Nebraska basketball coach Doc Sadler, whose Cornhuskers lost to Kansas University by 20 points in Lincoln, Neb., and 53 in Lawrence last season, fears the No. 3-ranked Jayhawks are even better this year.

“Everybody says they are playing the best (of any team in country),” Sadler told the Omaha World-Herald. “I’ve talked to a lot of people that follow it. Everybody says it’s Kansas and Memphis right now playing better than anyone. If there is somebody better, I don’t want to play them.”

Sadler’s unranked (11-2) Huskers will meet KU (15-0) at 8 p.m. Saturday at Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb.

Nebraska defeated No. 16-ranked Oregon, 88-79, in overtime on Dec. 15 in Lincoln.

“I’m not sure Oregon has a player who could start for Kansas,” Sadler told the Lincoln Journal-Star.

“I don’t think they (Ducks) have a player who could be in their (Jayhawks’) top seven,” Sadler added, well aware Oregon boasts a superb player in senior guard Malik Hairston.

KU handed Sadler a pair of lopsided defeats in the coach’s first year in Lincoln. The Jayhawks rolled, 76-56, last Jan. 29, at NU and also, 92-39, on Feb. 17 at KU.

KU’s 53-point win at Allen Fieldhouse was the second-largest margin of victory in a conference game in school history, trailing only a 56-point victory over the Huskers in 1958.

Filled to the brim

Saturday’s game at 13,595-seat Devaney Center is sold out. A limited amount of standing-room-only tickets remained on sale as of Wednesday night at huskers.com.

More than 3,000 tickets were sold between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday, and the remaining available single-game seats were purchased overnight on the Web.

Nebraska’s last home sellout came in Sadler’s second career game at NU.

NU distributed 13,832 tickets for a win over Creighton on Nov. 18, 2006.

The last conference sellout came against the Jayhawks in 2005.

Henry faring well

Xavier Henry, a 6-6 junior guard from Putnam City (Okla.) High, scored 37 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in an overtime victory over Pennbury (Pa.) High at the Bay Ball Classic tournament in Lewes, Del.

Henry told sportsillustrated.com he had a final list of KU, Memphis, North Carolina, Ohio State and UCLA.

“The first thing coaches ask me when I sit down with them is whether or not I’m set on going to Kansas, and I always say no,” Henry told SI.com. “I have a couple of schools that I’m pretty high on like Memphis and North Carolina. They may even be ahead of Kansas at this point.”

It should be noted Henry was wearing a KU sweat shirt during a recent interview at takkle.com.

Meanwhile, Xavier’s brother, C.J. Henry, who orally committed to KU in 2005 but instead played pro baseball the past three years, will play for one of the New York Yankees’ minor league teams this season. He had considered scrapping baseball for college hoops.

“He told me that he was going to try to surprise everybody, so I’m thinking that he’s going to try to play baseball and basketball,” ex-Jayhawk Carl Henry, father of C.J. and Xavier, told SI.com. “If anybody can do it, he can do it.”

C.J. told SI.com: “Right now, I think I’m just focusing on baseball. But you never know what can happen in the future.”

Xavier, by the way, told Rivals.com on Wednesday KU, UNC and Memphis are all tied at the top of his list.