“I could sense it in my teammates. We were starting to doubt our ability to win this game. Each time we gathered in the second half there were blank looks in our eyes, expressionless faces staring at one another. It was a scary moment and I couldn’t think of a thing to say that would snap us out of it.”

– Former Kansas guard Jeff Boschee on last year’s KU-Holy Cross first-round NCAA Tournament game in the book “Long Shot.”

Holy Cross didn’t win, but the No. 16-seeded Crusaders did scare the heck out of the top-seeded Jayhawks before succumbing, 70-59, last March in St. Louis.

“We definitely had a very difficult game against them,” KU senior forward Nick Collison said of a contest in which KU trailed by a basket at halftime.

“It was because of what they did. They defended well, rebounded well. In the back of our minds we didn’t play as well last year. We want to show them we can play better. We’re anxious to get out there and play well.”

The two teams will tangle again at 8 tonight at Allen Fieldhouse in the Preseason NIT and season-openers for both teams.

Holy Cross returns four starters from its 18-15 squad, including the Patriot League’s best player – Tim Szatko, a 6-foot-8 forward who scored 13 points versus KU off 4-of-19 shooting.

KU returns three starters: Collison, who had just five points against the Crusaders; Kirk Hinrich, who sprained his ankle late in the first half and missed the second; and Aaron Miles, who had five turnovers and just one assist.

“They’re going to want to come out and beat us by 100 points,” Holy Cross senior guard Brian Wilson told the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. “We have to be ready to counter that right away. It’s a chance for us to show what we’re about.”

Fourth-year Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard thinks there’s just one way his Crusaders can keep it close again – by playing rugged defense.

“It’ll be death if we go in without defensive focus,” Willard said. “It’s easier said than done. They are the best transition basketball team I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Holy Cross guard Jave Meade is trapped by KU's Keith Langford (5) and Aaron Miles (11) during last season's NCAA Tournament game at St. Louis. The teams meet against tonight at Allen Fieldhouse. KU's Wayne Simien is at far right.

“Any time you play great defense you have a chance. The one thing that’s disturbing me now is we’ve had two exhibition games (victories) where we played very poorly on the defensive end of the floor.”

A year ago, KU hit 46.2 percent of its shots to Holy Cross’ miserable 33.3 mark.

“I was impressed at how much better I thought they played than we played. They really were effective defensively,” KU coach Roy Williams said. “We didn’t do as good a job as we wanted and they had a lot to do with that. We didn’t shoot as high a percentage, we didn’t get as many shots, we didn’t dominate the backboards.

“Our double teams didn’t seem to bother them. There wasn’t really a lot we did that bothered them at all. I did go back and look (at film) and they had three guys in double figures that game who are all back. We had two guys in double figures and neither are here.”

Drew Gooden (19 points) and Boschee (13) are gone, while the Crusaders do return Wilson (13 points), Szatko (13) and Patrick Whearty (12).

“Really it’s the kind of opener I like. We’ve really got to play,” Williams said. “If we don’t really play then we’ll have a long time to practice before our second game.”

If KU wins, it meets the winner of tonight’s UNC Greensboro-Wagner game at 7 p.m. Friday at Allen Fieldhouse with the winner of that game heading to New York for the semifinals next Wednesday. A loss and KU would be idle until playing Central Missouri State on Dec. 4.