Chestnut Hill, Mass. ? Bottom line is, Kansas University’s basketball team won the game.

But the Jayhawks struggled at times in a 59-55 victory over USC in an 11 a.m. (Pacific Time) tipoff on Dec. 2 in Los Angeles.

“We got off to a slow start in our last early-morning game. We’ve been practicing at that time every day to get ready for this one. Hopefully that’ll help us a bit,” KU coach Bill Self said of pre-lunchtime workouts in preparation for today’s KU-Boston College contest.

Tipoff is 11 a.m. (Central Time) at 8,606-seat Conte Forum on BC’s campus.

“I’ll be like Bill Belichick (undefeated New England Patriots coach) and say the hardest road game we play will be this Saturday, then Nebraska. It will be a tough road test,” Self said, indicating the Jayhawks were not looking ahead to their Big 12 opener a week from today in Lincoln, Neb.

The Eagles enter today’s game with 10 victories in 12 games and four votes in the AP’s latest poll. KU is 13-0 and ranked third in the country.

“They do a great job of controlling tempo,” Self said of the Atlantic Coast Conference team that has rattled off victories over Michigan (77-64), Maryland (81-78), St. Louis (61-39), New Hampshire (67-57), Florida Atlantic (68-62), Mercer (73-56), Rhode Island (76-72), Northeastern (57-55), Sacred Heart (80-75) and Longwood (81-52), with losses to Providence (98-89) and UMass (83-80).

“If it comes down to the last four, five possessions, they are as equipped as anyone to win because they play close games all the time,” added Self, realizing the Eagles have won five games by six points or fewer.

Al Skinner’s squad dropped an 84-66 decision to KU on Dec. 23, 2006, in Allen Fieldhouse. Junior Sean Williams, now a rookie center with the New Jersey Nets, scored 19 points with 15 boards and seven blocks. Senior Jared Dudley, now a rookie forward with the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats, missed eight of 12 shots and finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.

“I watched film of last year’s game. We didn’t play well at all,” said Self, whose Jayhawks were led by Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush, who had 22 and 15 points, respectively.

“We turned it over. We went to a 3-2 zone basically the last 20, 25 minutes and wound up winning by 20. The zone bailed us out.

“We struggled guarding their flex (offense),” added Self, whose Jayhawks were able to hold standout guard Tyrese Rice to 11 points off 2-of-13 shooting (1 of 8 threes) in a full 40 minutes. “Can we guard them? Can we rebound with them? If we can’t, it’ll be one of those games we have to scratch, claw for everything we get.”

BC is led by Rice, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound junior guard who averages a team-leading 19.7 points off 41.9 percent shooting. He’s made 20 of 62 threes for 32.3 percent with a team leading 61 assists against 33 turnovers.

“Their point guard is really good. We’re looking forward to going there and trying to get the ‘W,'” Rush said.

“He’s good player and will be big test for our guards,” Self said.

BC also has double-digit scorers in Shamari Spears (12.2), Rakim Sanders (11.4) and Corey Raji (10.3).

“The thing about their team, they take on the personality of the coach. Coach Skinner is a guy who never changes expressions. He’s the ultimate low-key guy. It’s why his teams never get rattled,” Self said.

The Jayhawks hope to maintain composure in this their third road game of the season.

“You’ve got to be able to win on the road to do well in conference,” KU senior Russell Robinson said. “We’ve got a couple squeezes at USC and Georgia Tech (victories by combined total of nine points), but we’re playing better now, running, pressing. It should be a good game.”

“We let teams come back on us at Georgia Tech and USC. We’re trying to get that out of the way,” Rush said. “Try to get ahead and not let ’em come back.”

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Flexing their muscles: The 10-2 Eagles are known for their “flex” offense.

What is the “flex?”

“It’s a little motion they run. It’s the main offense they run. I can’t really explain it.” junior Brandon Rush said.

Self can explain it: “The flex is a continuity, shuffle pick, down screen offense that has many variations to it that Boston College runs better than anybody in the country,” he said.

“The challenge is playing man-to-man defending it. Last year we didn’t, and we played a lot of zone against them.”

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The ‘Kansas offense’: What’s the name of the KU offense, which features a lot of ball screens in the halfcourt and fastbreaking in the fullcourt?

“I don’t know if we’ve got a name for ours. It’s the ‘Kansas offense,”’ Self said. “We do our own deal. We have our own variation.”

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Fab freshmen: Boston College has a fab five freshman class of Raji, Sanders, Biko Paris, Josh Southern and Cortney Dunn.

Sanders, 6-5 out of Pawtucket, R.I., and Raji, 6-5, out of Washington, N.J., are the team’s third- and fourth-leading scorers at 11.4 and 10.3 a game. Paris is seventh-leading scorer at 5.9 a game. Southern and Dunn have played sparingly.

“The thing I like about our class is none of them duplicate each other,” Skinner told Blue Ribbon Yearbook. “They all bring something different, and they will be able to contribute immediately to our success.

“They all know they are going to get a chance to play now, and that is part of the reason each of them came. They saw an opportunity and thought they would be able to help us.”