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The Kansas Jayhawks used a strong defensive effort combined with a strong offense in the second half to defeat Colorado 75-63 Wednesday night in Boulder. Christian Moody scored a career-high 18 points, and Brandon Rush scored all 17 of his points after halftime. Mario Chalmers tossed in 11, and Darnell Jackson came off the bench to get 10, six before halftime, to entertain the Jayhawk faithful in the crowd at Boulder. Richard Roby and Chris Copeland handled the majority of the scoring for Colorado, netting 15 and 22 points, respectively. The first half was dominated by defense and highlighted by a series of four to six point runs by both squads. Colorado opened an 8-4 lead early on, but Chalmers hit two free throws to tie the game. KU would lead by as many as five, and Colorado would come back each time, tying the game on four occasions. Julian Wright’s fade-away jumper swished as time expired in the opening half, giving the Jayhawks a 29-27 edge. The visitors overcame 11 first-half turnovers and a zero-for-seven start from TreyLand by out-rebounding Colorado 28-14, including a 10-1 edge off the offensive glass. Moody and Jackson carried the team offensively in the first half, going seven of 11 from the field while the rest of the squad was a paltry five of 22. Rush was conspicuous by his scoring absence in the first half. "(Rush) can't be like that," Coach Bill Self said. "He's got to be aggressive. After he got his first one to go down, he looked a lot better." The second half started a bit sluggish on both ends for the Jayhawks, and a Roby trey gave Colorado a 33-31 lead after two minutes. KU kept their poise and the pressure defense on the home team, and Jackson’s jumper from the right side, following a scrum under the KU basket, gave the Jayhawks the lead for good with 17 minutes left. The best was yet to come for Jayhawk Nation. Running when the opportunity presented itself, and playing a smart half court game when necessary, Kansas scored on eight of 11 possessions over the next ten minutes, good for 26 points and expanding the lead to as many as 13. The Jayhawks didn’t turn the ball over during the game-deciding stretch, and held Colorado’s offense, averaging 85 points a game coming in, to just 11 points in the same stretch. Chalmers and Russell Robinson may have established themselves as backcourt mates, leading the way with pressure defense and by getting the ball out on the break. Giving credit where it’s due, Colorado played pretty well. Their defense kept KU from getting anything started in the first half, and their three-point shooting (9-22 for 41 percent) kept them in the game for quite some time. They committed only 12 turnovers in the game and blocked 11 shots. Colorado didn’t give the game away, Kansas had to take it. In spite of the 0-2 conference start, the Buffs will have something to say about who takes the conference crown. Fortunately Kansas out-rebounded CU 50-28, turned the ball over but five times after halftime and got a huge second half from Rush, who went 5-7 from the field and 5-6 from the line after intermission. Chalmers and Robinson combined for 20 points, 11 assists against only three turnovers and five steals. Moody and Jackson gathered seven rebounds each and Rush six. On the down side C.J. Giles was in foul trouble most of the night and only played eight minutes. Jeff Hawkins and Micah Downs had four turnovers each. Hawkins had a key turnover late in the second half when Colorado was making its last run; Kansas City, Missouri native Martane Freeman hit a three, then stole the ball from Hawkins. Freeman hit a lay-up while fouled by Hawkins, then converted the free throw, completing a six-point run inside of seven seconds and cutting KU’s lead to seven at 64-57. The fact that Downs made it off the bench at all was somewhat surprising; as he hadn’t played in the last few games, save for some mop-up duty. His four turnovers in seven minutes of play won’t help his case for additional floor time. The Jayhawks horrid three-point shooting cannot be swept under the rug. KU went two for 13 Wednesday night, and one of those came from Moody. Since the Yale game the Jayhawks are 6-30 from behind the arc. Even though the team is being reasonably selective about the threes they take, everyone (including the team) knows twenty percent is flirting with danger. Overall, it was a good win for the ‘Hawks, who seem to be developing consistency with each game. While it’s not fair to consider the Coors Event Center a ‘hostile’ environment (on television it sounded as though at least half the crowd was pro-KU) it seemed to fit what Kansas needed, a stern test against a good team outside of the field house and coming out on top. 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.