2008 KANSAS BASKETBALL
19
FEBRUARY 9,2008
Collins plays as 'spark' in game
Jayhawks plays defense against the Baylor Bears for a 100-90 victory. Sophomore guard Sherron Collins returned to the court after a recent injury.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
BY MARK DENT mdent@kansan.com
His defenders knew a speed burst was coming. Collins could go left, or he could go right. Either way, his move would be fast, and the play would likely end with him beating his man to the rim.
The old Sherron Collins tantalized opponents when he stood at the top of the key, dribbling the ball slowly between his legs with eyes gazing forward to the hoop.
That was the old Collins. The one who darted through holes and gaps like a Plinko chip. He hadn't been around since a November ankle injury.
Finally, he was back at Allen Fieldhouse on Feb. 9, sparking Kansas in the second half of a 100-90 victory against Baylor.
The comeback was supposed to be complete in January.
"Shady was terrific," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Russell was solid and played great, but Sherron was the spark. In the second half he changed the pace of the game."
Back then, Self announced that the old Collins was back. He had just scored 18 points against Loyola Maryland, his best game since returning in December from the injury. It wasn't the points that caught Self's attention, it was Collins' quadricep muscles. He said Collins' quads were finally firing, meaning they were getting stronger and giving Collins some of his speed back.
Collins' productivity didn't last. He made just 10 of 30 field goals during the next four games, never reaching doublefigure scoring and never getting more than three assists in a game.
Even on good nights, something wasn't right. Collins couldn't slice through the lane like he had as a freshman and earlier in the season. It's not that he wasn't trying. His body just ached from the injuries.
"Sometimes your mind is telling you that you can still do it," Collins said, "but your body won't let you. Sometimes I just forced things and played conservative. I was still confident. I just
knew sometimes I couldn't make those plays."
He could finally make them on Feb. 9. On one play in the middle of the second half, Collins grabbed a rebound and sprinted down the court for a layup. It took just three seconds. He found Brandon Rush in transition before scoring on another contested layup on the next play. It was a 6-0 Kansas run and gave the Jayhawks a 67-56 lead.
"We needed a spark," he said. "It was just dead. Nobody was speaking up. We just needed a spark, and I just tried to come in and provide that."
Collins finished with 17 points and four assists and said his health was at 95 percent. He made a difference in the second half, but he wasn't the only one. Senior guard Russell Robinson and sophomore forward Darrell Arthur both had arguably their best games of the year.
Robinson had 22 points, and Arthur finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds. They combined to make 21 of 24 free throws, and the team hit 36 of 46 from the charity stripe for the game.
All the foul shots were necessary, too. Kansas didn't make a single threepointer, going zero for nine from long range. It was the first time that happened in 270 games, a streak that dated back to February 2000. Control of the ball, highlighted by only one second-half turnover, and the marksmanship from the foul line still allowed the Jayhawks to score 100 points.
"That's probably about as good as we've played offensively all year," Self said.
They needed that good of a performance to better Curtis Jerrells, Henry Dugat and the rest of Baylor's high-powered offense. Robinson said they were the best group of guards he'd played all season.
His opinion could changed when Kansas faced Texas. The headliner was D.J. Augustin. He was fast and could drive, shoot and pass. With his 19.7 points and 5.8 assists per game, he's a national player of the year candidate and has made the Longhorns one of the nation's top
teams this season, even without prodigy Kevin Durant, who's playing for the Seattle Supersonics.
"That might be the best one individual player I'll go against all year," Robinson said of Augustin. "It's going to be a challenge, and I'm up for challenges. We just have to make sure he doesn't take control of the game."
It didn't help that Kansas' game was in Austin. The city that's generally beloved by college students has been a nightmare
for the Jayhawks since the formation of the Big 12. Kansas was 2-3 at Texas and has lost those three games by an average margin of by 18 points a game.
To win, the Jayhawks would have had to contain Augustin. They just took care of an all-star cast of guards against Baylor.
"I don't want to say that's what we've been missing," Self said about Collins, "but from a health standpoint, he looked faster tonight than he's looked all year."
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN