The Kansas Jayhawks plenty of early-bumps. 

They struggled without super freshman Darryn Peterson during the non-conference season. Then they were upset by the UCF Knights in the Big 12 opener. 

After getting on the same page, the Jayhawks have won five straight. Included in the stretch was a victory at the rival Kansas State Wildcats. It was KU's first victory in Manhattan in three seasons. 

"Well, three years ago, we actually had a great game," Self said after the Jayhawks ended the skid against the Wildcats. "I don't know if you remember, I called timeout right before Jalen Wilson threw in a 3 to win the game and it ended up costing us the game. And then the last two years, they just whipped our butts, but it was good. We talked about it a lot. It's hard for in-state rivalries to mean as much to the players in today's world than it did in the past and so, we tried to make sure our guys understood what an important game it was to many people around here."

It just seems the Jayhawks are hitting their stride entering Saturday's game against the BYU Cougars, who feature future NBA lottery pick A.J. Dybantsa. Self is hoping the Jayhawks can build momentum off the K-State victory. It was also Self's first game back since missing a game because of the flu.

"I thought we shared the ball, I thought we were great in late clock," Self said. "And it's nice to see the guys actually playing the way that you envision them playing, and we haven't done it consistently at all. So, that was more of it, and I'll be honest with you, this is a big game to me personally, because it's an in-state game. And I told our players. I said, 'Hell, you're gonna be here one year. You leave here and nobody talks about it, at least in your world. I gotta live here.' So, I don't know if I was more animated but I was probably more excited to see us play that well than I normally am."

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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of JayhawksRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com