Sherron Collins, who had missed six straight games because of injury, definitely did not want to skip No. 7.
Not a game against his hometown rival – DePaul.
“He’s pointed to this game since he had the surgery. He said, ‘I’ve got to get back for DePaul,'” Kansas University coach Bill Self said of Collins, KU’s 5-foot-11 sparkplug guard who had surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left foot on Nov. 12.
“I really wanted to play in this game. It is for bragging rights. They beat us last year,” Chicago native Collins said Saturday after scoring six points and dishing an assist while playing 13 minutes in KU’s 84-66 victory.
“It wasn’t really hard to go home, but when they (DePaul players) would see me, I’d act like I didn’t really see them,” he added, dismayed KU blew a 14-point second-half lead in a 64-57 loss to the Demons last December at All-State Arena.
Collins had an inkling he might play after practicing well Friday.
However, he didn’t learn for sure until an 8 a.m. workout Saturday.
“They put me through tests this morning in front of coaches and trainers,” Collins said. “It was a regular workout. I did some cutting, running. I was honest with them. I said I felt good.”
So Self, who was told by doctors Collins was fit to play, let him play against the Blue Demons two weeks ahead of the original prognosis of six weeks.
“I wasn’t there for the workout,” Self said, “but they said he did very well. In our pre-workout (shootaround), he moved a little bit better. They said there’s no reason to not play him unless I felt he would hurt the team. I didn’t think that would be the case.
“His foot is doing great,” Self added. “For whatever reason, his left leg isn’t firing with the strength he normally had. Even though he didn’t move great, it was twice as good as what it was yesterday.”
Collins, who watched his diet closely and remains close to 205 pounds, said he did feel a bit winded Saturday.
“I know I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ve got to continue rehab,” Collins said. “I was out of rhythm today. I had to get in there and work up a sweat. It felt good to get back in and knock some shots down.”
Collins hit two 3s in three tries in 13 minutes.
“I told him to go out there and play safe,” Self said. “I said, ‘I’ll play you two or three minutes at a time, and we’ll see where it goes.’ I think he’s a little frustrated because his body won’t do what the brain tells it to do. It’ll be a few more days before he’s firing like his old self. It’ll be a couple of weeks before his rhythm is back where it was. He’s not done anything in a month.”
