Scrooge does not play for Kansas University’s men’s basketball team.

It just seemed that way the past 21â2 weeks as the Jayhawks labored with dour faces since a lethargic loss at DePaul.

“Some of our fans said we act like we’re depressed. I tried to start smiling. I think it helped a lot tonight,” KU sophomore Brandon Rush said after a 94-43 nonconference laugher over Winston-Salem State on Tuesday night in Allen Fieldhouse.

Rush, who tied Julian Wright for team-high scoring honors with 15 points, was grinning ear to ear after several alley-oop dunks – the Jayhawks had 56 points in the paint – and after one missed dunk, Sasha Kaun’s second-half clang.

“I think the whole bench was scared to laugh. I laughed for them,” Rush said. “I think Sasha getting hung is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in a game.”

Kaun, who had 11 points and six boards while making his first start of the season, accepted Rush’s ribbing in stride.

“He always gives me a hard time,” Kaun, who has been slowed by knee and ankle injuries this season, said with a grin. “I didn’t jump high enough on that one, I guess.”

Darnell Jackson, who had six boards, three assists as well as four points, also missed a slam in a game the Jayhawks (9-2) cashed 58.5 percent of their shots to the Rams’ 34 percent.

“Our goal tonight was to play our type of game, get back to the old Kansas we used to be,” Rush said of a freewheeling team that attempted and converted a lot of slams off feeds from Mario Chalmers, Russell Robinson and Sherron Collins, who had eight, five and three assists respectively.

And did KU, in fact, resemble the Jayhawks of old?

“Yes, yes,” Rush responded.

“We got up and down the floor on the fast break. Most of our points were fast break. We accomplished our goal tonight. Running, running, running : it helps,” Rush added.

The Jayhawks led just 15-13 before embarking on a 30-8 run to close the half. The only negative was letting the Rams (1-14) knock down five of 10 threes the first half and eight of 22 for the game.

Aside from that, it was fun for the fans and players to watch reserves Jeremy Case score eight points and Brady Morningstar contribute four.

“The guys have been playing like there’s a weight on their shoulders. Tonight there was none of that. Guys were having fun, laughing, looking like they enjoyed it,” said KU coach Bill Self, who indicated the Jayhawks have “had nine or 10 good practices in a row, which is pretty good for any team.

“We pushed it better tonight and got a lot of easy baskets because of it. Basketball is a lot easier if you get easier baskets. You get those by running or crashing the boards.”

The Jayhawks had 29 assists against 10 turnovers to the Rams’ 10 assists and 24 bobbles.

“We’ve got some guys being more aggressive, which is good,” Self said. “All scorers should always be thinking about scoring, and we have some guys that can really score. But that’s not why we’ve been playing poorly. It’s because we’ve been passing too much. We haven’t been aggressive enough to put ourselves in position to make plays, whether it be by shooting the ball or getting our nose dirty. Tonight I thought we had them on their heels.”

Wright hit seven of eight shots and also had nine rebounds, while Darrell Arthur hit six of 10 shots and had 13 points. Collins hit three threes and totaled 11 points.

“We’ve openly talked about a lot of things, the biggest thing we said is we’re not playing with the zest or enthusiasm we need. We’ve not played the game the way it’s meant to be played.”

The Jayhawks hope to build on the blowout in Saturday’s 1 p.m. home game against Boston College.

“I’m encouraged,” Self said, “but by no means is this an indication of what we’re going to see Saturday against the 7-2 Eagles. This was a good game for our guys to get some rust off.”