Time: 7 p.m. | Location: Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas

TV: Big 12 Now / ESPN+ | Radio: IMG Jayhawk Radio Network

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Keys for Kansas

1. Play with joy again

Kansas coach Bill Self was asked on Monday what one or two things he wanted to see from his team on game night, regardless of the opponent or what the scouting report says.

His answer focused on two key intangible areas that he said the Jayhawks had been missing lately.

“I would like to see our energy level improve,” Self began. “I’d like to see our joy playing improve. I’d like to see more smiles. I think those are the things that are probably more important than scouting report in order to get guys to maximize their abilities.”

Few games have the capacity to bring out that kind of joy than the Jayhawks’ matchup with the Wildcats, which, throughout the years, has been pretty one-sided and led to some memorable nights for the Jayhawks.

Kansas went 35-6 against K-State in Self’s first 17 seasons and the Jayhawks and Wildcats are slated to play twice in the next 14 days.

But with the Jayhawks having lost four of their last five games, Self said the energy and excitement that comes with playing their Sunflower State rivals could help his team feel good about itself again, provided the Jayhawks play well.

“I take pride in Kansas, and I think guys that have been here know what this means to so many people,” senior Mitch Lightfoot said. Monday. “This means so much to so many people, and we know that it’s up to us to change it. We need to do this for each other, we need to do this for the coaches, and we need to do this for our fans out there. Because that was unacceptable how how this last month went.”

KU has won 14 consecutive games over Kansas State at Allen Fieldhouse, dating back to 2007, and Self said most of his teams have had a little different bounce in their step whenever the Wildcats come to town.

“The fact that it’s K-State and the fact that it’s a home game, I do think that brings a little extra charge to it,” Self said Monday.

2. Better first halves

KU’s slow starts this season have been well documented and have negatively contributed to several of KU’s recent losses.

The issue goes beyond just coming out of the gate slowly, though. And Kansas would do well to treat the first 20 minutes of this one like they’re the most important 20 minutes of the season.

The Jayhawks have trailed at halftime in their last six games, including a 19-18 deficit in last week’s home win over TCU. In all, KU has trailed after 20 minutes in seven of the nine Big 12 games they have played so far this season.

Lightfoot said his team’s initial approach in recent weeks has been partly to blame for their rough first halves.

“Playing not to lose is not a fun way to play,” he said. “You want to go out there and you want to play to win, and you want to play to have have that freedom and have that fun. I think we’ve kind of lacked a little bit of that in here in the last couple of games. But if we can get that back, I think we’ll be better off.”

That’s where the idea of better energy that Self has spoke of all season comes into play and the Kansas coach said Monday that KU needs to get its best players firing at a high level again, from both a scoring perspective and a swagger perspective.

And he used a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl reference to illustrate his point.

“Everybody needs to play well,” Self said of his team against K-State. “We don’t have the margin for error that we can not have our core contingent of guys play well, night in and night out. So I think it’s real important. I think it’s important that (Chiefs quarterback) Patrick Mahomes plays well Sunday, too. We have to have our best players play the best. It’s more important for your best players to play well than it is maybe for some other guys to play well that don’t get the same opportunities or score the same amount of points or get the same number of minutes.”

3. Defend the 3-point line

Despite their current eight-game losing skid and overall unimpressive record, the Wildcats have proven that they have at least one shooter capable of making things tough for opposing defenses from behind the 3-point line.

His name is Nijel Pack, he’s a 6-foot, 180-pound freshman from Indianapolis, and, on Saturday, in a loss to Texas A&M in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, Pack hit eight of 14 shots from 3-point range en route to a game-high 26 points.

For the season, Pack is shooting 40% from 3-point range while checking in as K-State’s leading scorer. But there is some encouraging news about the matchup for Kansas.

Pack’s season splits show that he’s a far better 3-point shooter at home — where K-State played Saturday — than on the road. Pack is hitting 45.9% from 3-point distance in 11 games at Bramlage Coliseum and just 20% on the road, making half as many 3-pointers per game in more attempts.

The Jayhawks can use every edge they can get when it comes to defending the 3-point line.

KU allowed its eight January opponents to shoot 42% from 3-point range after holding their nine opponents in November and December to 32% shooting from behind the 3-point line.

Seven of the KU’s eight January opponents hit at least eight 3-pointers against the Jayhawks, and five of those seven hit at least 40% from 3-point range.

Self said this week that KU needs to do a better job of defending players before they catch the ball on the 3-point line and that he was frustrated by the way the KU defense has allowed opposing offenses to get whatever they want.

“Guys caught it and shot it on us,” Self said after Saturday’s loss to Tennessee, when the Vols hit eight of 13 triples for the game and five of seven in the first half. “We need to make them catch it a step further out and then close out short, and we don’t do that much. We don’t do much to play our man before he catches it.”

