Michael Beasley doesn’t care that Kansas held Aleks Maric (15.6 ppg) to zero points on 0-6 shooting.

“We’re going to beat Kansas at home,” said Beasley. “We’re going to beat them at their house. We’re going to beat them in Africa. Wherever we play, we’re going to beat them.”

If this match-up wasn’t one of the five most anticipated games of the season already, it just became one.

The Jayhawks have topped the Wildcats in the Little Apple the last 24 times that they’ve met. You might think that would give Bill Self the strong footing necessary to shoot right back at Beasley. But he was measured in his response. “When a guy is averaging 24 and 13, I think he has the right to talk a little bit,” said Self.

“Mike said what he felt in his heart,” said Frank Martin. “He didn’t come here to lose to Kansas. If he were to line up and say, ‘Oh, we’re going to try to beat them, but I don’t know if we’re good enough’ then he wouldn’t be on this team. I’d asked him to leave.”