Kansas coach Bill Self spoke with his players in a Monday afternoon film session about a trend that needs to stop.

“We haven’t been as energized the last two games. We’ve played flat,” Self said of Wednesday’s 64-54 home victory over Texas A&M and Saturday’s 72-64 loss at Iowa State.

“It’s not about playing hard. I’m talking about just being enthusiastic, energetic. When we do that, we’re pretty good. When we are not (energized), we don’t appear to be near as athletic and don’t seem to make plays that players make when games are tight. When you are energized, it covers up for a lot of mistakes. When you are not energized, then execution and discipline — all those things become more a factor. Against Iowa State the last five minutes, we didn’t get stops. The majority of those times it all came with under seven seconds on the shot clock. A guy reaches, a guy loses sight of his man, a guy doesn’t block out. All these things can be avoided if we are a little more in-tune.”

The Jawhawks thrive off defensive pressure that leads to easy points.

“This has become a very good defensive spurt team,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.

Kansas has had at least one major defensive burst in each of its last four games.

“I think our energy keys us more than anything else,” Self said. “Before, the common denominator was talent or depth. Here, it’s energy. When we’re turned up, we’re pretty athletic and pay defense so much better.

“You can’t be a spurt team for 40 minutes,” Self said. “And when you play good teams, there aren’t as many spurts because the other teams have good players, too. So whenever you can get a 10-0 or a 12-4 run, that can usually be a difference between winning and losing a game.”

Thomas Robinson of Kansas is the leader in the Player of the Year straw poll released by ESPN. Robinson received 25 first place votes and 98 total points.

Jared Sullinger of Ohio State received 13 first place votes and 73 total points.

Doug McDermott of Creighton received 10 first place votes and 69 total points.

Anthony Davis of Kentucky and John Jenkins of Vanderbilt received the other two first place votes. Davis had 12 points in total.

Harrison Barnes of North Carolina was ranked fifth with 11 points, followed by Kevin Jones (West Virginia), Perry Jones III (Baylor), Jenkins, Draymond Green (Michigan State), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Kentucky), Jeremy Lamb (UConn), Damian Lillard (Weber State), Jorge Gutierrez (Cal), Julian Mavunga (Miami Ohio), Mike Scott (Virginia), Marcus Demon (Missouri) and Kendall Marshall (North Carolina).

Elijah Johnson swiped three steals, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished out five assists without a single turnover in a win over Kansas State.

"When he had the ball in his hands, he was 5-and-0 against pressure," said Kansas coach Bill Self. "That's good. Defensive rebounding was excellent. To me, Elijah is a calming influence for our team. So I thought he played pretty well."