Boogie Ellis knows better than anyone, spending summer months in the gym honing his craft with Isaiah Collier, the freshman point guard who’s brewing a buzz on campus that USC might just be a basketball school now.
“Y’all are going to see just how good he actually is,” Ellis said, after a USC practice last week. “Yeah. Y’all see.”
How so?
“Just –” Ellis paused. He smiled. He shrugged. “Y’all gon’ see.”
It took less than three minutes for the world to see on Monday, to realize that USC had something special here, in this top recruit who attacked his first game in cardinal-and-gold without a shred of passivity. Early in the first half of an 82-69 season-opening win over Kansas State, Collier snagged a rebound and took off, already feet ahead of four teammates on the fast break and two defenders back in transition; conventional wisdom would dictate that a conventional floor-general would slow and wait for a play to develop.
But Collier is anything but conventional, and he only accelerated, shifting into sport mode and somehow beating not one but two defenders in front of him to the rim for a finish through contact. He had three and-ones in the first half, a burly torso completely unmoved by any defensive resistance, showcasing a combination of lightning-quick handles and body control rarely seen in a USC jersey.
“The way he can go 20 miles an hour, then stop on a dime, then get into a euro-step, push a defender off – push me off,” said Washington State transfer DJ Rodman of Collier. “I’m one of the strongest on the team, and he can push me off with ease.”
The freshman finished with 18 points – 15 in the first half – and six assists, showing flashes of a more complete game than transition bully-ball. He hit a yo-yo midrange jumper in the first, also threaded a nice backdoor pass to wing Kobe Johnson, and hit a double-take stepback three in the first half; a scary sign that defenses might not be able to consistently go under pick-and-rolls set for Collier.
He was met with a resounding standing ovation after fouling out late in the second half.
“Isaiah got downhill, was able to get to the rim, made some great passes,” coach Andy Enfield said postgame. “But we expected that of him. I think he expected that of himself.”
His much-anticipated debut at the Galen Center comes Thursday, against a Cal State Bakersfield team coming off an 11-22 season and ill-equipped to stop him. CSUB’s point guard is 5-10 Kaleb Higgins; their best option on Collier might be 6-foot-6 Corey Stephenson, a sophomore who has played one game of collegiate basketball. If the Roadrunners throw a zone at USC to try to slow Collier and Ellis attacking off the dribble, USC showed poise in dissecting a Kansas State 1-2-2 look on Monday, swinging the ball on the perimeter to find open shooters and center Joshua Morgan made some nifty reads from the high post.
Collier’s biggest challenge Thursday – and through the rest of the season – will come in slowing pace and making correct reads, as he had six turnovers in his debut and struggled with ball control in a preseason Europe showcase. But his relentless motor adds a new dimension to this USC program, and makes his first appearance at the Galen Center a must-see.
“We have a certain standard,” said senior Ellis, who led USC with an efficient 24 points Monday, of him and Collier. “And we’re trying to bring everybody with us.”
