March 9, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Brigham Young Cougars guard Kyle Collinsworth (5) celebrates after tying the NCAA record of six career triple-doubles on a made free throw against the Portland Pilots during the second half in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament at Orleans Arena. (Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)
By Theo Lawson
LAS VEGAS — Kyle was here, Kyle was there, Kyle was everywhere.
He shot it, he dished it, he boarded it. He made all three look relatively easy, too.
This was Kyle’s night, but it probably wasn’t the Kyle most expected to light up Monday evening’s semifinal session at the WCC tournament.
Not Kyle Wiltjer — the Kentucky national champ-turned-Gonzaga Bulldog who’s hogged his fair share of headlines this season and garnered plenty more after suffering an apparent hip injury Saturday against USF.
A game-time decision Monday morning, Wiltjer did alright, scoring 14 second-half points — 17 in total — for the No. 7 Zags in a 79-61 rout of Portland.
But this night belonged to Kyle Collinsworth — BYU’s junior point guard (power forward? center?) who recorded the sixth triple-double of his season during the nightcap, tying the NCAA career mark previously shared by Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Anderson.
Collinsworth scored 14 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and doled out 11 assists in BYU’s 84-70 semifinal win over Portland, setting up a rematch with Gonzaga in today’s title game at the Orleans Arena.
As Collinsworth toed the free-throw line for a one-and-one with 7:25 to play — 13 rebounds and 10 assists already under his belt — BYU’s raucous student section hushed, as did the rest of the Cougar entourage in attendance.
They knew what this one freebie meant. His teammates did. Collinsworth most definitely did.
In fact, Portland coach Eric Reveno and his Pilots may have been the only ones perplexed by the sudden silence, not to mention the few-hundred phone cameras casting a shadow over his bench, all waiting to capture NCAA history.
“I wasn’t sure what was going on tonight,” Reveno admitted. “I was still trying to figure out how to get stops and score.”
Collinsworth botched the free throw, but returned to the line less than a minute later to net his 10th point and secure double-double No. 6 — which easily could’ve been 7 or 8 had he come away with two more assists on Jan. 10 vs. Loyola Marymount or one more on Feb. 14 against Pacific.
“It’s a big free throw, everyone’s yelling while I’m shooting and they’re all BYU fans,” Collinsworth said. “… Our teammates and our pace, it makes it easy to get triple-doubles. They’re such great shooters and our pace is extremely fast.”
BYU’s do-it-all guard will have at least one more crack at history this season. Collinsworth could surpass Shaq, and the lesser-known Anderson, on the all-time list with his seventh triple-double in tonight’s finale versus Gonzaga — which will be playing in its 18th consecutive conference title game.
But the game and the opponent mean more to Collinsworth than the individual numbers.
It was on the floor of the Orleans Arena, one year ago against the very same GU team, where Collinsworth ruptured his ACL. The Cougars lost a 75-64 decision to the Zags and Collinsworth was sidelined for BYU’s NCAA tournament loss to Oregon.
“Looking back a year ago, I just remember sitting on the couch, raising my leg up 1,000 times a day and just taking it day by day,” he said.
See, it’s all about perspective for Collinsworth, and not all of those gaudy stat lines.
“I’m just grateful that I can get to play again,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m just grateful I can play when I wake up … that’s why I love this game.”
