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2008-2009 KANSAS BASKETBALL
21
NCAA TOURNAMENT, MARCH 20, 2009
Collins, Jayhawks withstand Bison barrage
Weston White/KANSAN
Junior guard Sherron Collins pounds his chest after hitting a basket. Collins led Kansas past North Dakota State with 32 points and 8 assists in the Jayhawks first-round victory.
BY CASE KEEFER
ckeefer@kansan.com
MINNEAPOLIS - A one-minute stretch in the middle of the second half of Kansas 84-74 victory against North Dakota State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament illustrated the whole game.
Sherron Collins made a 15-foot jump shot on one end of the floor. Before most fans even had a chance to look up, North Dakota State's Ben Woodside answered with a layup. Ten seconds later, Collins made a layup after flying down the court. Then, Woodside converted on a three-point play.
Forget Jayhawks against Bison. Friday at the Metrodome featured Collins versus Woodside.
"I wasn't thinking of it like that," Collins, a junior guard, said. "But it definitely looked like it and felt like it at times."
Collins finished with a career-high 32 points on 12-for-26 shooting. Woodside, a senior, recorded 37 points on 13-for-23 shooting. So yes, Woodside probably won the individual matchup.
But Woodside didn't have Cole Aldrich.
Aldrich's 23 points and 13 rebounds were the difference for the Jayhawks.
"I thought Cole and Sherron were offensively — I'm not going to say defensively — as good as either one of them had been all year," Kansas coach Bill Self said.
Collins and Aldrich, a sophomore center, dominated in spurs. Collins opened the game with 13 points in seven minutes to give Kansas an 18-17 lead it never relinquished.
North Dakota State cut it to a three-point game three times in the second half. On two of those occasions, Aldrich prevented the Bison from getting any closer with dunks.
Those moments pleased Self the most. He warned the Jayhawks at halftime that the Bison would make runs that needed to be weathered. Mission accomplished.
"I'm leaving out of here thinking we played good," Self said. "One thing that was impressive to me was how much poise we showed when the game got tight."
North Dakota State appeared to have one last gasp with two minutes remaining when Woodside hit a three-point shot to make the score 73-67. The Bison played tight defense on
the other end and forced Collins into a wild layup attempt that ricocheted off the glass.
But Aldrich caught it and slammed it down for a putback dunk while being fouled. He converted on the free throw to make it a three-point play. Score: 76-67. Game: Ended.
After the highlight-worthy play, Aldrich hummed the Sportscenter theme song into Collins' ear.
"It was really fun," Aldrich said. "It was one of those things where the ball came off at the right place and I took it and threw it in"
Woodside scored two more points before the buzzer sounded. Although Woodside's final basket meant little, it appropriately showed that Kansas found no way to slow him all day.
Self gave five different players a chance to guard Woodside. None of them had prolonged success. Collins' offense was the only way to combat Woodside.
"At one point, it seemed like there wasn't anybody else on the court but them two," junior guard Tyrone Appleton said.
Woodside wound up with more points, but Collins advanced. That's the benefit of having Aldrich as a teammate.
NCAA TOURNAMENT, MARCH 22, 2009
Aldrich's triple-double spurs Kansas into Sweet Sixteen
BY CASE KEEFER ckeefer@kansan.com
MINNEAPOLIS — Five national championships. Fifty-two conference titles. Forty-one straight home victories.
And now, one official triple-double. Cole Aldrich accomplished something nearly impossible Sunday at the Metrodome: He became the first player in Kansas' storied basketball history to reach a milestone.
Aldrich, a sophomore center, scored 13 points with 20 rebounds and 10 blocks in a 60-43 second round NCAA Tournament victory against Dayton.
"This will go down, because of the stage, as one of the best individual performances we've had," Kansas coach Bill Self said.
At the beginning of the season, a Sweet Sixteen berth for the Jayhawks would have
sounded even more improbable than an Aldrich triple-double.
But Aldrich's speedy maturation process has allowed the Jayhawks to exceed expectations. Therefore, it's fitting that Aldrich — in his hometown, nonetheless — was the centerpiece of the Jayhawks' triumph against the Flyers.
Aldrich didn't find out about his historic stats until the end of the game when senior center Matt Kleinmann checked in for him. The Kansas fans began chanting "triple-double" and a few of Aldrich's teammates came up to him.
"I couldn't write it any better," Aldrich said. "You couldn't have a Hollywood writer write it any better."
"I think you got it," they said.
"Got what?" Aldrich asked.
"A triple-double," they said.
"Really?" Aldrich said. "That's pretty sweet."
Weston White/KANSAN
Sophomore center Cole Aldrich smacks away a shot for one of his 10 blocks during Kansas' 60-43 victory Sunday against Dayton. Aldrich was the first player since Shaquille O'Neal on March 19th, 1992, to record a triple-double with blocks in the NCAA tournament.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
APRIL 27, 2009