LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball’s regular season continues Friday when it welcomes Yale to Allen Fieldhouse for a 7 p.m. CST tipoff.

Here are five things to think about before the game between No. 2 Kansas (10-1) and Yale (7-5) gets underway:

Kansas doesn’t want to experience a letdown before the holiday break

Kansas coach Bill Self doesn’t have to be reminded of some of the tough losses he’s experienced around this time of the year in the past. One that quickly came to mind Thursday was a 77-52 loss against Temple during the 2014-15 season. It’s not the way he wants to go into the team's holiday break, with the next game on Dec. 30 against Wichita State, and there have been plenty of examples this week already of ranked teams around the country losing against unranked opponents.

So, winning Friday won’t just be about winning a game. It’ll be about ensuring the Jayhawks don’t become the latest team this season to join that list. And junior forward KJ Adams Jr. shared his perspective on how Kansas can deliver.

“Don’t fall asleep,” Adams said. “Take every team like it’s the best team we’re going to play. You see a lot of teams right now, a lot of high-ranked teams, losing right now. So, we’ve just got to make sure we just don’t check out.”

With Johnny Furphy unavailable, there’s an opportunity for teammates to step up

Kansas will be without freshman guard Johnny Furphy on Friday, and that means the Jayhawks will need to look elsewhere for his production off the bench. Self said they are approaching the game as if they have eight guys to play, instead of the usual nine, and not as if there is someone he wants specifically to step up. But Self does hope, considering there might be a couple of guys who have more of an opportunity, someone steps up with a big night.

Bill Self addresses how his core players could improve

Kansas has a core of four players, in senior center Hunter Dickinson, graduate senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr., redshirt senior guard Dajuan Harris Jr. and Adams.

As they head into the new year, Self would like to see Dickinson protect the rim better and improve his ball-screen defense. Self would like to see Adams, who he said has been their best at times, rebound better defensively. And Self would like to see Harris become less careless with the basketball than he has been at times.

When talking about McCullar, Self just said McCullar has been their most consistent.

“I’m also going to tell you every coach in America could say that about four of their five starters, on what they could do better,” Self said. “I don’t want to say I’m pleased, or content, but I think there’s still another step our guys can take, but up until this point it hasn’t been.”

Kansas is still looking for Nicolas Timberlake to become more consistent shooting the ball

Graduate senior guard Nicolas Timberlake has still yet to become the consistent shooter, especially from behind the arc, that Kansas recruited him to be as a transfer from Towson. Timberlake, who’s come off the bench in all 11 games, is 7-for-26 (26.9%) on 3s. But Self said he hopes Timberlake can gain some confidence through practice, and ultimately make them a better team as a result.

“(Timberlake) had a really good practice (Wednesday), knocking down a lot of key, open shots that he has usually made,” Adams said. “So, just getting there, getting more comfortable when he’s playing I think is going to help us. He’s going to have a big role and part of our year.”

Here’s what Bill Self thinks about Yale

Self praised how good of a coach he thinks Yale’s James Jones is. Self mentioned how the Bulldogs were picked to finish first in this year’s Ivy League preseason poll. And Self highlighted that Yale has guys who can really shoot the ball.

“They’ll be hard to guard, and they really move the ball,” Self said, “and if you’re a half step behind you’re way behind when you’re guarding these guys.”

RELATED: Inside Elmarko Jackson’s freshman year with Kansas basketball, what’s next for the guard

RELATED: Pass rushers, quarterback headline Kansas football’s 2024 recruiting class on signing day

RELATED: Kansas football’s new offensive coordinator, Jeff Grimes, eyes a physical, attacking style

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Bill Self previews Kansas basketball's home matchup against Yale