Marquee Matchup

Kansas forward David McCormack vs. KU’s offensive funk

Self has searched for all kinds of ways to get his team going again, but, so far, none of his recent moves have led to any kind of consistency on either end.

That included a new starting lineup at Tennessee, when redshirt freshman point guard Dajuan Harris started in place of Jalen Wilson, who was arguably KU’s best offensive player during the first month of the season but has struggled mightily in recent weeks.

Self said Monday that he had an idea what he would do with his starting five in this one, but he did not share his plans, “in case I change my mind.”

Regardless of who starts and who comes off the bench tonight and the rest of the season, one thing Self talked about Monday that could lead to better offense was the idea of making the opposing defense work harder.

“There’s some teams in this league that guard,” Self said. “So if you can move the ball and do this and do that and force a bad close-out (that can help).”

One way to do that is to continue to make McCormack a focal point.

“I think we can throw the ball inside more,” Self said. “I think we need to play through our bigs more, through David more. Not only to score, but as a passer.”

McCormack’s ability to seal his man deep to the basket but also have the patience and poise to pass out of trouble will be important because the Wildcats, in 7-foot freshman Davion Bradford and 6-10 sophomore Kaosi Ezeagu, have the type of size in the front court that could bother McCormack.

McCormack’s performance has been a microcosm of KU’s offense in general.

KU is 7-2 in the games in which McCormack scores in double figures. Asked before the TCU game last week (when KU was 6-1 when McCormack hit double digits) if McCormack was kind of an X-factor because of that win/loss split, Self described McCormack as a player who KU expected to score rather than hoping he would.

“The way I look at that, and this is not on David, this is on the team, we should be (11-6) when he scores in double figures, because he should be scoring and double figures every game,” Self said.

Self went with the Chiefs reference in that one, too.

“Bad example, but I don’t see (Chiefs tight end) Travis Kelce as being an X-factor,” he said. “I think he’s a guy that needs to get to 8-10 catches every game for them to score touchdowns.”

Jayhawk Pulse

While this team is fighting through a rough stretch that no Kansas squad has experienced since the 1988-89 season, the one thing every player points to during his sessions with the media is sticking together.

That’s the Jayhawks’ plan for to pull through this rough stretch and they all talk consistently about playing better defense, holding each other accountable and bringing some fight to the floor.

“The bottom line is that we haven’t we haven’t played up to our own abilities,” Self said, “in large part because I don’t think that our intangibles have been as good as what they were in December.”

While the recent losses and disappointing outings have hurt the Jayhawks’ confidence, the veteran players on this roster still believe this team can turn it around and have a memorable season.

“I think this team has capability of being as good as ever,” Lightfoot said. “I think that we need to lock in and we need to need to understand that, hey, we’ve had a little bit of a mishap here over the month of January and focus on taking it game by game here in February and we can do it. We have the talent to do it. We’ve just got to come together as a unit.”

Few things help bring teams together like winning streaks. And Lightfoot admitted that while the immediate focus is on playing well tonight and executing the game plan against Kansas State, the bigger picture of getting on a little roll is bouncing around in their heads.

“You lose a couple in a row, it’s all gloom and doom, the sky’s falling,” Lightfoot said. “All we can do is focus on the next couple of games, and if we can string couple of those together and then we get into a couple of games with some of those big-name teams and you can handle your business there, things will be better off.

“You can’t worry about what’s going to happen two weeks from now, you’ve got to worry about what’s going to happen tomorrow,” Lightfoot added. “If we can handle our business against K-State, that’ll give us a better chance to handle our business against other teams in the future.”

Kansas leads the all-time series with Kansas State, 199-94, and the Jayhawks have won 11 of the last 12 matchups. Since Feb. 12, 1994, Kansas has won 60 of 66 meetings with K-State.

Both oddsmakers in Las Vegas and KenPom.com view KU as an 18-point favorite in this one, stemming largely from KU being at home and the fact that the Wildcats rank last in the Big 12 in eight major categories — scoring offense, field goal percentage, field goal percentage defense, 3-point shooting and 3-point defense, defensive rebounds, blocked shots and steals.

K-State also ranks second to last in the conference in turnover margin, offensive rebounding, team free throw percentage and scoring defense.

Probable Starters

No. 23 Kansas

G – Marcus Garrett, 6-5, 195, Sr.

G – Ochai Agbaji, 6-5, 210, Jr.

G – Christian Braun, 6-6, 205, Soph.

G – Jalen Wilson, 6-7, 190, RS-Fr.

F – David McCormack, 6-10, 265, Jr.

Kansas State

G – Mike McGuirl, 6-2, 195, Sr.

G – Nijel Pack, 6-0, 180, Fr.

G – Dajuan Gordon, 6-4, 190, Soph.

F – Davion Bradford, 7-0, 265, Fr.

F – Kaosi Ezeagu, 6-10, 255, Soph.