FILM ROOM: Diana Collins is a smart, lethal scorer

The KSR Film Room series breaking down Kentucky women’s basketball offseason additions keeps on rolling as we now take a look at Alabama transfer Diana Collins. As a junior this past season, Collins averaged 8.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 45.8% from the field overall and 39.8% from three-point range. You can view the first two editions of this series below, which cover Ajša Sivka and Ayanna Patterson.

Collins is a tremendous shooter and percentage-wise, would have been the best shooter on Kentucky’s team last year. However, what makes Collins so good is that she isn’t one-dimensional offensively.

Can create space and knock down the three

Of course, her best trait is her three-point shooting. Her volume has never been insanely high — putting up 2.9 three-point attempts per game a year ago — but when she does shoot the ball, it’s got a high probability of finding the bottom of the net.

One of the things that makes Collins such a prolific three-point shooter is that she can create some space to give herself a better look from deep. While she can rise above her defender and knock a shot down in your face, she can also give herself just enough room to where her shot is more uncontested.

Collins has a quick handle of the ball, and there is hardly any wasted motion when she has the ball in her hands. She doesn’t have to stand in the corner and wait for the ball to find her. If the shot clock is winding down or if she just has the ball in her hands at any point, Collins is going to look to fire away and make the defense pay.

Driving to the paint and finishing

Collins also excels at getting to the rim and finishing when the opportunity presents itself. She has a knack for reading the defense and finding the right point of attack, but we’ll get more into that in a moment. The main takeaway here is that once she does get downhill, it’s hard to stop her and she has the touch to put the ball in the hoop.

Being as quick as she is, she can also catch the defense off guard just enough to put herself a step ahead, which leads to a more high-percentage look in the end. Anyone can toss up a prayer over the defense and hope it goes in, but Collins separates herself by actually getting around the defense.

Attacking angles and making smart cuts

An aspect of Collins’ game that will surely please Kenny Brooks is that she is a very smart basketball player. You really see this on offense, and as noted before, she just thrives at picking apart opposing defenses so that she can score.

We know that Collins is dangerous with the ball in her hands, but even when she’s just out on the wing, she is a major threat that defenses better be cognizant of. In the play below, Collins quite literally jukes out the poor player guarding her, setting up a cut along the baseline for a solid mid-range look.

Sometimes, it’s the little things like making good cuts and making high IQ plays that can be the difference in winning and losing. Kentucky can feel confident about betting on Collins in those kinds of moments.

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