Kansas guard Frank Mason III (0) drives against Indiana forward OG Anunoby (3) during the first half of the Armed Forces Classic at Stan Sheriff Center, on Friday, Nov. 11, 2016 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

NEW YORK CITY ? Fresh off of a 30-point performance that added to the legend of his Fearless Frank Mason persona, KU’s senior guard posted a simple message on social media following last week’s season-opening loss to No. 11 Indiana in Honolulu.

Trust the process, Mason wrote.

What exactly that meant is open to interpretation and may vary depending on context. But Mason on Sunday clarified exactly what he was referencing when he penned those words on his cell phone late last week.

“It just means you take whatever’s thrown at you and learn from it and recover,” Mason said.

The seventh-ranked Jayhawks (0-1) have a golden opportunity to do just that at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, where they will take on top-ranked Duke (2-0) in the Champions Classic. A win erases all of the disappointment from the loss to the Hoosiers. A loss would drop Kansas to 0-2 for the first time since the 1972-73 season and, no doubt, bring with it some frustration for a program and fan base that expects excellence.

Regardless of the way this one turns out, part of trusting the process for Kansas basketball is putting unending faith in KU coach Bill Self — win or lose — and this group of veteran Jayhawks has proven its ability to do that in the past. What’s more, those upperclassmen should be able to lead the younger players down that path no matter what their record is when they leave the Big Apple.

“Indiana and Duke in the first week is probably about as tough a schedule (as you can start with),” Self said. “And they’d be hard games if you played ’em at home, let alone Honolulu and New York, so I think that’ll be good for us.”

In order for the outcome of the game to be positive for the Jayhawks, Self’s squad will have to play better defense than it did in the opener.

“I thought offensively we were fine the other night,” Self said. “Other than some bad possessions, in a game where fatigue was a factor, I thought were pretty good offensively. We just didn’t do a good job on the other end at all.”

Kansas was slow to close out on Indiana’s three-point shooters and nearly just as bad against the Hoosiers’ transition offense. Given the fact that Duke excels in those same areas, both will be important for the Jayhawks again in this one, as well.

“Certainly they’re a different team than they were last year, personnel-wise,” Self said of the Blue Devils, who enter tonight averaging 95 points per game with five players averaging in double digits. “But they’ve still got a lot of returning people. The thing that impresses me most is just how aggressive they are, whether it be freedom offensively to shoot the ball or drive it and put pressure on you.”

Speaking of pressure, the Jayhawks’ central nervous systems also figure to get a workout in a game of this magnitude. While veterans Mason, Devonte’ Graham and Landen Lucas have played huge roles in some big times games in the past, the rest of the team is about to discover just how bright the lights can shine in front of a national television audience against one of the sport’s most successful programs in arguably the most well-known basketball arena in the world.

“Although the stage was big in Hawaii, this is a bigger stage, without question,” Self said. “The number of media that will be at this will be 50 times, maybe 100 times, more than what was in Hawaii. So this’ll be a big stage for our guys and one that I think we need for preparation. So this’ll be good.”

It’s that early-season test, both in terms of opponent and environment, that has led Self to love events like these near the start of each season.

“I just don’t see any negatives,” he said of the Champions Classic. “It’s gonna be the most watched games, (good) exposure, sell for recruiting, I just don’t see any negatives. And we haven’t played particularly well in it. You obviously want to win, but the benefit far exceeds the negativity. We’re 1-4 in it, but, to me, that’s almost irrelevant because you get so many good things because of it.”