Erickson: Even at his worst, Collins never stops

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By Matt Erickson

Monday, February 2, 2009

Sherron Collins just kept shooting. That’s what he does. It didn’t matter that shot after shot failed to go in, or that Collins, a junior guard, was 1-for-10 from behind the three-point line against Colorado on Saturday. The next shot was going in.

Collins is Kansas’ Best Player. This is essentially an official title. This isn’t something you need to deliberate; you don’t make any head-to-head comparisons, pro-and-con charts or anything like that. He’s the team’s Best Player. It’s etched in stone somewhere.

Collins wasn’t the best player against Colorado. That would be sophomore center Cole Aldrich, though you wouldn’t know it from how rarely he got the ball in the second half when the game got close.

It just wasn’t Collins’ day. He shot 4-for-16. He rarely got into the lane against Colorado’s zone defense. He looked tentative. At halftime, he had as many fouls (2) as he had points. He’d been scoring an average of 18.7 points per game before Saturday.

With 6:45 left in the second half and Kansas ahead 54-50, Collins was called for an offensive foul because he tried to force himself into the lane, even though sophomore guard Tyrel Reed was open on the wing. With 1:14 left and Kansas ahead 62-56, he missed a layup that could have put the game away, shooting with his right hand when he should have gone with his left.

“It was one of those days,” Collins said.

Collins said his shot felt fine, that the ball felt good when it left his hands every time.

“I just try to forget about it,” Collins said. “Coach told me to just keep shooting, keep shooting. That’s what I did, and it just wasn’t falling.”

So he kept shooting. That’s what a team’s Best Player does. He doesn’t let silly things like a 25-percent shooting day get to his head.

Kansas coach Bill Self agreed Collins’ shot looked fine.

“That’s what scorers are supposed to think — that there’s probably something wrong with the ball,” Self said. “I’m sure he’ll think that the ball had too much air in it or something, which is the way they should think. The next one’s going in.”

So though Collins wasn’t his usual electrifying self on Saturday, he was the one who finally put the game out of reach at the end.

With about 30 seconds left in the game, 4 seconds left on the shot clock, and Kansas ahead 62-59, Kansas called time-out. Self drew up a play that he said was designed to get the ball to Aldrich or Reed.

But Aldrich and Reed were covered, so Collins got open outside the three-point line. He got the ball and held on to every last sliver of those 4 seconds on the shot clock as he jittered his way to a few feet from the basket. He floated the ball above the Colorado defense, and it went in.

“It made me think the basket was opening up for me again,” Collins said. “It had a lid on it at first.”

After Colorado scored on its next possession, Collins got fouled and made both his free throws, and the game was over.

It didn’t change the fact that Collins had a bad game. Self said he played poorly on defense in the second half and he needed to learn to control the game without trying to score all the time.

But Collins reminded everyone that he’s this team’s Best Player. That’s why, even after two straight uninspired efforts against mediocre opponents, fans can still feel good about this team as it heads into the tough stretch of its Big 12 schedule.

“I’m ready to get this out of the way,” Collins said.

— — Edited by Sam Speer

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