If he’s told you once, he’s told you twice.

There are “60, 70, 80 teams” that could beat Kentucky right now, John Calipari’s early season line goes. Friday night, following a 50-point drubbing of Marist to open the year, the pool of teams didn’t shrink. Oddly, it grew bigger.

“We’re this highly ranked team who could get beat by 100 teams in the country right now,” Coach Cal said.

If you can ignore the fact that Calipari is hand feeding reporters what they like to call “coach’s speak,” you’d have to categorize Kansas, Kentucky’s next opponent, as one of those teams. Two college basketball’s bluebloods, UK and Kansas will collide in New York’s Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night in the Champions Classic.

“I just don’t know if we’re ready to play a team like Kansas,” Calipari said Friday.

Ready or not, here the Jayhawks come.

Owners of their own season-opening blowout victory, the Jayhawks crushed Towson 100-54 on Friday. Despite major losses from last year’s squad and the loss of two freshmen who were expected to make major impacts, Kansas is still Kansas, one of the premier programs in the country.

The Jayhawks enter Tuesday’s marquee matchup second among the NCAA’s winningest programs (Kentucky, of course, has a lock on the top spot).

“I’m looking forward to this game,” said sophomore Doron Lamb, who will play in front of some of his hometown friends and family members (more on Lamb’s return to New York on Monday on CoachCal.com). “We know Kansas is a great team. We’re a great team, so we’ve got to go out there and compete with them.”

The return of veterans Thomas Robinson, Travis Releford and Tyshawn Taylor placed Kansas at No. 13 in both major polls to start the season, so yes, even without the Morris twins (Marcus and Markieff), this Kansas team can still play.

Now, the question is, can Kentucky keep up? The numbers would indicate yes. After all, Kentucky is the No. 2 team in the country and will, in all likelihood, be the favorite.

But lest we forget that four of UK’s top seven players are freshmen, and six of those seven are sophomores are younger. Tuesday’s tilt will not only feature the bright lights of New York, it will also be the first road contest of the season and the first time on national television.

There’s no telling how the freshmen will handle the big stage.

“Kansas is a great school, great team,” freshman forward Anthony Davis said. “I just can’t wait to go out there and play them. Coach Cal said they’re real physical, and if we start the game the way we started (Friday), we’re not going to win.”

Kansas played well in its opener, shooting 58.6 percent from the floor. Six Jayhawks scored in double figures and 10 total players scored a bucket. Thirty of their 41 made field goals were assisted. They also committed just five turnovers while forcing Towson into 23 turnovers.

Kentucky, which limited opponents to 26.8 percent shooting in its two exhibition games, allowed Marist to hit 50 percent of its field-goal attempts in the first half.

Marist hit four of its first five 3-point attempts, but when the Cats adjusted and closed out on the perimeter, the Red Foxes drove right into the teeth of the UK defense and scored rather easily.

“We’ve got a long ways to go,” Calipari said. “Defense, we got beat on the dribble in the first half I’m guessing 10 times; just beat on the dribble, just caught it and drove by us and laid it in. We didn’t stay down, we didn’t stunt, we didn’t help, we didn’t talk.”

UK reversed its play in the second half, looking much like the team that many think can beat anybody. The Cats put the clamps down defensively, limiting the Red Foxes to 17.1 percent from the floor and 31.7 percent for the game.

“You see the second half (against Marist) and say, ‘Well, they can beat anybody,’ ” Calipari said. “What about the first half? What if we play two halves that way? Anybody in the country can beat us.”

Well, maybe not anybody, but Kansas certainly can.