Kansas another tough test

The Stanford men’s ambitious nonconference schedule continues with a game against No. 14 Kansas on Thursday night at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

The Cardinal (6-6) have been without wings Dorian Pickens and Marcus Sheffield for many weeks but have won three of their past four games following a four-game losing streak.

Head coach Jerod Haase was a guard for the Jayhawks in the 1990s and later coached on Roy Williams’ staff before Williams took Haase with him to North Carolina. Stanford lost to Kansas last season, Haase’s first on the Farm. The schools have more matchups scheduled in 2018 and ’19.

Kansas (9-2) is Stanford’s third ranked opponent this season. The Cardinal lost to then-No. 9 North Carolina 96-72 and No. 7 Florida 108-71 in the PK80 Invitational in Portland.

The Jayhawks won their first seven games, including a 65-61 victory over then-No. 5 Kentucky in a game that went down to the final minutes. Kansas plummeted from a No. 4 ranking after losing to two Pac-12 teams, Washington (74-65) and Arizona State (95-85).

“This is the softest team that Kansas has had since I’ve been here,” head coach Bill Self said after the Washington game. Since then, Kansas has edged Nebraska 73-72 and routed Omaha 109-64.

Its leading scorers are junior guard Lagerald Vick (17.5 points per game), senior guard Devonte’ Graham (17.0) and senior center Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (16.5).