KU sophomore Darrell Arthur, left, is just out of reach for a rebound against CU sophomore Dwight Thorne II on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008 during the Jayhawks' 72-59 victory in Boulder. Arthur had four total rebounds in the game.

Boulder, Colo. ? He didn’t kick the locker room stalls or throw any chalk and erasers.

“He wasn’t mad at all,” Kansas University senior forward Darnell Jackson said of coach Bill Self, who nonetheless had a lot to say at halftime on Saturday at Coors Events Center, the Jayhawks and last-place Colorado Buffaloes tied, 30-all.

“He challenged us. He said, ‘What is deep in your gut? Whatever is in there, go find it,”’ Jackson added.

The Jayhawks, who still appeared to be feeling the emotional effects from Wednesday’s loss at Kansas State – KU had no steals and suffered 10 turnovers the first 20 minutes – outscored the Buffs by 13 the second half en route to a 72-59 road victory.

“No ranting and raving,” Self said after a game, which, combined with Kansas State’s loss to Missouri, placed the Jayhawks back atop the Big 12 standings at 6-1, a half game ahead of 5-1 KSU. Missouri stunned the Wildcats, 77-74, on Saturday in Columbia.

“It was one of those deals we didn’t play the first half. (I said), ‘Nobody feels sorry for you. Find out what’s inside your jersey the second half.’ I told our guys, ‘Nobody is throwing a pity party for us cause we lost a game.’ We played well the second half. I think they feel they’ve got something to prove.”

Some of the Jayhawks heard the Mizzou-Kansas State score on the public-address system 41â2 minutes into the game.

“We were saying, ‘Let’s turn it up now and get this win and be tied again,”’ Brandon Rush said of an exchange with teammate Mario Chalmers.

The Jayhawks trailed by as many as seven points after the announcement was made.

Each member of the KU team was made aware of the KSU loss a bit later.

“I told the guys at halftime K-State got beat. It might have put a little pep in their step, too,” Self said. “They might have thought in the back of their mind, ‘We caught a break. Now we’ve got to make the most of it.”’

Three of KU’s first shots the second half were easy inside misses, but the Jayhawks did clamp down on defense and led, 38-30, after a Chalmers steal and dunk at 15:05.

KU led by as many as nine at 44-35 (with 12:14 left), but it remained a close game with KU up, 55-50, at 7:39.

The rest of the game belonged to KU. Sherron Collins scored four points, Rush three, Sasha Kaun two, Chalmers two and Russell Robinson one during a 12-1 surge that opened a 67-51 lead at 2:55.

Chalmers was so energized after drawing a charge by Richard Roby (22 points, six rebounds), he waved his arms wildly to thousands of KU fans behind the south goal. At least half the crowd of 10,347 was made up of KU supporters.

“They played well the first half. We didn’t. We were fortunate it was a tie game (at half),” Self said. “I thought we were careless with the ball, as evidenced by our 10 turnovers. Sherron turns it over four times against no pressure in five minutes. We never attacked Roby inside. We didn’t play to our strengths. I was surprised we had 30 points, to be honest.

“The second half we played very well. To me, Mario had the energy.”

Chalmers – he said he had trouble breathing in the high altitude of Colorado the first half – had five points, three steals and four assists the final 20 minutes.

“We needed extra energy. The crowd provided it,” Chalmers said.

As did Self apparently with his halftime talk.

“He wanted us to come out with more energy, intensity. Coach Self is a good motivational speaker. It helped a lot,” Chalmers added of the halftime chalk-talk.

Collins – he missed part of the first half after bumping knees with a CU player – had nine points, one assist and just one turnover the second half.

“Coach Self changed it at halftime. He told us what we needed to do. He got after us at halftime. We heard it,” Collins said. “He hyped us up. He said we should be making easy plays. He pretty much motivated me. He said to forget the first half.”

The Jayhawks were led by Darnell Jackson, who scored 18 points, hitting four of seven shots and 10 of 10 free throws. Rush had 15 points, Sasha Kaun 12 with three boards and Arthur nine points, seven the second half.

“It was a rude awakening when we took that loss,” Jackson said. “Now we’ve got to stay hungry.”

KU will meet Missouri, the team that downed KSU, at 8 p.m. Monday at Allen Fieldhouse.