Sherron Collins underwent foot surgery in mid-November after doctors discovered a stress fracture. After returning, he sprained an ankle. As the weeks passed, the world waited for the dribbling sprinter to reappear, the jet who covers ground more swiftly with the basketball than everybody else does without it.
The wait ended Saturday night. That’s why if you watched Kansas University defeat Baylor, 100-90, in Allen Fieldhouse, your neck hurts from whipping back and forth, your jaw smarts from dropping, and your voice is hoarse from hollering amazement at the way Kansas played in the second half.
Scoring 64 points in a half without making a three-point shot, and turning the ball over just once in that time against a quality opponent simply doesn’t happen in college basketball, except that it did. Collins, more than anyone else, made it happen.
“When Sherron puts his head down, he is running downhill,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.
And the guys trying to stop him are running uphill. Collins generated about as much noise as a basketball player can in a 47-second second-half span: Darrell Arthur blocked a Josh Lomers shot, and Collins picked up the rebound and took it all the way in for a layup. Curtis Jerrells missed a three-point shot, Collins rebounded it, raced the other way and dished to Brandon Rush, who got way above the rim and gracefully dropped it in. Mario Chalmers quickly went high up for a steal and fed Collins for a layup that put KU up 67-56 with 7:55 left. Loud, louder, loudest.
Collins pushing the pace the way he did in the second half makes Kansas, no easy team to guard on its worst days, capable of big scoring outbursts.
Collins had 13 of his 17 points and all four of his assists in the second half. More than the numbers themselves, the speed at which and precision with which he compiled them portends well for Kansas as it heads to Austin to try to score a Big Monday victory against Texas.
Arthur (23 points) and Russell Robinson (22 points) score more than Collins, but game MVP honors belonged to the sophomore guard from Chicago.
“Shady was terrific,” Self said of Arthur. “Russell was solid and played great, but Sherron was the spark tonight. I thought in the second half he changed the pace of the game and got us easy baskets in transition. I don’t want to say that’s what we’ve been missing, but from a health standpoint, he looked faster than he’s looked all year. And that’s what he brings to the table, stealing us easy baskets.”
Weight problems and knee tendinitis slowed Collins late last season. This year, as he recovered from foot surgery, his legs got out of game shape.
“I’m feeling good, my weight’s staying down, and my legs are coming back,” Collins said. “I think I’m knocking all the rust off the nails right now.”
His body has caught up to the pace at which his mind always wants to play the game, which is to say at full speed.
“Sometimes, your mind is telling you you can still do it, but your body won’t let you,” Collins said. “Sometimes, I got into forcing things, so, basically, I just started playing a little conservatively.”
Upsets happen on nights teams make as many well challenged shots as Baylor made, but at the other end, Baylor had no answers for Collins and the rest of the KU legs in the relay race.
