By Kyle Arensdorf

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UK basketball will take on Kansas in Indianapolis Tuesday for its third game of the season after a precarious debut over the weekend.

The Cats beat Grand Canyon by 40 points Friday and followed it up with a 71-52 victory over Buffalo on Sunday.

Despite the convincing margins of victory in both games, UK had a less-than-stellar showing in at least one half of each of the two games.

“It’s not like (we) didn’t come to play, it was just that the other team came like a pack of hungry dogs,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “Well, then you can’t just say ‘this is good enough.’ We are learning that.”

In a TV interview after the game, Calipari acknowledged the pressure cooker atmosphere that comes with the territory of being a head coach at UK.

He even suggested that UK fans might prefer Louisville head coach Rick Pitino or former UK head coach Joe B. Hall take his place when UK stumbles for a four minute stretch.

Now the Cats take on a Kansas team that only beat UC Santa Barbra by 10 points in its opening matchup, but is still projected to be a Final Four team come season’s end.

“(Kansas is) a top-five team and predicted to be in the Final Four. They are that good,” Calipari said. “If we play like we did in the first half (against Buffalo) we will get smashed. If we play like we did in the second half we have a chance.”

Freshman forward Trey Lyles will be returning to his home city to play against Kansas, an opportunity he said he’s been looking forward to.

“If he plays well he will be the first player that we have taken home in my career that has played well,” Calipari said. “It is possible. He could be the first.”

Lyles’ freshman counterpart, forward Karl Anthony-Towns, was a virtual no-show Sunday against Buffalo, picking up three first-half fouls and two more fouls early in the second half.

Towns played only 10 minutes in the game and managed three points on 1-6 shooting from the field.

“We have got to get him the ball more when he is open,” Calipari said. “He is kind of breaking things off. Like he is the odd man out on a lot of stuff because he hasn’t learned this is five guys playing off of each other the same way and if one guy goes south it is a basket, it’s a dunk.”

Since the 2003-04 season, when head coach Bill Self took the helm, Kansas is 53-28 against Associated Press-ranked teams.

The Jayhawks have enjoyed a winning record against ranked opponents for each of the past five seasons, and won seven of the nine matchups a season ago.

“(Kansas is) playing hard and pressing and denying. They are trapping pick and rolls. They are being very, very aggressive,” Calipari said. “They are running their stuff. They are doing a terrific job of doing what they do.”