Daimion Collins on working his way back after tragedy: ‘I’m getting better day by day’
Speaking to reporters Monday for the first time since the death of his father, Daimion Collins talked about looking forward and using basketball as an outlet during tough, tragic times.
Collins — a sophomore forward at Kentucky — was expected to have a breakout season for the Wildcats, his second year at UK after coming in with McDonald’s All-American credentials as a recruit but finding limited minutes in his initial run with the team.
Undeterred by the lack of playing time as a freshman, Collins returned for a second season, and John Calipari had praised his approach to adversity and willingness to learn and get better throughout the early offseason. As this season got closer, UK’s coaches were praising the gains that the 6-foot-9 forward had made on the court.
In early October, the super-athletic Collins was one of the standout players at UK’s Pro Day event for NBA scouts. It certainly looked then that a stellar season could be just weeks away.
And then Collins’ world came crashing down.
Ben Collins passed away Nov. 1 at the age of 43. The Texas native had spent the previous few days in Lexington and was in the gym putting up shots with his son the night before his death. Daimion Collins’ 20th birthday came just four days before his father passed away.
Kentucky’s final exhibition game was two nights later, and the Wildcats’ regular season began the following week.
Collins spent the next two weeks traveling back and forth between Kentucky and Texas — and missed UK’s first two games — before rejoining the team for good following his father’s funeral.
Through these tough times, Collins said his teammates have rallied around him.
“That helped me a lot,” he said Monday. “You know, them just being there every step of the way, from the time when things happened to now — they’ve just been there, having my back every single day. So that’s been helping me a lot.”
Understandably, his season has not gone as expected.
Heading into Tuesday night’s game against South Carolina, he was averaging 1.9 points and 2.5 rebounds in just 10.7 minutes per game, and he didn’t play at all in losses to UCLA and Missouri.
Collins is starting to see some more time on the court, however.
In Saturday’s 78-52 loss at Alabama, he had four points, two rebounds and went 2-for-3 from the floor in 15 minutes. The point total and playing time were the most in either category since he had four points in 17 minutes in a 40-point victory over North Florida on Nov. 23. It was also his most makes or attempts since that game. Only once this season — six points against South Carolina State on Nov. 17 — has Collins scored more than he did Saturday.
Collins’ nine minutes on the court in the Cats’ previous game — last Tuesday’s win over Louisiana State — were the most he’d played in a month.
“It’s taken some time for Daimion,” UK assistant coach Chin Coleman said Friday. “He’s going through some hardships, and so he’s starting to get on the back end of that a little bit and so we feel comfortable about putting him into the game and feel comfortable about his role — expanding it. And (we) feel comfortable about him being one of those guys that obviously can help us from here on out.”
It obviously hasn’t been easy for Collins off the court.
“I know right now I’m probably not all the way back to where I want to be,” he said of his current status. “But I’m definitely getting there. I’m getting better day by day.”
Collins said that the increase in playing time over the past couple of games has helped boost his confidence, adding that he already felt he was getting into a better place on the court through his individual workouts with coaches outside of team practice settings.
He also feels like the court can be a place of refuge as he continues to process the unexpected loss of his father. Basketball, he said, hasn’t been the difficult part over the past couple of months.
“It hasn’t been too hard, because that’s the thing I can go to to be able to take my mind off things,” Collins said. “Basketball is my outlet. So it hasn’t been too hard to just concentrate on that, because that’s something that I like to do and want to do in times like this.”
He obviously hopes to carve out more of a role as this season progresses. He sees himself as “an energy player,” he said Monday, someone who can come in, block some shots, get some rebounds, and finish around the rim — possibly provide a spark for his teammates with the highlight-reel plays they know he’s capable of making.
In the meantime, just getting back into meaningful games has been a step forward.
What happened in Alabama on Saturday — that 26-point loss — was a low point in Kentucky’s season as a team. But it was one more small step for Collins as he continues to work his way through personal tragedy.
“It felt pretty good — being out there and being able to play. Knowing that I was out there, just playing hard, trying to help my team win. Even though it didn’t go the way it was supposed to. But it felt pretty good being out there.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2023 at 2:28 PM.
