Sherron Collins never flipped on his famous kill switch Saturday.

He didn’t need to.

For the first time this year, the Kansas Jayhawks looked like a team, rather than Collins & Co.

It was a performance similar to ones seen last year (although last year’s team actually fell to the Cowboys) in that there was no dominant offensive performance by an individual. The whole, as the saying goes, was greater than the sum of its parts.

“That’s what made our team so good last year,” sophomore center Cole Aldrich said. “It wasn’t one team member. It wasn’t Mario, it wasn’t Sherron, it wasn’t Brandon or Sasha or anybody who dominated every game. It was a whole collective group effort.”

The Jayhawks’ team performance was highlighted by a superb defensive effort in the first half. Kansas increased its lead to 22-12 on a triple by junior guard Mario Little and never looked back from there. Aldrich, whose 18 rebounds were a career high, led the defensive effort and the Jayhawks held Oklahoma State to 26.5 percent shooting in the first half.

“I don’t think they got a lot of good looks the first, maybe, 25 minutes of the game,” coach Bill Self said. “We got out to a lead and they never cut it to single figures, so there were some good things that happened.”

A previously unseen balance on the offensive end also contributed to the win. Collins, Aldrich and freshman Tyshawn Taylor each contributed 12 points while Little led the team with 13. Two others — Brady Morningstar and Marcus Morris — added nine points.

Kansas was criticized often early in the season about its lack of a third consistent scoring option. The emergence of a healthy Little for the Jayhawks has them thinking they may have found their man.

“That third scorer is pretty much going to be Mario most of the time,” Collins said. “He knows how to score. He knows how to play the game.”

Little’s presence has certainly been felt recently. His return to full health coincided with the beginning of Kansas’ current eight-game win streak, something that may indeed be no coincidence. After struggling through the final three games of non-conference play with injuries hobbling both his left leg and left hand, Little has found his stroke in Big 12 play.

“He’s just got a natural feel to slither around in (the middle of a zone),” Self said. “He took a couple of marginal shots, but he’s getting better and he’s getting more comfortable. Against a zone he is as good as we have in the high post area.”

But Little was just the front man on Saturday. It was the first time this season that the Jayhawks had seen such a balanced offensive front.

“That’s one thing that we’re trying to do this year,” Aldrich said, “is just get everybody involved.”

— — Edited by Sam Speer