When Jerrod Calhoun and his coaching staff brought in senior guard MJ Collins to the Utah State roster, they expected to see production from the former Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech wing. That might have been a surprising thing to expect given Collins’ career stat line featuring per-game averages of 6.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists. Furthermore, his career field goal percentage through his first three seasons of collegiate ball sat at a rather unencouraging 37.0%.
But in the brief glance at Collins’ potential at Utah State, one might already be able to see the makings of an All-Mountain West guard if the positives already displayed continue through March.
Collins has played three games in an Aggie uniform, two of those unofficial exhibition contests and the third being against a Division II opponent. That alone is enough to keep a hand hovering over the brakes of the MJ Collins hype train. Even with that caution, it’s hard to not have the other hand planted on the throttle and ready to go full speed ahead on the Mountain West Player of the Year campaign.
In these three, partially unofficial, games, Collins has produced per-30-minute averages of 22.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists. The point of the adjustment to per-30 minutes is to take into account the fact that Collins hasn’t played high-volume minutes which he may very well do during bulk of the regular season. Though his raw averages don’t exactly lag that far behind, coming in at 18.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists.
Much more impressive, though, and also not needing adjustment, are Collins’ shooting splits. He’s made 19 of 27 field goals overall (70.4%), 10 of 16 threes (62.5%) and 7 of 8 free throws (87.5%). And it’s these numbers that Calhoun puts more stock in, saying as much on Saturday.
“It’s about efficiency, right? It’s not about how many points you score,” Calhoun said. “I think all these things that the media talks about are a little bit overblown. To me, it’s about efficient basketball.”
Given his inefficiency as a scorer in previous stops, it’s worth asking how Collins has managed to flash this kind of potential. Confidence and an increased role within the offense are two pretty big factors.
“For me, it was really a confidence thing. I’ve always been able to shoot the ball, but my confidence was up-and-down,” Collins said. “Coach Calhoun and my teammates, they always keep me uplifted, keep confidence in me so it’s fun to go out there and play hard for those type of people when they really believe in you.”
But along with that, the system Calhoun and his staff use has also helped.
“We give our guys a lot of freedom, but we also try to teach them the game and understand the game offensively,” Calhoun said. “And there’s not been many guys over the last three or four years [that] have transferred to play for us that didn’t score the basketball in our system.”
The offensive output is exciting enough, and plenty to justify the minutes Collins will play, he brings more to the table. Particularly on defense.
“MJ Collins is an all-league type of player because he guards,” Calhoun said. “He’s not a one-pick trick pony. He really plays defense.”
Collins’ efforts as a defender have already had their own breakdown previously, though it’s worth touching on how disruptive he has proved to be just with his steals. It’s only a small part of his defense, but his efforts have been backbreaking to opposing offenses while providing fuel for his own scoring. From the seven steals he’s recorded, Collins has scored eight points and assisted on another 2-pointer. His three steals against Westminster all resulted in points for the Aggies.
The earliest possible returns from Collins’ tenure are pretty exciting. Whether that ends with an All-MW selection or simply a good season for him and his team is something
