While the outcome ended in the Jayhawks’ favor, head coach Bill Self believes his team gained valuable experience from the matchup, particularly in dealing with a rowdy road crowd.

“I thought the environment was good. I’ll be honest, with the way we started off the game, I didn’t really think the crowd really ever got into the way they could’ve,” Self said. “But yeah, it was great, 17,000 people anytime you play in front of that type of crowd and respond favorably, I think that’s something we can draw from. It’s not going to be a [North] Carolina atmosphere — that’ll be a different atmosphere and turned up with more people.”

Those teams were still learning to play together, but this one stayed composed throughout the night and quickly silenced any momentum the Cardinals tried to build.

Still, it was good for Darryn Peterson and his supporting cast to get a feel for what over 15,000 heckling fans sound like and how they can tune them out.

This matchup marks the second of a home-and-home series that began last year at Allen Fieldhouse. In that contest, Kansas came out on top 92-89 after Elliot Cadeau missed a 3-pointer with seconds remaining.

But now, UNC has home-court advantage under fifth-year head coach Hubert Davis, who is looking to avenge the 2022 national title loss and break his winless record against KU.

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The history between Kansas and North Carolina runs deep. Legendary UNC coach Dean Smith graduated from KU and played basketball there before going on to make history in Chapel Hill. His protégé, before making the infamous jump to UNC.

There will always be a rich connection between these two blue bloods, and the Nov. 7 contest should be one of the highlights of college basketball’s early nonconference slate.