The former Utah Gatorade Player of the Year is becoming a key piece for a Kentucky team that desperately needs it after losing Jaxson Robinson.
For a good while this season, every time Kentucky Wildcats freshman guard Collin Chandler came into a game, it made for a rollercoaster experience. He could be erratic with his ball-handling, but the potential was always there.
Over his last five games, Chandler has become a key contributor off the bench for Kentucky, offering the Wildcats much-needed depth in the wake of Jaxson Robinson’s injury.
Chandler has scored 27 points across his last five games, including a career-high 11 points Tuesday night against LSU. He hit a career-high three 3-pointers Tuesday night for the Wildcats while also dishing out a career-high four assists and pulling down a career-high four rebounds in a career-high 17 minutes.
“As you’re rolling in and trying to find your game in college basketball, you just have to keep banging your head against the wall and being fresh and attacking and confident every day,” head coach Mark Pope said of Chandler following Kentucky’s win over LSU.
“(Chandler) certainly was that way this week. He’s been that all season long, and then you create your own opportunities. It’s really awesome. He was really good tonight.”
Chandler nailed two of his 3-pointers in the first half, as the Wildcats hit seven as a team to take a 50-23 into the locker room.
After shooting just 4/17 from 3-point range against No. 1 Auburn this past Saturday, the Wildcats came out ready to let it rain from beyond the arc on Tuesday night, going 12/32 for the game. The dozen 3-pointers were a big part of Kentucky’s 95-64 demolition of LSU on Senior Night.
Fellow freshmen Travis Perry and Trent Noah also saw action Tuesday night. Perry played nine minutes and had two rebounds along with an assist and steal, while Noah saw action for 13 minutes and scored the last two points of the game for Kentucky.
Chandler, Perry, and Noah will all be relied upon Saturday at Missouri, next week at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, and in the NCAA Tournament later this month. Given the strides all three of them have made this season, especially playing in the gauntlet of the SEC, there is promise that inspires confidence amongst Big Blue Nation for all three freshmen heading into March Madness.
Yes sir, @collinchand13r
– ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/7LRIwr2f4J
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) March 5, 2025
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