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Jeff Hawkins and Sasha Kaun came off the bench to score 19 and 12 points respectively and Kansas overcame another terrible start to finally cruise past the Yale Bulldogs 87-46 Wednesday night at Allen Fieldhouse. Mario Chalmers, getting his second start of the season, chipped in 13 for the Jayhawks while Eric Flato was the only player in double figures for Yale with 10. It was the Bulldogs who dictated the pace of the game for the first 16 minutes, running clock on each possession and getting decent shots. Had they managed to hit a solid percentage of their three-point shots (Yale was 3-16, 18.8 percent for the game) they may have built a substantial lead. As it was, Yale lead by as many as three and held a 23-22 lead at the under four media timeout. Kansas was as flat offensively during this stretch as they were in the first 17 minutes of the New Orleans game, committing at least four unforced turnovers and playing as if they’d rather watch the Rose Bowl. But they also repeated the runs at the end of the first and beginning of the second halves that effectively put the game out of reach, just as in the game with the Privateers. After the timeout with 3:33 remaining in the opening half the Jayhawks turned up the defensive intensity. After Chalmers hit the second of two free throws leaving the timeout, Kansas got a steal and conventional three point play from Hawkins, a steal by Russell Robinson who fed Hawkins for a lay-up, then another Hawkins lay-up. Julian Wright hit a nice mid range jumper, then Robinson secured a second steal (he had five in the game) and led Brandon Rush perfectly for a dunk. Boom! 14-0 run. Only two free throws by Yale’s Sam Kaplan prevented a scoreless close to the half for the visitors from New Haven, Conn. Hawkins had 13 of his 19 points in the opening half as the Jayhawks led 36-25. Each team looked a little flat for the first 60 seconds of the second half, but Hawkins hit Christian Moody twice for lay-ups in 30 seconds time, expanding the KU lead to 15. Yale went without a field goal for more than seven and an half minutes as Rush and Hawkins each hit from TreyLand and C.J. Giles hit a jumper from the left side before the next media timeout, and by then the Jayhawks led 50-29. On the Jayhawk television broadcast Chris Piper commented the Yale players seemed to run out of gas near the end of the first half and never recovered. After leading so late into the game, the Jayhawks hit them with the defensive pressure causing the Bulldogs to turn the ball over several times during the end of half run, and it definitely took the legs out of the team. Again KU was the more athletically talented team, and Yale was smart to try and slow the ball down. It worked for 16½ minutes, and perhaps outside of the field house it may have worked longer. Jeremy Case and Micah Downs didn’t play until mop-up time; Case used his minutes wisely, draining two treys in much the same way he has all year. Downs didn’t get a shot off in four minutes. For the game KU out-rebounded Yale 36-23, went 9-19 on three-pointers and had an assist to turnover ratio greater than two-to-one (29 assists against 13 turnovers). The drawbacks are free-throw shooting, hitting less than half on a night when they didn’t really need them, and the flat first 16 minutes. It seems Coach Self has the bodies to really turn up the defensive pressure any time he wants, and with a dozen or more guys in a position to earn playing time it may become necessary from this point forward in the season. Every significant scoring run Kansas has had this season has been keyed by defensive pressure. It bears repeating; no team in the Big 12 Conference can afford to be flat for long stretches as KU has to open the last two ballgames. Defense may be the best way to overcome those slow starts. Beginning with Kentucky on Saturday, the Jayhawks can take control of their season destiny; the question remaining isn’t can they, but will they? Mark Howe is a freelance writer currently residing in Milford, IN. He is a former ticket taker, usher and security worker at Allen Fieldhouse, and can be reached at mhowe (at) rockchalk (dot) com.