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Daimion Collins surprised many of us with his stellar play in the Kentucky Wildcats’ 66-55 win over Alabama last Saturday night.
Sure, we all knew that he was capable of such a performance. I’m just not sure any of us saw it coming.
Collins’ 10 points and six boards in just nine minutes of play was as unexpected as it was impressive.
Seemingly, Coach Calipari had already settled on his personnel rotation, and it was one that didn’t really include much of Daimion Collins.
In fact, the Texas native hadn’t seen much of the court at all in conference play before being called upon to contribute in a tough environment down in Tuscaloosa.
Anybody that knows the name Daimion Collins fully understands that he’s a freak athlete who can do things on the court that others simply can’t.
Earlier this week, we learned of a minor injury that Collins received to his face during practice.
Former UK standout Jack “Goose” Givens provided an explanation of exactly what happened on the UK pregame radio show.
Was it an elbow to the face? Scratched in a loose ball scuffle? Incidental contact with a teammate?
None of the above.
Daimion Collins was cutting up with his teammates which evolved into him assuring them that he could jump high enough to touch the rim with his face.
Obviously he succeeded, which is why you may have noticed him with a band-aid under his eye during the South Carolina game.
Goose Givens went a step further by saying Jacob Toppin also wanted to prove that he could accomplish that same feat, but thankfully, assistant coaches became involved and prevented the attempt.
The combo of Collins and Toppin has to boast the highest combined vertical leaping ability of any teammates in college basketball, right?
This seems like the kind of story that’s told about a Final Four team…Just saying.
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