“Kelly and I played against half those guys all year round last year, so we kind of know how they play a little bit. I think we can match up pretty well,” Alexander, KU’s 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward from Chicago, said of UK’s Devin Booker, Trey Lyles, Karl-Anthony Towns and Tyler Ulis. They joined the two Jayhawks in both the McDonald’s All-America Game and Jordan Brand Classic last spring.

Booker, Ulis and Lyles are members of No. 1-ranked Kentucky’s second platoon group that will take on the No. 5-ranked Jayhawks approximately 8:50 tonight (30 minutes after 6 p.m. Duke-Michigan State game) in the home of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers. Towns joins Willie Cauley-Stein, Alex Poythress and the Harrison twins (Aaron and Andrew) on the platoon that has started the first two contests.

UK’s 10 rotation players, who logged 10 or more minutes (Towns had foul problems) in Sunday’s 71-52 home victory over Buffalo, consist of nine McDonald’s All-Americans, plus Cauley-Stein, who played his high school ball at Olathe Northwest. KU has four McDonald’s All-Americans on the roster in the two freshmen, Wayne Selden Jr. and Perry Ellis.

Will it be more fun playing UK since he knows some of the Wildcats?

“No,” Alexander said. “Once I step between these black lines, ain’t no fun. It’s personal.”

Alexander and his fellow frontcourt players will likely need to have a big game if the Jayhawks are to knock off the Wildcats and avenge a pair of losses to UK during the Wildcats’ 2012 NCAA title season.

Kentucky is big inside. Coach John Calipari’s Wildcats start 7-foot Cauley-Stein and 6-11 Towns. The 6-10 Lyles, 6-9 Marcus Lee and 7-0 Dakari Johnson play on the second unit. Poythress is 6-8.

“We’ve got some guys that are big, too, but those guys are 7-footers and can jump out of the gym,” 6-8 junior Jamari Traylor said. “We’ve got to do our job and rebound and keep those guys off the glass.”

KU can counter inside with the 6-8 Alexander and Traylor, plus 6-8 Ellis, 6-10 Landen Lucas and 6-10 Hunter Mickelson.

“I don’t want to say it will just be a toughness game, because it’s not, but when you’re as big as them and a lot of times looking at their rebounding stats, a lot of times their best offense is just getting on the glass and go run and get it,” KU coach Bill Self said. “We’re going to have to do a much better job of being tougher in rotation rebounding and really paying attention to that, because they’re really good. They’re long, and they’re going to be hard to score against.

“Cal, he’s a good defensive coach, and they’ve got so much length. So we need to be sure we’re really good rebounding on the defensive end ourself.”

The Wildcats have some standout perimeter players in the Harrison twins, Ulis and Booker.

“They play fast but can also guard,” Self said. “I don’t know if we want the game 100-90. I’d rather the game (be) in the 60s, 70s probably. We’ll try to make them use the clock offensively, try to create havoc. When we are on offense, try to score as quickly as we can. We’ve got to be more aggressive. It helps when you make shots.

“It’s a contest … they obviously are the team to beat in the country. A lot of people think they may be invincible or whatnot. I look forward to it. I know our guys are very, very excited. It should be a lot of fun.”

Self downplayed the fact he could conceivably have some fun combating UK’s platoon system. When Calipari yanks five players for another five, Self could do some mixing and matching if he so desires.

“You know what? This is not like a football game you are playing early September and you have to win. This is one game, even though obviously we want to win desperately, like they do,” Self said. “I don’t think you change how you want to play just for this one game and go back to how you play for other games. We have a style. We’re going to play our style. We believe in our style. We’ll try to tweak and game-plan. There may be some things we can do different against different personnel. I am not as hung up on that as what I would be if this was February or March.”

So it figures merely to be a fun early-season test between the two winningest programs of all time (UK has 2,142 wins and KU 2,127). KU is 1-0 this year following a 69-59 win over UC Santa Barbara; UK is 2-0 with wins over Buffalo (71-52) and Grand Canyon (85-45).

“We’re real excited, real juiced. We’re really pumped up about it,” sophomore Selden said. “The young guys are real excited, old guys are real excited. You know we got the nerves, but the nerves are going to go away as soon as the game starts.”

“I definitely think it will be an amazing game, a tough fought game. We’re just trying to get better and go from there,” KU forward Ellis said.

UK’s Lyles, a 6-10 freshman who is from Indianapolis, said the Wildcats will be equally enthused, not at all dragging despite playing on both Friday and Sunday.

“Definitely (there will be energy),” Lyles said. “You know everyone is hyped for the game. We’re all looking forward to it.”