Looking at his statistics from Wednesday’s game against Vanderbilt — 19 points, 5-of-7 from 3-point range and four assists — you would think Collis Temple III felt as good as he has felt all season.
The opposite is true. Temple spent the majority of the last two days on the couch or in the bed plagued with a 24-to-48 hour stomach virus.
During that time he continuously flooded his system with Gatorade, but he couldn’t sleep, and he couldn’t eat. But in the first half Wednesday night, he couldn’t miss a shot.
Still feeling weak, “C-T-3” came out with guns blazing and delivered a gutsy performance against the Commodores as he buried his first five 3-pointers in the first half as LSU raced out to a 40-12 lead.
Temple, who is notorious for waking up at 5 a.m. every morning to workout by shooting basketballs, said the virus took away his pre-sunrise workouts the last two mornings and playing 32 minutes in the game took its toll on him. Nevertheless, he continued to fire away.
Following a Ronald Dupree dunk, Temple’s first 3-pointer came at the 14:31 mark and kick-started a 27-0 LSU run. Temple made four treys over that time.
“I just came out with the idea that I was going to make shots,” he said. “Every night I think I am going to have a good night.”
Not that he wishes a stomach virus on anyone, but head coach John Brady said a little time away from basketball may have done Temple some good.
“Collis is one of those guys who thinks if he is not shooting well, he needs to wake up at 5:30 in the morning and shoot 400 balls,” Brady said. “Maybe the best thing to happen to him was being sick the last two days in the bed. He hasn’t even practiced. He’s been away from it for a while. He was relaxed.”
Brady said Temple got away from shooting the ball and concerning himself with making shots.
“Bless his heart, he is so concerned with making shots,” Brady said. “And sometimes the things you want the most won’t happen. You’ve got to let it go sometimes. Just forget about it, and that’s what he did. And he made shots tonight. God bless him.”
Don’t expect Temple to quit waking up at 5 a.m though. That just wouldn’t be C-T-3. He is a true believer in dedication and hard work. But one thing is for sure, Wednesday night’s performance made him feel at least a little bit better.