Sunday afternoon’s matchup between No. 3 Kansas and Michigan will feature the elite of the Big 12 and one of the youngest squads of the Big Ten. Essentially, this game is far less important for the Jayhawks than it is for the Wolverines, who will be looking to prove something in front of their home crowd. Can David beat Goliath?

Point guard

Tyshawn Taylor
His statistics aren’t particularly eye opening, but Michigan’s backcourt defense will still have its hands full with this 6-foot-3 point man. Taylor will be one of the fastest guards Michigan will face this season, and his ability to make quick lateral cuts could pose problems for the relatively slow-footed Wolverines. Michigan may be able to capitalize on turnovers, but in the end, the Jayhawks don’t rely much on their point-play to win.

Darius Morris
Michigan would not have the 11-4 record it holds today, if it were not for Morris’ All-American worthy numbers. He averages 7.3 assists a game — the fourth best in the nation — and a team-high 15.1 points per game. Out of the top-20 assist-men in the country, he has the highest assists-to-turnover ratio (2.79). If the Wolverines are to beat a more experienced, more physical and more talented Jayhawk squad, they’ll need Morris to limit his mistakes as he did against Bryant earlier this season — when he had zero turnovers.

Advantage: Morris

Wing player

Tyrel Reed
Reed is by no means Kansas’ most athletic starter, but he plays with one of the highest basketball IQs in the nation and his senior leadership is evident. He tops the Jayhawks in 3-point shooting, and the Wolverines need to avoid fouling him, because he shoots with 91-percent success from the charity stripe. Reed will only take smart shots, so if Michigan gets a hand in his face, he shouldn’t do much. But then again, if he has the ball less, his big men will have the ball more, which could doom the Wolverines.

Zack Novak
There’s no way to know which Novak you’re going to get. Will he shoot 5-of-6 from the field like he did against Penn State? Or will he go 1-of-4 like in the Big Ten opener against Purdue just a few days prior? Novak’s one consistency has been rebounding — he averages 6.9 boards a game, a team high. If Michigan’s big men can clear the lane for Novak, he’ll outrebound the Kansas guards with ease. And true to Beilein’s mantra that defense leads to offense, in the three games that Novak has scooped up nine or more defensive boards, he’s tallied double-digit points.

Advantage: Push

Wing Player

Brady Morningstar
Morningstar didn’t forget how to play basketball after his semester-long suspension from the team last year for a DUI-related arrest. The 6-foot-3 guard has quietly become a valuable component of the 2010-11 Kansas squad, especially on defense. This Jayhawk is more of a ball hawk — he specializes in baiting point guards to make ill-advised passes and leads his team with 26 steals. Expect him to pull this off a couple of times against the youthful Wolverines, even against the mostly level-headed Morris.

Tim Hardaway Jr.
It’s never easy to perform well on the national stage as a true freshman. Just ask Hardaway, who has shot a meager 32-percent from the field in Michigan’s first three Big Ten games this season. Nonetheless, the Wolverines will need Hardaway to grow up quickly — he’s the team’s second leading scorer and will need to act like it against Kansas. Expect him to hang around the perimeter though, as he wont be able to drive much with the Morris brothers hanging in the paint.

Advantage: Push

Power Forward

Marcus Morris
Here’s where Michigan (and every other Kansas opponent this season) starts to run into trouble. Marcus is one of the nation’s elite forwards. He plays with range, draining shots from the high post and perimeter — shooting at a 45-percent clip from beyond the arc. But he also plays underneath, terrorizing defenders in the paint with power and craft.