Kansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr. (15) puts up a three from the corner during the first half against Manhattan on Friday Nov. 10, 2023 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

KJ Adams Jr. and Dajuan Harris Jr. remember their first experiences at the Champions Classic, the annual event that features rotating matchups between powerhouse programs Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State.

For Harris, one of the most experienced players on the KU roster, it came in an iteration of the competition pushed back to December 2020 due to COVID-19. For Adams, taking the floor against Michigan State, in Madison Square Garden on Nov. 9, 2021, meant his first-ever collegiate action. He grabbed two offensive rebounds and managed an assist and a block in a fleeting cameo appearance.

“I played barely more than two minutes,” Adams recalled Monday, “but I was just excited to be there.”

That team went on to win a national championship, and both players have helped their teams through numerous high-profile games since.

They, along with fellow Champions Classic returnee Kevin McCullar Jr., will help guide this year’s Jayhawks into a battle of blue bloods as top-ranked KU faces No. 17 Kentucky at the United Center in Chicago.

Granted, the Jayhawks are trying to incorporate a number of brand-new players in freshmen Johnny Furphy, Elmarko Jackson and Jamari McDowell and transfers Parker Braun and Nick Timberlake, with positive early returns thus far. But the core of their team remains the four veteran starters: Adams, Harris, McCullar and transfer center Hunter Dickinson, the Big 12 Conference newcomer of the week.

Kentucky finds itself in a dramatically different situation. In an age where top high-major contenders stock their rosters with transfers like Braun and Timberlake (few have those with the pedigree of Dickinson), John Calipari’s team features eight freshmen.

These freshmen aren’t exactly riding the bench. Friday night, in an 81-61 victory against Texas A&M-Commerce, Calipari used just seven players. Five were freshmen, and they accounted for 69.5% of the total minutes played for Kentucky. The Wildcats might get sophomore guard Adou Thiero back from a concussion against KU, but otherwise their primary veterans are graduate forward Tre Mitchell (currently playing center, previously of UMass, Texas and West Virginia) and fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves.

KU coach Bill Self called the Wildcats’ freshman class “terrific.” Four of its members, Aaron Bradshaw, Justin Edwards, D.J. Wagner and Rob Dillingham, ranked in Rivals’ top 15 prospects in the class of 2023, with Reed Sheppard down at No. 28. (For comparison, Jackson came in at No. 25 and McDowell at No. 98.) All will be in the conversation for NBA opportunities sooner rather than later.

For now, though, Bradshaw is injured, and the Wildcats’ late international addition Zvonimir Ivišić is waiting on clearance to play. The 7-foot-2 Dickinson could have a chance to wreak some havoc inside, while Adams, a former undersized center himself now playing more outside the key, takes advantage of matchups against Kentucky’s other guards.

“They haven’t had a lot of players that played in big-time games like this,” Harris said. “We have a couple players that (are) experienced and played in big-time games over their college careers, so hopefully that’s a big thing for us that helps us a lot.”

The young Wildcats, though, can rack up the points. All five starters reached double digits against Texas A&M-Commerce.

“Whether it be Dillingham, obviously, Wagner, Edwards or Mitchell or Shepherd or whoever,” Self said, “those guys can score the ball individually and they’re good forcing help and getting downhill individually.”

No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks (2-0) vs. No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats (2-0)

• United Center, Chicago, 8:30 p.m.

• Broadcast: ESPN

• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9)

Keep an eye out

Newfound health: KU has a shallow bench this year and started the season banged up, as Furphy dealt with his recurring shin splints and missed weeks of practice, McDowell “got his bell rung in practice” and didn’t play in the season opener and McCullar had a sore neck for a while after the exhibition at Illinois. But as of Monday morning, Self said everyone was healthy and had been practicing as normal, meaning the Jayhawks should have their full complement of scholarship players in Chicago.

Different pace: There was a stretch from 2018 to 2021 in which KU opened three of four seasons (excluding the pandemic-altered 2020-21 campaign) with the Champions Classic, meaning its brand-new team got thrown into the fire right away. Last year’s Jayhawks, who beat Duke in Indianapolis, and this year’s team have had the benefit of a pair of early-season tune-ups to get sorted before playing one of the top teams in the nation. “I think for our sport, it’s better to jump into it,” Self said last week. “For us, I think it’s better to play two games first.”

Can Furphy keep it up?: The Australian freshman, despite arriving in Lawrence later than his teammates, didn’t look like he was behind the curve Friday against Manhattan. He fired away from deep without hesitation, plunged into the paint for offensive rebounds and generally looked shockingly comfortable as he racked up 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting in 20 minutes off the bench. As McCullar put it, “It’s not just about scoring with him, it’s not just one thing about his game, he impacts the game in so many different ways and makes winning plays, and that’s going to be huge for us and we’re definitely going to need him this year.” Furphy may be staking his claim for a starting role down the road. The hype has continued to mount since colleges first discovered him at the NBA Academy Games in July, but Furphy has a chance to announce himself to the country as a whole with a strong showing in Chicago.

Off-kilter observation

After the Independent Accountability Resolution Process decision caused Kansas to vacate 15 victories from the second half of the 2017-18 season, Kentucky again assumed the status of the winningest all-time program in college basketball. The Jayhawks had passed the Wildcats in the historical standings during the 2022 NCAA Tournament; they now trail Kentucky by five wins, 2,377 to 2,372, after the opening week of play this season. A victory for KU Tuesday would start the Jayhawks on the path to closing that gap once again.

photo by: AP Photo/James Crisp

Kentucky’s Justin Edwards (1) shoots against Texas A&M-Commerce’s Jerome Brewer Jr. during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Friday, Nov. 10, 2023.

photo by: AP Photo/James Crisp

Kentucky’s D.J. Wagner (21) shoots near Texas A&M-Commerce’s Zondrick Garrett, left, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Friday, Nov. 10, 2023.

photo by: AP Photo/James Crisp

Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham, middle, drives between Texas A&M-Commerce’s Tommie Lewis (3) and Khaliq Abdul-Mateen (11) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Friday, Nov. 10, 2023.