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.

Kansas, a three-seed, is headed to the Sweet Sixteen in Indianapolis where it will play Michigan State on Friday. 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.

“I couldn’t write it any better,” Aldrich said. “You couldn’t have a Hollywood writer write it any better.”

Aldrich’s triple-double was the first recorded in the NCAA Tournament in the last six years — ironically, the last one also came in the Metrodome when Dwyane Wade did it for Marquette. It was the first triple-double to include blocks since Louisiana State’s Shaquille O’Neal had 10 for Louisiana State in 1992.

So yeah, Aldrich put together a performance for the ages.

“But I could also say this,” Self said, “for the weekend, have we had a guard play as well as Sherron since I’ve been here?”

Two days after scorching North Dakota State with a career-high 32 points and eight assists in the first round, junior guard Sherron Collins recorded 25 points and seven rebounds against Dayton in the second round. Collins gave the game a pace that even Mario Andretti would have appreciated.

On every opportunity, Collins raced the ball up court on fast breaks. Dayton, a team known for its athleticism, couldn’t keep up. Collins scored 14 of his points in the first half to ensure the Jayhawks never trailed after falling behind 2-0.

“That’s just Sherron,” freshman guard Tyshawn Taylor said. “He lives for the big stage.”

Collins and Aldrich led the defensive charge, too. Kansas used a combination of its standard man-to-man defense and a triangle-and-two zone to keep Dayton off balance offensively.

It worked to perfection. The Flyers shot 22 percent from the field — making only 16 of 72 shots — which was the best Kansas has held an opponent to all season. The Jayhawk defense helped make a relatively stale offensive day — Kansas went 3-for-16 from the three-point range and 11-for-22 from the free-throw line — irrelevant.

Self prefers to win with defense, anyway.

“These are the games I’ve always loved,” Self said.

Because of the sloppiness, the Flyers were able to stay in the game for most of the afternoon. Kansas didn’t lead by double digits until just more than 12 minutes remained when Collins penetrated the lane for a layup.

Aldrich added a layup a couple minutes later to give the Jayhawks a 42-30 lead. It wasn’t until six minutes remained, however, that it became clear the Flyers were done.

Dayton forward Chris Wright attempted a floater in the lane, but Aldrich swatted it for his 10th block of the day. He had officially reached a triple-double.

Aldrich, however, didn’t find out 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 think you got it,” they said.

“Got what?” Aldrich asked.

“A triple-double,” they said.

“Really? That’s pretty sweet,” Aldrich said.

It was an appropriate response for the player most responsible for sending the Jayhawks to the Sweet Sixteen.

— — Edited by Jesse Trimble