Kansas basketball: Ranking the five most crucial non-conference games of 2020

4. Kansas @ Colorado, December 22

Three days after facing USC, Kansas will travel to Boulder for their first true road game of the season against the Colorado Buffaloes. Last season, the Jayhawks took care of their former Big 12 foe at home in a 72-58 victory; however, the Buffaloes still had a good season despite stumbling towards the end.

Even though they lost their final five games in a row, Colorado still finished with a 21-11 record and in the middle of the Pac-12. Next season, the Buffs will be without all-conference selection Tyler Bey, who decided for the NBA Draft. Still, Colorado is returning a decent amount of talent from their 2019-20 squad.

This game will be a good test for the Kansas Jayhawks. There’s always a degree of uncertainty when a team plays on the road for the first time; however, Kansas will have mostly upperclassmen on the court, and Colorado probably won’t be anything special.

Once again, Colorado is basically the equivalent of a mid-tier Big 12 team, so there’s no reason to think the Jayhawks can’t take care of business despite playing in their first hostile environment of the season. After the Buffaloes, Kansas will take on the Harvard Crimson before beginning their Big 12 schedule.