After starting the same five players in Kansas University’s first nine basketball games, coach Bill Self tinkered just a bit in Game Ten.

Christian Moody opened at power forward in place of the flu-weakened C.J. Giles, and the group of Moody and regular starters Jeff Hawkins, Brandon Rush, Russell Robinson and Sasha Kaun surged to a 14-0 lead en route to an 85-62 victory Thursday against Northern Colorado.

The effective beginning made some wonder if Giles and Kaun might again be separated at the start of Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. home battle against the University of New Orleans.

“I don’t know,” Self said. “C.J. and Sasha have not played particularly well together. Maybe they would be better backing each other up.

“We still haven’t had a game Sasha and C.J. have been on the same page. It’s unbelievable. They are combining for more than 20 points a game, which before the season you would probably say, ‘That’s OK.’

“The problem is, it’s 18 and four or 22 and zero or whatever. They haven’t played the same day, that leads us to believe, ‘Do they need to be in together as much?”’

The 6-foot-11 Kaun averages 11.3 points and 7.1 rebounds a game, while the 6-11 Giles has averaged 9.1 points and 7.2 boards.

“One good thing about not starting one of them is, it allows you to be in less foul trouble in crucial minutes later on,” Self said, adding, “you have to have your best guys that can make plays to change the game (in) for a good portion of the time.”

The 6-8, 220-pound Moody, who a year ago started next to Wayne Simien, scored eight points off 4-of-4 shooting in 14 minutes in his first start of his senior season.

“I think Christian was a big reason (for the fast start),” Self said. “It doesn’t hurt when Brandon makes his first couple looks, and ‘Hawk’ makes a couple early, and Russell finds some guys.

“I think Christian has played a lot more confident of late. He’s been better since the Cal game.”

Moody, who averages 4.9 points and 3.7 rebounds, scored two points and grabbed two rebounds in KU’s victory over Cal on Dec. 10 in Kansas City, Mo. He’s followed that with eight points and eight boards in a victory over Pepperdine as well as his strong effort versus Northern Colorado.

KU now has an additional candidate for playing time on the inside in Darnell Jackson, who scored 12 points with six boards against Northern Colorado in his season debut. Jackson had missed the first nine games because of an NCAA-mandated suspension.

“I think it does a lot of things,” Self said of Jackson playing well. “I think the guys are happy for Darnell and it does something indirectly. Now, guys are starting to count minutes. They say, ‘Whoa … Darnell played pretty good tonight, now I better bring it, because we can put him in there.”’

Self said the Jayhawks must receive more production on the inside as the Big 12 Conference season approaches.

“The post is wide-open,” Self said, noting senior guard Stephen Vinson has been the best at dishing to the inside players. “Those are all big targets. We ought to be able to get the ball to them a lot easier than we have been.”

As far as the perimeter, Self remains convinced players can learn a lot from former walk-on Vinson, who had five assists and four rebounds in 13 minutes against Northern Colorado.

“Stephen was one of our best performers as far as energy and passing the ball,” Self said. “There will be night things don’t go perfect for Stephen like (Thursday) or against Cal (six points, six assists, three boards). He’ll be limited some nights in minutes. Some nights, he may get in more.”