Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images

Cole Aldrich of Kansas reacts after he dunked the ball Friday against North Dakota State.

“The crowd was great. They had a lot of fans — a lot more than we expected,” said Kansas freshman Marcus Morris, who had eight points and seven rebounds.

Woodside, wearing the same stone face and determination as his point guard counterpart across from him, was every bit as fast and impossible to stop. He blew by Collins from 25 feet out near the 8-minute mark of the second half for a layup that cut the Kansas lead to 58-55.

But within seconds, Collins — the thick, quick Chicago kid who has assumed leadership of this team since last April — was pulling up in the lane and getting a jumper to fall to bump the advantage back to five points.

Woodside capped the next possession with a pair of free throws, but Aldrich countered with another two-handed, rim-rattling slam to stretch the lead to five again.

“Make no mistake about it, we’ve gotten used to not losing, and this really hurts right now,” NDSU coach Saul Phillips said. “It hurts because we just want to keep playing together as a group.”

Collins and Aldrich will continue on instead. After struggling collectively in their last game, a defeat to Baylor in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals, they sure got it going.

“They’re the heart and soul of our team,” Morris said. “We get on their backs, and they take us wherever they want us to go.”

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