photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Kansas head coach Bill Self motions to his players during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Princeton, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Lawrence.

The Kansas men’s basketball team fumbled away its first chance at a big win over a blue-blood opponent when it let North Carolina score 58 points in the second half of what became an 87-74 loss on Nov. 7.

Two home wins over mid-major foes later, and the Jayhawks will face an even tougher test when they take on the Tar Heels’ Tobacco Road rival, Duke, on Tuesday night — albeit at a neutral site, New York’s Madison Square Garden, for the Champions Classic.

“It doesn’t get any bigger than this,” KU guard Jayden Dawson said on postgame radio after the Jayhawks beat Princeton on Saturday. “Two blue bloods going at it, already played North Carolina this year, so you know we took an L there, so you know we got a little bit more of a chip on our shoulder this time. And it’s Duke. So if you’re not ready to play Duke, then something’s wrong with you.”

The Blue Devils are ranked fourth in the country despite losing five players to the NBA Draft last season and have not been significantly challenged since pulling away from Texas in the second half of their season opener on Nov. 4.

“It’ll be a big-boy game,” KU coach Bill Self said. “They’re good. They’re young again. Somebody asked me if they’re better than last year. And I said, ‘Well, it’s too early to tell. But this early in the season I think they may execute their stuff better than last year, for sure.'”

One potential asymmetry could be at the core of this matchup. Duke’s star forward Cameron Boozer, a consensus top-three freshman in the 2025 class, is off to a remarkable start to his collegiate career, averaging a double-double with 22.5 points on 54.9% shooting and 10.2 rebounds. KU, of course, has its own fabulous freshman in guard Darryn Peterson, who had some success in high school matchups against the Boozer twins. Peterson, though, has been dealing with hamstring tightness, and while Self stopped short of ruling Peterson out for Tuesday, he certainly didn’t project optimism about his immediate availability when he said after Princeton, “We’re not obviously going to have him, at least for the immediate future. I just don’t know how long that’ll be.”

Self went on to say that he doesn’t want to put Peterson on the court until he feels better and therefore “can explode without the thought in his mind that something negative can happen.”

Whatever the case, the Jayhawks have sorely missed his offensive production in two games (and an earlier exhibition contest) without him. On Saturday, they struggled to pull away from Princeton for the first 25 minutes and built distance from the Tigers largely on the strength of Flory Bidunga’s individual effort and Tre White’s ability to get to the free-throw line.

KU will need more than that to compete with the Blue Devils. Despite all the production it lost to the draft, Duke actually returned several key players in guards Caleb Foster and Isaiah Evans (the second-leading scorer behind Boozer with 13.0 points per game) and center Patrick Ngongba II (11.2 points, 7.0 rebounds).

They join Boozer and Italian wing Dame Sarr, a former offseason target of KU’s, in a starting lineup that has been quite potent shooting the ball through four games, with Foster and Sarr each 50% from beyond the arc, albeit on low volume. The bench includes two more highly touted recruits in five-stars Cayden Boozer and Nikolas Khamenia.

Most recently, the Blue Devils reached the century mark in a 100-62 victory over Indiana State on Friday night. They actually trailed 14-4 early but allowed three points in the following seven minutes and led by 19 at halftime. Cameron Boozer dropped 35 on an efficient 13-for-16 shooting.

KU has had success against Duke in recent years, but this will be a steep test for a team that is still trying to find its stride and may not have its best player.

“It’s going to be a big game, not trying to make it too high or too low, another even-keeled game for us,” White said. “But they like to play fast, they got some key players, but we’re trying to just take it one game at a time, not look too far ahead, but we’re definitely ready for war with that one.”

photo by: AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez

Duke’s Patrick Ngongba II (21) dunks against the Army during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game at West Point, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in New York.

photo by: AP Photo/Ben McKeown

Duke’s Cameron Boozer (12) attempts to shoot against Indiana State’s Ian Scott, left, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Durham, N.C., Friday, Nov. 14, 2025.

photo by: AP Photo/Chris Carlson

Duke guard Isaiah Evans shoots against Texas during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C.

No. 25 Kansas Jayhawks (3-1) vs. No. 4 Duke Blue Devils (4-0)

• Madison Square Garden, New York, 8 p.m. Central Time

• Broadcast: ESPN

• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9 / KMXN FM 92.9)

Keep an eye out

Slight disadvantage: KU got destroyed on the glass by North Carolina, which trotted out a big starting lineup with two 6-foot-10 players and a 7-footer that had a dramatic size advantage over the Jayhawks (whose center is 6-foot-10). That doesn’t bode well for their prospects against the Blue Devils, who have great length at guard but also line up 6-foot-8, 6-foot-9 and 6-foot-11 with Sarr, Boozer and Ngongba, which though not as large as UNC at least gives them a leg up on KU. The solution for KU could be continuing with its jumbo starting lineup, which debuted against Princeton and featured freshman Bryson Tiller at forward alongside Bidunga.

Two-way player: KU has to keep Melvin Council Jr. on the floor as much as possible because of the energy and intensity he provides both on defense and in transition. But his own attempts to score have been quite unsuccessful. He is 8-for-29 from the field and 0-for-9 from beyond the arc in his last three games. Council was St. Bonaventure’s leading scorer last year, and he’s still finding ways to contribute from the free-throw line and as a distributor for KU, but teams are starting to give him a cushion and essentially encourage him to shoot. Self said he would like Council to finish with his left hand at the rim, continue to shoot open 3s and use his speed more effectively on offense.

Away from the line: Self said Duke has a player that “could foul out a whole team.” Indeed, Boozer has already attempted 34 free throws, which ranks among the highest totals in the country. Especially if KU is going to start both Bidunga and Tiller, those young players will have to defend with great discipline to avoid foul trouble. This wouldn’t be the ideal matchup to go small with Samis Calderon, and 7-footer Paul Mbiya has only played sparingly.

Off-kilter observation

KU’s Dawson, a rotational guard who transferred from Loyola-Chicago during the offseason, grew up a Duke fan in Omaha, Nebraska. He said playing against the Blue Devils will be “a pretty surreal moment” for him, although he noted that his fandom faded somewhat after the retirement of Mike Krzyzewski.