Kentucky guard Collin Chandler provided a glimpse of his future potential on Wednesday night.
Chandler came off the bench and scored seven points, a career-high, dished out two assists and added a pair of steals in 15 minutes in the Wilddcats' 82-61 win over the Commodores.
Making a significant contribution has been a goal for Chandler this season, whose outing came at the right time for the shorthanded Wildcats, who are missing two starters from the lineup.
“I love the game of basketball and I think about it pretty much all day,” Chandler said. “With that, you crave results. You crave the feeling of winning as a team and celebrating with your guys. That's been something that I've been hoping for. It was awesome and fun to be out there, compete and feed off each other's energy.”
Chandler’s contributions weren’t surprising to his teammates, including veteran Andrew Carr, who praised Chandler’s ability to step into the point guard role at times against the Commodores.
“He wants to be able to step up and step into that role,” Carr said. “We knew it was going to happen for him … to see those results on the floor is special. It's been a long time coming for him. We've seen that and we've known it. I'm super proud of him and that he is making that change to learn point guard to help this team."
Pope compared Chandler’s steady improvement to the growth of a bamboo tree.
“What happens is they grow over time and they grow these massive networks of roots and they grow and grow and grow and you don’t see it,” he said. “All of a sudden, they shoot up out of the ground and they are growing almost a yard a day, which is almost incomprehensible. That’s a little bit of Collin Chandler. He’s been growing big-time roots.”
Those roots have grown enough to where Pope believes Chandler can be a dependable contributor for the Wildcats in March.
“Collin Chandler has a skillset that’s unique to our team.” Pope said. “We get all of our guys back or not — he still has a space on this team this year. The more comfortable he gets on the floor, where he can do some things on the court that are unique for us that are going to be really impactful. He can be a guy that you watch down the stretch once we get to tournament play that is a difference-maker.”
Chandler appreciated the voice of support from his coach and plans to seize the opportunity.
“It’s great having a coach that believes in me that way,” he said. “He knows what I can do. We’ve played a lot of basketball up until this point that BBN and the world doesn't see. I think it's nice to have a trust for your coach because I think that feeds into the trust in myself, and comes from knowing that my coach trusts me.”
Collin Chandler scored seven points in Kentucky's 82-61 win over Vanderbilt Wednesday night. (Photo by Keith Taylor)
