A broken foot, a broken hand and stuck behind the reigning Mountain West Conference freshman of the year.

The BYU freshman power forward is even battling a pretty hefty cold right now and he still managed to impact last Saturday's 55-52 win at Utah, scoring six points and grabbing eight rebounds in 16 minutes.

Don't be surprised to see him tonight against San Diego State (6 p.m., Marriott Center) sporting the T-shirt with sleeves underneath the jersey again. It brought him some good luck at the Huntsman Center, though originally he wore it just because he constantly felt a chill.

A bug has been swarming around the team, biting the 6-foot-9 Collinsworth and head coach Dave Rose and has also gone through center Trent Plaisted.

"He was so sick against Utah," teammate and good friend Jonathan Tavernari said of Collinsworth. "But he's got the biggest heart I've seen in my life."

The pair became good friends last summer. They would shoot together at 6 a.m.

"It would take him about a half hour to wake up, but he was still there," joked the sophomore Tavernari, who won the Mountain West Conference's honor for top freshman.

Collinsworth, at 16.3 minutes per game, leads BYU's influential group of newcomers. (He's a tenth of a minute ahead of fellow frosh, shooting guard Jimmer Fredette.)

While getting 3.1 points per game, Collinsworth's greatest value has been his ability to defend. And what can be seen more transparently in the stat sheet is how he's willing and able to go after missed shots.

His 5.3 rebounds per game is fourth on the team, behind only three expected starters -- 6-6 Lee Cummard, 6-11 Trent Plaisted and 6-6 Tavernari, who is at 5.6 and averages about 10 minutes more per game.

Collinsworth has been helpful, as Tavenari's battled consistency issues. Against Utah, Tavernari went 0-for-6 from the field while Collinsworth had a four-point stretch on his own in the second half that helped the Cougars break the game open, and ultimately improve to 13-5 (2-1 MWC) heading into a critical home game with SDSU (14-4, 4-0).

During Collinsworth's spurt, both baskets came off rebounds. The first came on the offensive end and led to a layup (he even rebounded his own short miss, after boarding Cummard's failed jumper); a defensive snare turned into his baseline jumper.

"Just work hard and go get it," Collinsworth said of his glass mantra.

It brings up a point: With the power forwards' different strengths, and heights, could they play the floor together?

Tavernari says not much, unless the opponent is short or Cummard is in foul trouble.

Otherwise, "we get kind of confused."

Besides, Tavernari jokes, "Chris says 'dude' too much."

The dude, er, Collinsworth came from Provo High, where he dominated the scene. Not that it was always easy. He broke his foot as a sophomore and learned to adjust to a major growth spurt. He used to be a guard, but learned with injury and newfound size how to do stuff besides shoot 3-pointers.

Last year he broke a hand, which forced him to work on other aspects of his game to stay useful. He's not the first basketball player to credit a broken had to progress -- Keena Young, who graduated from BYU last year after winning the MWC's award as best player, did it at the end of his sophomore year.

Collisworth also had a bruised retinal nerve. He wasn't just some uppity scorer.

"I think I did a lot of dirty work in high school that people didn't notice," said Collinsworth, who averaged 21 points in the Class 4A state tournament title run.

BYU, which has won 40 consecutive home games, should need to do all sorts of things well to defeat the Aztecs.

On their best start since 1984, junior transfer forward Lorrenzo Wade is averaging 15.1 points and 4.2 rebounds. He sat out last season after transferring from Louisville.

Rose believes this is SDSU coach Steve Fisher's deepest team in nine years.

"They lose a starting point guard (Richie Williams) for the last two years (to a wrist injury), replace him with a freshman (D.J. Gay) and then come off the bench with a senior (Matt Thomas) that went 7-for-8 down the stretch at New Mexico from the line," Rose observed.

BYU (13-5, 2-1 MWC) vs. San Diego State (14-4, 4-0)

6 p.m., Marriott Center

Radio: KSL 1160 AM (102.7 FM)

TV: The mtn.

Tip-ins: The Aztecs start two freshmen (6-foot PG D.J. Gay, 6-8 F Billy White), along with two transfers from bigger-name schools, 6-8 junior Ryan Amoroso (Marquette) and 6-6 junior Lorrenzo Wade (Louisville). ... The Cougars are 26-3 against SDSU at the Marriott Center. ... The two common opponents are Portland and Utah -- SDSU beat them both at home, the Cougars did it on the road.