Kentucky basketball guard Collin Chandler ‘growing into his game’ in Year 2 with Mark Pope

Kentucky basketball’s Mark Pope ‘confident’ despite Jaland Lowe injury

Kentucky Wildcats basketball coach Mark Pope expresses confidence in his squad despite Jaland Lowe reinjuring his shoulder in practice Nov. 13.

• Kentucky guard Collin Chandler is finding his form after a two-year Mormon mission where he barely played basketball.
• After playing sparingly early in his freshman season, Chandler earned a larger role as the 2024-25 campaign went on and has become a key player as a sophomore.
• Chandler’s recent success includes a streak of stellar 3-point shooting and a highlight-reel dunk against Nicholls that went viral.
• UK coach Mark Pope praised Chandler’s mental toughness and growth.

LEXINGTON — As last season gave way to the offseason, and the offseason ceded to this season, Collin Chandler couldn’t avoid two questions constantly lobbed his way by those outside the Kentucky basketball program.

The queries related to each other. One focused on whether he believed he had found the form that made him a consensus four-star prospect in the 2022 class. The other fixated on whether he thought, at some point during UK’s 2024-25 season, that he was playing at a level approaching — or perhaps surpassing — that of his high school self, the three-time first-team all-state selection and winner of Utah’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2022.

Chandler didn’t know the answer to either question. Nor did he care.

“I’m sure that I’m a whole lot better in a lot of aspects than I was (in high school), and I might be different in other aspects,” Chandler said June 16, the day the Wildcats started their summer workouts ahead of the 2025-26 campaign. “So, I don’t know how to really distinguish that.”

By that point, Chandler already had moved on.

“There’s a lot of things that I needed to change,” he said, “and so I kind of took it as, ‘Why not just change right now to what I’m supposed to be — what I need to be — to play here?’ rather than looking backward, if that makes sense.”

Yet one can’t tell the story of Chandler’s progress without looking back. That is, after all, why so many asked him about his past. When he arrived in Lexington, he had barely picked up a basketball the prior two years. Instead, that time had been spent serving the Mormon church, as part of a two-year mission that sent him to Sierra Leone and then to England.

As one might expect, Chandler’s immediate contributions were few. On a veteran-laden team with numerous upperclassmen ahead of him in the backcourt, Chandler played sparingly; in his first 21 appearances, he played 10 or more minutes just seven times. As last season wound down, however, he started to find his footing. Chandler played at least 10 minutes in 10 of UK’s final 11 games in 2024-25.

“I felt like there’s a lot that BBN didn’t see in my journey of getting back and feeling comfortable, feeling confident,” Chandler said. “There’s a lot that went into that.”

As he reflected on his freshman season, Chandler admitted it felt as if “everything was a challenge.” That a “surprise” had been waiting for him at every turn.

“I didn’t really know what to expect, how to go about it, whereas I feel like this year (and) offseason, I know exactly what I’m supposed to be working on,” he said. “I know what I can do. I have a lot of experience on the court (knowing) what I can do and things I can get better at.

“So, I think I have a lot better of a vision of what I need to do.”

That vision has become reality since the 2025-26 season tipped off.

Chandler made four 3s in each of Kentucky’s first three games — the first player in program history to do so. It was the continuation of red-hot shooting from distance Chandler showcased as last season came to a close. In a 14-game stretch — the last 10 contests last season, the first four this season — Chandler converted 55.3% (26 for 47) of his 3-point attempts.

“I think a big thing is comfort,” Chandler said. “There’s a lot going through your mind and your body with adrenaline and being in games — like, you can shoot as much as you want in an open gym or in practice, but it’s different when it comes to games. So, comfort level is big.

“And the more I play, the more comfort I’m feeling.”

It’s not lost on his teammates.

“He’s gotten comfortable. That’s what I’m seeing,” senior guard Otega Oweh said. “Obviously your freshman year, it’s like once you get to that second half (you settle in). What you saw with him, he already started getting comfortable. So now it’s just building on top of that. He’s looking good. He’s shooting the lights out of the ball.

“We’re just glad he’s growing into his game. He’s really helping us out — big time.”

Of course, it’s not his shooting touch that earned a shoutout from Lil Wayne. Or social media kudos — a like — from LeBron James.

It’s because of his highlight-reel dunk in Kentucky’s opener, where Chandler posterized Nicholls forward Grant Sanders. The slam went on to take the No. 1 spot in SportsCenter’s rundown of the top-10 plays of the day in sports.

Those who followed the program’s Big Blue Madness event the past two years likely didn’t bat an eye.

Chandler has won the event’s dunk contest two years running.

As memorable as the dunk was, UK coach Mark Pope had a different takeaway.

“There was so much video footage of that particular play — close-up stuff, and you kind of see the expression on his face as he goes to finish that play,” Pope said, before turning philosophical, as the former Columbia University medical student often does. “And I like to think that expression is not something that he just made up.

“It’s something that’s been earned, through pain and suffering, through failure and setback, through a lot of doubts — this makes me emotional, because I love this part of the game — through fighting through a lot of doubts and times where you thought, ‘Maybe this isn’t going to work.’ Or, ‘Was this the right path?’ Or, ‘Am I doing the right thing?’ Or, ‘Can I even be a good enough player to do this?'”

Chandler had asked those questions of himself the same night of his viral dunk. Following the Wildcats’ 77-51 victory, Pope called Chandler. The coach wanted Chandler’s self-assessment. Pope didn’t find a player basking in the glow of social media adoration. Instead, Chandler was frustrated. He had missed his first three tries behind the 3-point line. And there were other decisions he regretted.

Positive self-talk pulled Chandler out of the rut.

“What he told me is like, ‘Man, when I go back in, I’m going to make the simple play. I’m going to make the simple play. I’m going to make the simple play,'” Pope said. “And that’s a second-year guy. It’s a second-year guy that understands that. Because you can sit there and be mad and angry and frustrated and sad and blame and excuse and all this stuff.

“But he was just like, ‘Nope, this is what I’ve got. So where’s my control in this thing? My control is that I’m going to actually focus right now, so that when I get back in this game, I’m going to go make the simple play.'”

Then, Pope shrugged.

“And the ‘simple play’ was to go 4 for 4 from the 3-point line and have maybe the highlight dunk of the year,” Pope said. “That’s the simple play. That’s where the simple play leads you.”

For all the improvement Chandler already has shown from his freshman season to the early stages of his sophomore campaign, there are numerous areas of his game he wants to shore up. It’s a list that includes becoming a better ballhander. And shooter — knocking down contested shots with more regularity.

Pope cited a few more.

“He’d like to become a lockdown ball-screen defensive player. He’d like to become a lockdown defender at the point of attack,” Pope said. “I think he’d love to be — he’s worked so hard on his handle this summer. I think he’d like to float around the floor a little bit easier off the bounce.”

Pope is eager to see Chandler’s continued ascent.

He just wants everyone to enjoy the journey along the way.

“When you capture those tiny little moments, it’s actually really special, because that’s what sports is, man. That’s what athletics is,” Pope said. “And you only know if you know. You only really get it if you’ve immersed yourself in it that much that you know.”

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.