Print edition: 
LAWRENCE — When Kansas scores in bunches, the Jayhawks’ offense is only completing the task.
“This has become a very good defensive spurt team,” Kansas coach Bill Self.
Defensive spurts?
It happens. During the last few games, the Jayhawks’ game-changing runs have largely been defensive-fueled.
Seventh-ranked Kansas, which travels to Texas on Saturday, has fed off of forcing bad shots or turnovers and turning the stops into quick points, and it’s helped the Jayhawks soar to a league-leading 5-0 record in Big 12 competition.
During the last four games, there’s been at least one major burst.
At Oklahoma, the Jayhawks outscored the Sooners 23-4 to open the second half. A few days later at Texas Tech, KU closed the first half with an 18-2 run and took a 15-point halftime lead.
The Jayhawks were struggling at home against Iowa State last Saturday, trailing by six early in the second half.
But during a stretch of 3 minutes and 12 seconds, Kansas outscored the Cyclones 17-2, forcing two turnovers and five missed shots and finishing quickly on the offensive end.
Two days later, the same thing. The Jayhawks trailed Baylor 27-22 with 6:01 remaining in the first half.
When the teams left for the locker room, a 17-2 run put Kansas ahead 39-29. The Bears committed three turnovers and missed six of seven shots during the run, grabbing only one offensive rebound in the stretch.
In the most recent cases, Tyshawn Taylor has been a catalyst, finishing with 28 points in the victories over Iowa State and Baylor.
“Being good defensively, that’s our main thing,” Taylor said. “We have to do that, because our scoring isn’t as fluent as it has been.”
Self rates this among his better defensive teams. Maybe not as good as the 2007 and 2008 squads, but these Jayhawks feed off defense.
“I think our energy keys us more than anything else,” Self said. “Before, the common denominator was talent or depth. Here, it’s energy. When we’re turned up, we’re pretty athletic and pay defense so much better.”
Offense doesn’t always come easily to the Jayhawks. But when they’ve scored in bunches off their defense, that’s sometimes all Kansas has needed to put teams away.
The Jayhawks have been average most of the last four games, Self said, except for those few minutes of defensive frenzy that leaves opponents bewildered.
“You can’t be a spurt team for 40 minutes,” Self said. “And when you play good teams, there aren’t as many spurts because the other teams have good players, too. So whenever you can get a 10-0 or a 12-4 run, that can usually be a difference between winning and losing a game.”
So can a 17-2 run, or 22-4.
