Temple University Athletics
MARDY COLLINS NAMED ATHLETE OF THE MONTH FOR JANUARY
2.6.06 | Men's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA -- Senior men's basketball player Mardy Collins has been named the Owlsports.com Athlete of the Month for the month of January. Collins led the Owls to a 5-3 record in the month, including wins over Xavier and nationally-ranked Maryland.
Collins, a candidate for the Wooden, Naismith and Bayer Senior Class Award, played up to his All-America billing. The 6-6 point guard averaged a team-high 18 points per game while topping the squad in assists with 37 (4.4 apg.) and steals with 26 (3.2 spg.). Collins also shot a team-best 44.2 percent from the field and pulled down 4.3 rebounds per game.
The Philadelphia native (Simon Gratz HS) made the game-winning lay-up with 0.9 seconds to play to lift Temple to a 53-51 win at Dayton (1/18). He also was named espn.com, A-10 and Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Week for averaging 26.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 8.5 assists and 4.0 steals in the Xavier and Maryland wins. Against the Musketeers (1/25), he scored a season-high 28 points and dished the assist on Antywane Robinson's game-winning 15-footer with 1.1 seconds to play in the 81-79 win. In the Maryland win, he led the Owls with 25 points and dished a career-high 12 assists to propel his team to a 91-85 win over the then #18/19 Terps on Jan. 28.
The two-year team co-captain also moved up the school's all-time scoring and steals lists. Collins passed such Temple legends as Bill Mlkvy, John Baum, Aaron McKie, Mike Vreeswyk and Granger Hall and into seventh place on the Owls' career scoring chart with 1,672 points. He also moved into sixth place on the Temple all-time steals list with 250.
