A year older and a year wiser, Nick Collison still is learning how to keep his hands from getting him into trouble.
Collison, Kansas University’s 6-foot-91/2 sophomore forward, knew coming into this season that to increase his playing time he would have to stay out of foul trouble. With so many capable forwards vying for time, Collison has put a lot of his focus into learning how to play defense without hearing the whistle blow because of his effort.
The worst way to be on the bench, he figures, is to put himself there by making hasty decisions which leave no alternative than Collison finding a seat.
There’s still some work to do after he gathered four fouls in 21 minutes in Kansas’ 98-80 exhibition win against the California All-Stars on Wednesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
“I still feel I did better on defense,” Collison said. “It’s obvious not every one of us can start, so I have to do my best to do good things to keep myself on the floor.”
Collison, like most freshmen, thought he was the victim of a lot of marginal foul calls last year. Newcomers are notoriously called for fouls against known veteran players. It was much of the same Wednesday night. The first foul came on a reach-in against Drew Barry. Then he had an over-the-back called on him while positioning for a rebound. Then…
“Well, I think I’m getting a lot better,” Collison said. “I don’t feel like mine are stupid fouls. Maybe I’ll get a few more breaks this year, too.”
The rest of his game is looking just fine. Collison had a team-high 15 points and four rebounds.
As Collison learns to pace the fouls he incurs, he’s also learning to pace himself for the rigors of a long season. Last year, he said he came in more awestruck. He wanted to do everything right away. Instead of worrying solely about wins, he was busy trying to show KU coach Roy Williams and his new teammates that he could compete at this level.
“This year, it’s more that I’m trying to win,” Collison said, “instead of proving to myself that I can play here.”
His sophomore colleagues are proving they can play, too.
Hinrich, a 6-foot-31/2 point guard, had the most challenging assignment of the night, guarding former University of North Carolina standout Ed Cota. The assignment would provide much more of a challenge than the typical exhibition opponent, but Hinrich enjoyed the chance to face a three-time Final Four participant.
“It was fun,” Hinrich said. “More fun, I think, than playing against somebody I’ve never heard of.”
Hinrich had 12 points, nine assists, and more importantly, only one turnover.
“Hopefully I’ll keep that ratio up,” Hinrich said. “It’ll do nothing but good things for the team.”
Forward Drew Gooden had 14 points and 14 rebounds.
“We really rebounded well tonight,” Collison said of the 52-36 margin Kansas held over the All-Stars.
Plus, Collison had none of the first-game jitters that he felt last year. Last year he had the standard thoughts of nervousness of walking through the tunnel, onto the court and seeing such a big crowd. It was nice for Collison, this year, to see an audience and be able to bang against a player who was not also wearing a Kansas jersey.
“For me, I was a lot more calm than the first game last year,” Collison said. “It was just taking care of business.”
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