That was very clearly not just another game. Vanderbilt guard MJ Collins wanted that one, badly.

Wednesday night marked Collins’ return to Blacksburg after starting his career at Virginia Tech and playing two seasons for the Hokies before opting to transfer to Vanderbilt last spring.

Collins made his return known as he stepped on the floor at Virginia Tech’s Cassell Coliseum firing.

The Vanderbilt junior went for 15 points on 5-for-12 shooting on Wednesday night as Vanderbilt moved to 8-1 and took down his former team.

“He looked like the other MJ [Michael Jordan],” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said. “Those weren’t easy shots.”

All of Collins’ points came in the first half of Wednesday’s game and sparked Vanderbilt as it got ahead early and didn’t look back in its 80-64 win.

Byington figured Collins would find a way to make an impact in his return to Cassell Coliseum.

“I could tell he had a look in his eye,” Byington said, “I knew he was gonna be aggressive. With his aggressiveness he was making plays and making shots for us.”

Collins has cited confidence as an x-factor that allows his production to come later. On Wednesday that confidence was flowing and was contagious throughout the rest of Byington’s team.

Without what Collins did in his early heater on Wednesday, Vanderbilt likely doesn’t find a way to win decisively like it did in its first road test.

Byington didn’t know whether to expect that or not, but learned something about Collins–and his team–on Wednesday.

"You always learn a lot about your team on the road," Byington said. "You just want to see how you're gonna handle it. There's different faces on the road. You're not gonna get lifted up by your own crowd.”

Collins and Vanderbilt wing Tyler Nickel certainly weren't lifted up on Wednesday by the crowd, but didn't expect that coming in.

"This was personal for me and TNick," Collins said. "I was familiar with a lot of the team that was out there, the players."

On Wednesday, Collins created the lift over his former teammates and Vanderbilt rode it to another example of proof of concept in year one of Byington’s tenure.