LAWRENCE | Is it a stretch to call it Bill Self&#8217;s biggest nonconference victory of his five-plus seasons at Kansas?</p><p>Given the circumstances, no.</p><p>Self and the Jayhawks needed Saturday&#8217;s 92-85 victory against No. 14 Tennessee like they haven&#8217;t needed one since at least 2005-06, when an equally young bunch was playing for Kansas.</p><p>Championships aren&#8217;t won in early January games with the students still on break. But impressions are made, outside the program and within.</p><p>&#8220;We knew we were good, but we didn&#8217;t know how good we could get,&#8221; Kansas center Cole Aldrich said. &#8220;This is a confidence-builder.&#8221;</p><p>Young teams need games like this. Remember, these Jayhawks return no starters from last year&#8217;s title squad. Aldrich and Collins are wonderful talents who were at their best Saturday. But Saturday, for the first time, it felt as though they took full ownership of this team by combining for 48 points.</p><p>The triumph wasn&#8217;t all about them. The rest of the Jayhawks increased a nine-point halftime lead to 16 just outside the 10-minute mark with two Collins free throws serving as the only points from their leaders during the stretch.</p><p>It all adds up to a victory Kansas had to have, and although Self stopped short of calling it a &#8220;must win,&#8221; his sideline intensity suggested otherwise.</p><p>His raging eyes nearly popped from their sockets on a first-half technical after arguing an offensive foul on Quintrell Thomas.</p><p>On a Collins drive-and-foul in the second half, Self yelled &#8220;And one!&#8221; loud enough to be heard across the floor on a day when Allen Fieldhouse sizzled.</p><p>He was excited about this one because he knew how much Kansas needed it. The Jayhawks were 12 games into a 15-game set of non-league action without a calling-card victory.</p><p>Beating Temple was nice, but that was offset by the still hard-to-believe loss to Massachusetts.</p><p>In losing second-half leads and falling to Arizona and Syracuse, Kansas left quality victories on the floor. Those games were mentioned at halftime Saturday with the Jayhawks nursing a nine-point lead.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of the guys were saying we had a same lead against Arizona and we were up against Syracuse and not to let this one go,&#8221; Aldrich said.</p><p>The game got a little harried after the sleek and athletic Volunteers chiseled into a 17-point Jayhawk lead and made it to 77-70 with 4:31 remaining. Kansas was having fits against pressure defense.</p><p>But it wasn&#8217;t enough, and Kansas wasn&#8217;t going to lose on this day. It was as if Collins and Aldrich willed it. That&#8217;s how Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl saw it.</p><p>&#8220;I felt like this was a young enough Kansas team that they were vulnerable,&#8221; Pearl said. &#8220;But the two veteran players played great, and it carried the rest of them. Our best players played pretty well but not great from the start.&#8221;</p><p>Pearl also shakes his head at the Jayhawks&#8217; loss to UMass.</p><p>&#8220;It just doesn&#8217;t make any sense,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But losing to Arizona and Syracuse, don&#8217;t apologize for those. They&#8217;re a really good team. Their young kids have got to grow and fit into their roles and be more consistent.&#8221;</p><p>A nice summary of a Kansas team, and if you want to carry the 2005-06 comparison a little further, that team had no hat-hanging victory in the first few weeks. The team of freshmen Brandon Rush, Mario Chalmers and Julian Wright started the season 3-4, and the calendar flipped without a ranking or much regard.</p><p>Then, on the first Saturday of the new year, Kentucky came to Lawrence ranked 19th, and the Jayhawks trounced them.</p><p>Self said Saturday reminded him of that day.</p><p>These Vols had a better ranking and this wasn&#8217;t a blowout, but there was a similar recognition on Saturday, a feeling for the first time that Kansas will be a Big 12 contender and an NCAA Tournament team.</p><p>That&#8217;s the feeling of a season turning.