- Slug: Sports-ASU Frankie Collins, 1,942 words
- Photo available
By Brendan Mau
Cronkite News
TEMPE – The short career of ASU men’s basketball starting point guard Frankie Collins came full circle Thursday night, when the Sun Devils took on his former team, No. 20 Michigan, in the Legends Classic championship at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
After transferring from the Wolverines in the offseason, the sophomore Collins entered the contest averaging team-highs in minutes played (34), points (16) assists (4.8) and steals (2.3) over four games for the Sun Devils, one season after averaging only 2.8 points, 1.4 assists, 0.4 steals in 11 minutes per game in the 31 games he played for Michigan.
Collins was plagued by foul trouble in Thursday’s matchup and finished with only four points, five assists, two steals and three rebounds. However, the team that he has shouldered the weight for so many times this season returned the favor big time in the Big Apple, as the Sun Devils (4-1) pulled off a huge 87-62 upset over the Wolverines (3-1), ASU’s largest margin of victory ever over a ranked opponent.
Collins had Thursday’s date circled on his calendar since May, when he tweeted “Nov 16 if im correct ha… LETS WORK @SunDevilHoops“ to announce his commitment to the Sun Devils, but he told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM there were no hard feelings for Michigan.
“I’m the leader,” Collins said. “If they (his teammates) see me guarding, diving on the floor for loose balls and taking charges, same with Marcus (Bagley) … then it’s gonna influence everybody else to do it, it’s gonna encourage them to do it. So if they go out there and see it, it’s like, ‘Okay, they can do it, then why wouldn’t we do it?’”
His ASU teammates praised their point guard throughout the last month of practice.
After helping recruit Collins to ASU over the summer, Bagley said his “presence has been felt since he stepped foot on campus. (He’s) a natural leader and just a guy that’s easy to follow. He expects a lot out of us … He tries to make us look good and we try to do the same for him. So, I’m happy to have him, and I’m excited to get to work with him.”
Horne, the team’s leading scorer a season ago, said in October that adding Collins gives them what he thinks is the best backcourt in the Pac-12.
“I’m gonna love playing with him,” Horne added at Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Media Day. “Just taking some of that pressure off me and not feeling like I have to do everything myself or do a lot of things myself sometimes. Just having that extra help at the guard position will be nice.”
In addition to a dynamic backcourt, Collins said the length of this year’s team allows him to strategically place the ball in spots that the defense can’t get it. He added that he is still working, but gaining more of an understanding of the pick-and-roll offense with bigs like senior Nevada transfer and starting center Warren Washington.
“Playing with someone like Frankie, honestly, he makes your job easy,” Washington said. “He’s always facilitating, always getting guys open.”
Collins said before the season the goals of utmost importance to him are the team’s goals, most importantly winning, but he also has personal goals of being First Team All Pac-12, Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and getting some awards for being a top point guard.
Fast forward to now, Collins already has a huge win under his belt early in his Sun Devil career and said the victory over Michigan sent a message about ASU’s program.
“Don’t count us out because we’re here.”
For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.
