to preview games where a upcoming U of H opponent plays. So I'm going with the can't miss Kansas state, Oklahoma state game.
00:46:44
Speaker
in Stillwater. Kansas State's 14 and 4, 4 and 4 in conference. They're also on a three-game losing streak. They were just recently atop the conference. Oklahoma State, as we've mentioned, 9 and 12, 1 and 7. The last two Kansas State losses were to us by 22 and at home against Oklahoma by 20, so drone tanks got to do something to right the ship.
00:47:11
Speaker
Oklahoma state one and seven in conference, as we mentioned, but they did get their first win against West Virginia at home recently. Follow that up with the 29 point loss at Kansas last night. Kansas state may have the three best players on the court, Tyler Perry, Cam Carter, and Arthur Kaluma, who we saw in Houston recently. They're all playing. They're all gonna, they should play well.
00:47:37
Speaker
Like I said, Javon Small, Bryce Thompson, Brandon Garrison, three best Oklahoma State players. All three are going to need to play and play well, I think to keep them in the game. But like I said, they've been competitive. They've been competitive at home. They just beat West Virginia, which.
00:47:54
Speaker
you know, isn't saying a ton, but at least they got the win. I think if Thompson's healthy, I think this will be a somewhat tighter game. Both teams score about 71 points per game. They both give up close to 70 points a game. The stats are actually quite similar for them. I'm going to give a slight edge to Jerome Tang over Mike Boynton. I don't think Boynton's in the same class as Tang and maybe on his way out.
00:48:23
Speaker
And I think he does, like I said, write the ship, get Kansas's big three to produce a little better. And I think Kansas state wins on the road 68, 60. All right. How about you, Tom? What game are you going to be watching? I have. Cyclos. I'm a state at Baylor Saturday. Oh, no Kansas game this week. Nope. No Kansas game. Cause, uh,
00:48:47
Speaker
You know, we're playing them. Huge game for both teams, but more so for Baylor. It looks like Baylor's going to take care of UCF tonight. They were trailing for a lot of the game, but they got like a six point lead was left. So if Baylor hangs on, they'll be four and three in conference. ISU will be five and two. ISU like most big 12 teams is better.
00:49:09
Speaker
at home than they are in the road. They had that one woman against TCU. They got blown out in the road to BYU. So a big aim for most schools. Baylor wins their five and three in conference and ISU's five and three. That's basically the reason I'm watching that living here in Iowa. I do have just a little bit of interest. Absolutely. Not like I watch them all the time, but now that they're in the Big 12, check their scores a little bit more. But
00:49:35
Speaker
Yeah, that should be a good one. If you can stand watching on TV, that Baylor camera angle, you know, that thing's so high up. Have you guys seen Baylor play yet at home? Yeah, it's like Cameron Indoor Stadium used to be where the camera was up in the rafters. Should be a good one. All right. So I'm also picking a Baylor game, a different Baylor game. So I'm picking the tech at Baylor game. Two texts of schools that I expect to remain in contention near the top.
00:50:04
Speaker
Both offenses are more deliberate and rely more on the three-point shot with Baylor being quite a bit better and more efficient at it being number three and three-point percentage on offense. Both are excellent on offense being the top 13 based on Ken Palm and good on Dee.
00:50:20
Speaker
though neither are great at defending anything in particular. So this should be another grinded out game where whoever imposes their will will win. Based on the metrics, this should be around a six point win for Baylor at home. I actually agree with that take with Baylor's D against a three point shot being better and the fact that they're playing at home.
00:50:41
Speaker
So that's it for this episode 14 of No Conference for Old Men podcast. Hope you all enjoyed it, and again, would really appreciate it if folks would follow, subscribe, or collect our podcast, depending on your podcast platform of choice. You are also available via the Republic of Football podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football as the only basketball-centric podcast.
00:51:03
Speaker
or at gokooks.com in their website for those that prefer to digest the content that way. We appreciate the continued support from all. And we'll keep plugging away, trying to provide deep college, oops, insights for Cougar and Big 12 fans everywhere. Also, please give us a follow on our Twitter account, no conference for old men. Thank you all again for listening. And episode 15 should come out next Thursday. So please be on the lookout to download and listen to the next episode. Thanks again.