Every time you see one of those interminable coal trains that rumble endlessly through Lawrence, perhaps it should remind you of Kansas University’s men’s basketball team.

“Energy is the problem we’ve been having,” KU point guard Aaron Miles said. “If we play with energy, we can be a great team.”

Wednesday night in Allen Fieldhouse, the Jayhawks were suffering through another energy crisis — too reminiscent of those stunning lopsided losses at Oklahoma State and Nebraska last week — when all of a sudden the lights went on.

For 30 minutes or so, the Jayhawks could not shed a plucky but undermanned Baylor team. Then freshman J.R. Giddens drilled a couple of three-pointers less than a minute apart — KU’s first threes all night — and the Jayhawks were energized enough to pull away.

In a nutshell, Giddens’ three-pointers were the turning point. The crowd was fueled, and that, in turn, topped off the Jayhawks’ tanks. At the same time, Baylor was running on fumes.

“I guess they were kind of important,” Giddens said of his three-pointers. “They were playing us tough, and we needed to put some space between us.”

Four days ago at Nebraska, Giddens played just 12 minutes and didn’t score. You wouldn’t know it by seeing him on the floor, but Giddens has an ailing left foot, evidenced by the walking cast he donned right after the game.

“It’s cool,” Giddens said, smiling as he pointed to the cast. “I can play. The only time I take it off is at practice — if I practice — and for games.”

Would Kansas have won Wednesday night if Giddens had posted another goose egg in the scoring column like he did in Lincoln, Neb.? Perhaps. Yet it’s clear the Jayhawks will stumble against quality teams — and on the road — if they don’t receive some offense from Giddens.

Kansas' J.R. Giddens, left, tries to stay inbounds despite the defense of Baylor's Tommy Swanson.

Wayne Simien and Keith Langford remain a potent 1-2 scoring punch — as productive a pair as any Big 12 Conference foe — but they can’t carry the Jayhawks deep into March by themselves. They’ll need help, and Giddens is the only other player on the roster with bonafide offensive skills.

Check the scoring stats of the Baylor game, and you’ll see the KU season in microcosm. Simien scored 24 points, Langford added 19, and Giddens finished with 15. The remainder of the roster produced 14 points combined — six from Aaron Miles, six from the enigmatic Jeff Graves and one each from Michael Lee and David Padgett, who officially has run into that proverbial brick wall that seems to hit all freshmen sometime in February.

“He’s just going to have to fight through it,” Simien said of Padgett, the 6-foot-9 freshman who starts alongside him in the Jayhawks’ double post.

Fortunately for the Jayhawks, Giddens hasn’t hit that brick wall yet. If he does flatten out, KU will struggle mightily to post scores in the 70s. Giddens is the Jayhawks’ lone legitimate outside shooting threat, and, without him, the Jayhawks will be fresh out of coal cars.

Thanks mostly to Giddens, the last 10 minutes Wednesday night were typical of the kind of game fans shoe-horn into Allen Fieldhouse to see. Heck, even the Wheaties song returned.

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When Baylor’s Carl Marshall fouled out with about seven minutes remaining, the band struck up the familiar strains, and the fans delighted in standing and waving the wheat as they had been doing since 1971 until the practice was banned late last season. In fact, the reprise of the Wheaties shtick had many fans wondering if band director Tom Stidham might be in hot water.

Stidham wasn’t. He was given the go-ahead by the KU athletic department, which had barred the traditional celebration because of a Big 12 Conference rule that restricts bands to playing only during halftime and timeouts.

“We decided it was within the spirit of the rule, if not the letter,” said KU associate athletic director Jim Marchiony. “It is back.”

So, too, are the Jayhawks … back from those dismal performances at Oklahoma State and Nebraska, but still with plenty left to prove — and they know it.

“By no means are we satisfied and convinced we’re back on track,” Simien said. “We still need to get our dukes up and get at it.”