At times Tuesday night I had flashbacks to the near past when a Kansas University basketball player wearing the digit 4 scored, rebounded, defended and played hard all the time.

That would be Nick Collison, of course.

Maybe the flashbacks were because KU freshman David Padgett’s uniform has a pair of 4s, but more likely it was because Padgett scored 16 points in just 22 minutes in his collegiate debut.

I wasn’t the only one who noticed the similarity between Padgett and Collison, who, as you know, was a lottery pick in June’s NBA Draft and is sitting out his rookie pro season because of shoulder injuries.

Wayne Simien, who teamed with old No. 4 for two seasons, saw a lot to like in No. 44 — a number, incidentally, Padgett wears in honor of his father, who wore the double-four during his college days at Nevada-Reno.

Simien said he saw “glimpses of greatness” in Padgett, adding that the 6-foot-11 freshman was a “hard worker and relentless.” And, yes, Simien could have said the same things about Collison.

“He’s kind of got the same game,” Simien said, asked to compare Padgett to Collison, “but I think he wants to make a name for himself.”

On the flip side, Padgett displayed another trait that hounded Collison early in his KU career — foul trouble. Padgett picked up his fourth foul with a little less than five minutes remaining, went to the bench and didn’t play again.

At the same time, Padgett was credited with just three rebounds, but what the heck, it was his first game against men. The EA Sports All-Stars barnstormers who took the Jayhawks to the wire didn’t have any superstars in the paint, but their big men knew about leverage and positioning, nuances Padgett will pick up in time.

KU freshman David Padgett, right, gets a hand on a shot by the All-Stars' Anthony Evans for one of Padgett's two blocks.

Padgett was a surprise starter. Coach Bill Self had planned to open with senior Jeff Graves, but when Graves showed up five minutes late, Self told Padgett he would answer the bell.

“Obviously, I was a little nervous, but that’s to be expected,” Padgett said in a deep voice that belies his tender years.

Padgett wasn’t the first KU freshman, and he won’t be the last, to reflect in awe on the Allen Fieldhouse atmosphere.

“That’s the best crowd I’ve ever seen and played in front of,” he said. “It’s an exhibition game, and it’s sold out. There’s no better place to play in America, and that’s what I found out tonight.”

Padgett was one of five freshmen who logged court time Tuesday night, and none of the other four came close to matching his performance.

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J.R. Giddens scored six points during a six-minute relief stint in the first half, but played less than a minute in the second half.

“He was fine,” Self said of the 6-5 yearling, but Giddens was not his usual ebullient self afterward. Asked if he wished he had played more, Giddens replied softly: “I’m happy to win the game.” Was he nervous? “Not really.”

Jeremy Case logged eight minutes, scored a point and had an assist. Notably, Self had the 6-foot guard in the game in the waning minutes for his ball-handling and free-throw shooting. Omar Wilkes and walk-on Nick Bahe, the other two freshmen, barely broke a sweat, each officially playing two minutes late in the first half with little or no impact.

Other than Padgett, Self went almost entirely with veteran players because, well, the Jayhawks were playing against veterans. It’s likely the freshmen will see more duty when KU plays its final exhibition game Tuesday night against NCAA Div. Two foe Pittsburg State.

Other than Padgett’s debut, the most surprising aspect of Tuesday’s game was junior point guard Aaron Miles, who for the first time since donning a KU uniform was the Jayhawks’ leading scorer with 18 points.

Miles said he couldn’t recall the last time he led his team in scoring, but Michael Lee, his teammate at Portland (Ore.) Jefferson High, had no trouble remembering.

“Yeah, it was every game during his senior year,” Lee said with a grin. “I joke with him that that’s when he stopped passing, his senior year.”

Even with all those points, though, Miles still led the Jayhawks with seven assists. Darned if Lee didn’t have six assists himself. KU finished with 19 assists, and Miles and Lee accounted for 13 of them. Lee, who finished with 11 points, also thrilled the crowd with three late coast-to-coast layups in the best Miles tradition.

Perhaps the more Miles and Lee play together, the more they play the same. If true, that’s good news for the Jayhawks. But the best news of all was Padgett.

“It doesn’t take an expert to tell he’s going to be good,” Self said. “I think he’s going to be something else.”