Living up to the pressure would be a complete understatement of
what Darren Collison did on Wednesday night.
Actually, no single statement can quite describe what he did in
the Bruins’ win over BYU.
But the numbers he was able to put on the board begin to paint a
picture of what took place in Pauley Pavilion.
Sixteen points. A career high.
Ten assists. Another career high.
Thirty-eight minutes. Yet another career high.
“Darren Collison was outstanding tonight,” UCLA
coach Ben Howland said. “He was tremendous.”
While much of the focus was on Collison’s career-high
numbers, there seemed to be one particular statistic that stuck out
in his mind: his one turnover.
Determined to limit his turnovers prior to entering his
sophomore season, the point guard did just that, keeping the Bruins
in the game just when it seemed the Cougars had chances to turn the
game in their favor.
“Everyone’s talking about the 10 assists, and
I’m just really excited about the one turnover,”
Collison said. “In order to be a good point guard you have to
limit your turnovers, and that’s what I tried to do
tonight.”
In fact, Collison felt as though his turnover wasn’t
actually recorded accurately in the box score.
“I don’t even think I had a turnover. I was actually
a little mad when I saw that,” Collison said with a serious
face.
And in order to do what he hopes to for the rest of season,
Collison understands that type of attitude is almost a
necessity.
“I’m the leader as well, and I have to continue to
do these things,” he said. “We need somebody to step up
and be the floor general.”
Collison’s vision on the court on Wednesday night drew
great praise from his coach as well as his teammates, to whom
Collison has continued to prove himself. Entering his first game as
the point guard with the most experience on the lineup, Collison
was able to handle the pressure and turn it into positive energy by
feeding off the crowd throughout the game, as he saw just two
minutes on the bench.
“The fact that Darren is able to play 38 minutes and play
as hard as he does is just absolutely tremendous,” Howland
said.
“Today, playing 38 minutes, it’s pretty
tiring,” Collison said. “As long as I stay consistent
with it and keep my conditioning up, I’ll be
alright.”
But the fatigue did kick in during the final two minutes, as
Collison began cramping in his legs. While going for a backcourt
steal he came up short, but sophomore Luc Richard Mbah a Moute was
there to get the steal and then pass the ball to a wide-open
Collison.
“I started cramping up,” Collison said. “I was
like, “˜I don’t think I’m going to be able to dunk
it.’ But I was like, “˜Hey, I only had one dunk last
year. I’m gonna try to dunk it this year.'”
That is not the only thing Collison hopes to do more of this
year, as was apparent on Wednesday night.
“He had a phenomenal game.” junior guard Arron
Afflalo said.